Well, it's come and gone. The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are going to go down in history as the most exciting games ever. I can't explain it. The vibe in the city, the electric feeling you get from everyone. I have never seen so many red maple leafs, Canadian flags, or heard our National Anthem sung so many times before. Everyone, including the President of the IOC, says that they've never seen anything like it before. It's almost like we had this swell of Canadian pride just below the surface, and it took the Olympics coming here for it to overflow and explode into what we saw. Canadian's are normally humble by nature. And, while we are patriotic, we don't usually show it. At least, not like this. I'm so glad I was here to experience it myself.
The final medal count for Canada was...
14 Gold, 7 Silver, 5 Bronze for a total of 26
The most medals we've won in a Winter Olympics.
The most Gold medals won by a host country.
The most Gold medals won by any country in 2010.
And while the US and Germany had more overall medals than we did (US had 37 and Germany won 30), the simple fact remains... the US has a population of over 300 million. Germany has a population of 82 million. Canada is small in comparison with only 34 million people. (We have the same number of people that live in Texas alone!!!) So, per capita, we have less to spend on our athletes, and less of a pool to choose from. And we still won more Gold medals than anyone else. In fact, over 60% of our athletes placed somewhere in the top 10 overall.
Don't get me wrong though. The last 2 weeks haven't been all fun and games. We, as a city, have dealt with rolling road closures, permanent road closures, parking restrictions, line-ups for our transit system (long lines which have never been seen before), criticism from international media for everything from our pride to our weather (like we could do anything about the weather!), ticket prices that were very high and prevented a lot of us from physically going to the games, protestors who don’t speak for the majority of us but got a lot of attention anyways, and a ton of visitors in town (we aren’t used to so many people…especially so many celebs and media). There was the unfortunate accident which killed Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili just before the games began. There were problems with snow up at Cypress Mountain, and we had to truck and fly snow in from other parts of the province. There was the unfortunate incident in the Opening Ceremonies were one of the Olympic Cauldron arms failed to deploy. But, through it all, we took the criticism, and actually laughed at ourselves. The Closing Ceremonies were a tribute to the fact that we accept all the stereo-types that people make about Canadians, and embrace them. They even made a big joke about the cauldron arm! It was hilarious!
The last 2 weeks also saw the first GOLD medal won on Canadian soil (we didn't win a gold in either the 76 Montreal or the 88 Calgary Olympics). We had the longest torch run in history. They sold 3 million of those little red mittens. And, the city basically shut down for 3 hours during the Final Men’s Hockey game between Canada and the US yesterday. (It is OUR game after all!). And it was such a good game. Really, really good hockey. We could still hear horns, cheers, and noise coming from the neighbourhood hours later. Apparently, 3,000 miles away, in Toronto, excited fans shut down Yonge Street. So, it just wasn't here, but across the country, that people got excited about the game.
I can't wait to see the after-effects of all this. In 1986, the World Exposition came to Vancouver, and turned our small town into a large city. When I was in Europe in 1986 (before Expo), no one knew where Vancouver was. They kept asking if it was close to Toronto! Expo'86 put Vancouver on the map. And I think that the 2010 Olympics are just going to push us to the next level. There's already talk of Virgin Airlines coming to Vancouver now. (woohoo! -- cheap flights to England!)
The most Gold medals won by a host country.
The most Gold medals won by any country in 2010.
And while the US and Germany had more overall medals than we did (US had 37 and Germany won 30), the simple fact remains... the US has a population of over 300 million. Germany has a population of 82 million. Canada is small in comparison with only 34 million people. (We have the same number of people that live in Texas alone!!!) So, per capita, we have less to spend on our athletes, and less of a pool to choose from. And we still won more Gold medals than anyone else. In fact, over 60% of our athletes placed somewhere in the top 10 overall.
Don't get me wrong though. The last 2 weeks haven't been all fun and games. We, as a city, have dealt with rolling road closures, permanent road closures, parking restrictions, line-ups for our transit system (long lines which have never been seen before), criticism from international media for everything from our pride to our weather (like we could do anything about the weather!), ticket prices that were very high and prevented a lot of us from physically going to the games, protestors who don’t speak for the majority of us but got a lot of attention anyways, and a ton of visitors in town (we aren’t used to so many people…especially so many celebs and media). There was the unfortunate accident which killed Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili just before the games began. There were problems with snow up at Cypress Mountain, and we had to truck and fly snow in from other parts of the province. There was the unfortunate incident in the Opening Ceremonies were one of the Olympic Cauldron arms failed to deploy. But, through it all, we took the criticism, and actually laughed at ourselves. The Closing Ceremonies were a tribute to the fact that we accept all the stereo-types that people make about Canadians, and embrace them. They even made a big joke about the cauldron arm! It was hilarious!
The last 2 weeks also saw the first GOLD medal won on Canadian soil (we didn't win a gold in either the 76 Montreal or the 88 Calgary Olympics). We had the longest torch run in history. They sold 3 million of those little red mittens. And, the city basically shut down for 3 hours during the Final Men’s Hockey game between Canada and the US yesterday. (It is OUR game after all!). And it was such a good game. Really, really good hockey. We could still hear horns, cheers, and noise coming from the neighbourhood hours later. Apparently, 3,000 miles away, in Toronto, excited fans shut down Yonge Street. So, it just wasn't here, but across the country, that people got excited about the game.
I can't wait to see the after-effects of all this. In 1986, the World Exposition came to Vancouver, and turned our small town into a large city. When I was in Europe in 1986 (before Expo), no one knew where Vancouver was. They kept asking if it was close to Toronto! Expo'86 put Vancouver on the map. And I think that the 2010 Olympics are just going to push us to the next level. There's already talk of Virgin Airlines coming to Vancouver now. (woohoo! -- cheap flights to England!)
Anyways, I've spent the last 2 weeks talking about, blogging about, and watching the Olympics. The party's over now, and we all have to get back to reality. But there is still a smile on my face.
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