Editorial

Say what you will about the Olympics, there’s very few other events—sporting or otherwise—that can capture the attention of an entire nation for a two-week period, where people from coast to coast to coast are united in the common goal of rooting on our athletes as they battle against the best of the world.
True, it did take a while before we had something to really cheer about, but the second half of the Beijing Games has seen a steady stream of podium finishes for Canadians to put our country in 12th place overall (as of this morning) with 13 medals so far—one more than we won at the 2004 Games in Athens.
And the good news is we’ve got a great chance to earn a few more before the Games wrap up this weekend, particularly with kayaker Adam van Koeverden.
There’s been some heartbreaks, too. Swimmer Mike Brown was 0.09 seconds from a bronze medal while Dylan Armstrong missed bronze by a mere centimetre in shot put. Then there was the men’s relay swim team that broke a world record—but still found themselves well out of the medal hunt at the end of their race.
And just today, Canada’s women’s softball team had to settle for fourth place after losing 5-3 to Australia in the medal round.
If these near misses, and others, had translated into medals instead, Canada likely would be comfortably in the top 10 in the standings right now—well ahead of its goal to be top 16 this time around and then top 12 by the 2012 Games in London, England.
Equally important, though, have been all the inspirational stories. Whitewater kayaker David Ford, competing in his fifth Olympics at age 41, and despite being denied funding for training, still managed a sixth-place showing that would have been a fourth had the judges not penalized him two seconds for apparently touching a gate.
Who will ever forget Simon Whitfield’s valiant, almost super-human, burst of speed down the final stretch that very nearly earned him a gold medal again in men’s triathlon? And how about 61-year-old Ian Millar, who finally captured a medal after nine tries since his Olympic debut way back in 1972 in Munich. Talk about perseverance and dedication.
In short, no matter what the final medal count ends up being, our athletes have given us lots to cheer about—and no doubt provided plenty of inspiration for young athletes to pursue their dreams of Olympic glory.
And just think, we’ll get to do it all over again in 18 months when Vancouver/Whistler hosts the Winter Games in 2010.