The cherry on the cake.
And really, even without the cherry, it was pretty great cake.
Showing posts with label medals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medals. Show all posts
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Own the Podium - the numbers to watch...
Two days to go.
Canada currently has tied it's highest gold medal count in any olympics (the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were notably boycotted by the USSR & allies).
We currently have the highest number of gold medals at THIS olympics.
We are three gold medals shy of the highest number of gold medals ANY country has ever won in a Winter Games.
We have surpassed our second highest total (17 in Salt Lake City) Winter Olympics count, and are three medals shy of our highest medal count of 24 (in Turin).
We are guaranteed a medal in each of men's curling, hockey and men's team pursuit (skating) - silver or gold. (In other words we ARE going to tie our highest medal count, and if we were to take gold in all three we'd tie the highest gold count ever.)
In addition to this we are sitting second in 4 man bobsleigh after two runs - another promising medal...
And there is still the men's alpine slalom; men's parallel giant slalom to be run.
I'm going to have to say it again... go fuck yourself Brian.
Canada currently has tied it's highest gold medal count in any olympics (the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were notably boycotted by the USSR & allies).
We currently have the highest number of gold medals at THIS olympics.
We are three gold medals shy of the highest number of gold medals ANY country has ever won in a Winter Games.
We have surpassed our second highest total (17 in Salt Lake City) Winter Olympics count, and are three medals shy of our highest medal count of 24 (in Turin).
We are guaranteed a medal in each of men's curling, hockey and men's team pursuit (skating) - silver or gold. (In other words we ARE going to tie our highest medal count, and if we were to take gold in all three we'd tie the highest gold count ever.)
In addition to this we are sitting second in 4 man bobsleigh after two runs - another promising medal...
And there is still the men's alpine slalom; men's parallel giant slalom to be run.
I'm going to have to say it again... go fuck yourself Brian.
When coming in third is better than second
It would hardly be the first time I thought about this, but watching the medals get awarded for Women's Hockey, it struck me again.
Watching the American team last night, they were (with one notable exception) subdued to glum about winning a silver medal.
It's a SILVER medal in the Olympics. I'd give my left kidney to have a reasonable shot at winning one for myself. But, no... a few of those ladies were downright despondent. Watching the medals be put around their necks and seeing their lips say "thank-you" while their eyes said "whatever" had me thinking that it's really unfortunate that the sheer numbers of olympians on the ice make putting off the medal ceremony to the official vicotry ceremony prohibitive. Just a few hours of separation from the game would allow the silver winning team a bit of perspective.
Consistently at these ceremonies you have two teams who have won in order to get their medal, and one that has lost and lost only minutes earlier. As a result, Silver is a losers medal.
The Finnish team were downright giddy getting their bronze. The Canadians were also delighted - though considering some of them were getting their third gold medal in a row you can hardly blame the veterans a certain level of complacency. The juxtaposition undermines the triumph of the moment.
It seems to me that if there were a day or even just a few hours between the game and the medal ceremony that the silver medalists would have time to re-frame their immediate loss as the overall win that it is.
For now I'm crossing my fingers that each of the Canadian Curling teams & the Men's Hockey team don't have to deal with the disappointment of winning the loser medal, and if they do that they see it as a victory.
Watching the American team last night, they were (with one notable exception) subdued to glum about winning a silver medal.
It's a SILVER medal in the Olympics. I'd give my left kidney to have a reasonable shot at winning one for myself. But, no... a few of those ladies were downright despondent. Watching the medals be put around their necks and seeing their lips say "thank-you" while their eyes said "whatever" had me thinking that it's really unfortunate that the sheer numbers of olympians on the ice make putting off the medal ceremony to the official vicotry ceremony prohibitive. Just a few hours of separation from the game would allow the silver winning team a bit of perspective.
Consistently at these ceremonies you have two teams who have won in order to get their medal, and one that has lost and lost only minutes earlier. As a result, Silver is a losers medal.
The Finnish team were downright giddy getting their bronze. The Canadians were also delighted - though considering some of them were getting their third gold medal in a row you can hardly blame the veterans a certain level of complacency. The juxtaposition undermines the triumph of the moment.
It seems to me that if there were a day or even just a few hours between the game and the medal ceremony that the silver medalists would have time to re-frame their immediate loss as the overall win that it is.
For now I'm crossing my fingers that each of the Canadian Curling teams & the Men's Hockey team don't have to deal with the disappointment of winning the loser medal, and if they do that they see it as a victory.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Bilod-AU!!!
A short one this time...
I admit that I leapt to my feet shouting victoriously when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada it's first Olympic Gold on home soil, but a day later...
It's really nothing more than a Gold - cool and pride worthy as it is. More than anything its a monkey off our national back. I even felt pretty much inevitable that it would happen during these games - or is that just me? Its good it happened early in the games so that one more level of pressure is off our athletes.
A couple of side bars:
It was almost as sweet to see that prick Dale Begg-Smith pout his Silver medal win. What a knob.
As of this writing, we have four medals in three (still incomplete) days - which is roughly on track to tieing our biggest medal count. That is slightly misleading as more medals get awarded later in the competition.
I admit that I leapt to my feet shouting victoriously when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada it's first Olympic Gold on home soil, but a day later...
It's really nothing more than a Gold - cool and pride worthy as it is. More than anything its a monkey off our national back. I even felt pretty much inevitable that it would happen during these games - or is that just me? Its good it happened early in the games so that one more level of pressure is off our athletes.
A couple of side bars:
It was almost as sweet to see that prick Dale Begg-Smith pout his Silver medal win. What a knob.
As of this writing, we have four medals in three (still incomplete) days - which is roughly on track to tieing our biggest medal count. That is slightly misleading as more medals get awarded later in the competition.
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