Own the Podium? More like Blown the Podium.
To date in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Canada has 10 medals overall, 5 of them gold, placing 4th overall in medal standings. The USA? 25 medals, 9 of them gold.
Canada’s plan was to have the most medals overall in the Olympics. Instead, they watch helplessly as the USA and Germany run away with the race. They conceded defeat and admitted that they would never catch the Americans.
How about Canada’s other slogan: “Let’s Show Them Whose Game They’re Playing!” Sunday, as most of us watched, Canada’s men’s hockey team lost 5-3 to a young United States team, adding insult to injury. The Canadians now might have to beat Russia just to make it to the semifinals. Disappointing news for many Canadians, who were looking forward to a much more golden finish.
It seems like Canadians all over the country are disappointed with their athletes’ competitiveness. However, the athletes cannot be held fully to blame. The pressure to succeed and bring home medals cannot be easy to bear. But, after injecting twice as much money as the US into their national athlete program, more than $110 million dollars, we all expected a little better.
Let’s show them whose game they’re playing? Looks like the USA is showing Canada whose Olympics it really is.
What do you think of Canada’s showing at the Olympics so far? How about the Own the Podium program? Leave your thoughts in the Comment section below.