“Citius, Altius, Fortius”

For those of you who didn’t major in Latin, or read the current side panel of the 525 g box of Honey Nut Cheerios, the phrase means “Faster, Higher, Stronger”—which is the motto for Canada’s Olympic team that will take to the field of competition in Athens starting Saturday.
Except for perhaps the Canada Cup of hockey, there aren’t many other events that rival the Olympics in terms of rallying and uniting Canadians. Our athletes hail from large cities and small communities from coast to coast to coast, offering us—as a people—a chance eto indulge in a little flag-waving every four years.
Will we have much to cheer about over the next fortnight or so? Certainly Canada goes into the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad with high hopes for medal-winning performances by such athletes as Perdita Felicien (100m hurdles), Alexandre Despatie (diving), Daniel Igali (wrestling), Nicholas Gill (judo), Caroline Brunet (kayaking), Simon Whitfield (triathlon), and Mike Mintenko (swimming).
On the other hand, Canada’s medal haul at the Summer Games four years ago in Sydney slumped badly, finishing in 17th place overall with 14, compared to the team’s 11th-place showing (22 medals) in Atlanta in 1996.
And in fact, Dick Pound, the former president of the Canadian Olympic Association, already may have dampened expectations when, earlier this week, he said more government funding is needed if Canada is going to do better on the world stage.
Sadly, there also is a big distraction hovering over this year’s Summer Games: namely, whether they will be the target of a terrorist attack.
The Olympics certainly are not immune to terrorism, as was seen by the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Games in Munich and that strange bombing in Atlanta that killed one person, but clearly the atmosphere is that much more tense in our post-Sept. 11 world.
We can only hope that the action on the track, on the field, on the courts, and in the water is what captures our attention from Aug. 13-29 as we root for our athletes to make the podium.
Go, Canada, go!