Winter Olympic Coverage - by Moses

Now last I left you we had summised the first six days of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Perhaps I should have included the following item. A fifth place finish earlier in the Games by Erik Guay in the Men's Alpine Downhill, and a sixth place finish by Britt Janyk in the Women's Alpine Downhill. To some Nations this would be considered failure. To most Canadians however, fifth or sixth in the World is an accomplishment to be proud of. Jeremy Wotherspoon and Melissa Hollingsworth were both visibly dissappointed with their performances. This being Wotherspoon's last Olympics (third in total), it was a sad day when he didn't bring home a Medal (to add to his high ranking pedigree in the sport of Long-Track Speed Skating).
With respect to Melissa Hollingsworth; Starting her final run in Skeleton, she was in second place. She pushed herself in the final run and it cost her a Medal. With tears streaming down her face as she addressed the Canadian Public, she said 'I feel like I let everyone down - my Country, my family, and all my friends.' In all honesty I would look at Melissa Hollingsworths' journey through the Games as being a success. Well spoken, a go-getter, trying to achieve Gold. She'll be back for the next Winter Olympics and Canada will be behind her once again.
Earlier that Thursday, Christine Nesbitt brought Canada yet another Gold Medal, in the 1000 Metre Long-Track Speed Skating, winning by .03 Seconds.
On Friday we got to witness perhaps the most gutsy performance by a Canadian to date. In the Men's Skeleton, Jon Montgomery looked over matched by Latvian Martin Dukurs. Most thought Montgomery was over-matched by a Mario Andretti like Dukurs. In his third run, Montgomery posted a track record and shaved more than half the lead away from Dukurs. It was going to take another outstanding run by Montgomery to bring home Gold, and that's exactly what he did. When all was said and done, Montgomery was .07 seconds faster than Dukurs. Walking the streets of Vancouver in Whistler, Jon Montgomery appeared almost hero-like in the performance and persona he brought to the Canadian Public that evening. Drinking a pitcher of beer and in full salute, it gave the Games its' first sense of character.
The following day, the Games took another scare as Petra Majdic, from Slovenia, (favourited in Cross Country Skiing) took a fall in qualifying in the 1.2 km Cross Country event. She stayed in the Games anyway, and with four broken ribs and a punctured lung she battled to a Bronze finish. All her work was not for not, and this extrodinary effort reminds me of Silken Laumann's Bronze 10 years ago when she had a torn calf muscle, another injury that would seemingly make for an unsurmountable uphill climb to finish a race, let alone win a Medal.
We also saw Erik Guay take home another fifth place, this time in the Super Slalom. What was unfortunate however, was that Guay was .03 seconds away from winning a Bronze Medal. But as I stated earlier, this was still quite an accomplishment. We should also give some credit for a fourth and fifth Finish by Charles and Francois Hamelin, as most of Canada thought there would be Medals from the Short Track Speed Skating 500 Metreas Finals, but was not to be that evening.
Then Sunday February 21 came around, and it was Game Day, Canada versus the U.S.A in Men's Ice Hockey. Just prior, Russia had defeated the Czech Republic 3-2 to squeak into the number 1 spot in their division. For Canada it looked like a win was almost mandatory. After a sloppy effort against Switzerland we needed to re-establish ourselves as favourites of the Tournament. That being said, it just didn't happen for us. We outshot them, we outhit them, but we just couldn't beat them. Ryan Miller stood on his head. It was a fair fight, and we have to come out better against Germany in our next game. We didn't go throughout the day without any Medals however, as Kristina Groves won her second Medal of the Games, a Silver in the 1500 Metres, to go along with a Bronze in the 500 Metre Long-Track Speed Skating.
On the second Monday of the Games, we watched the U.S.A Women's Hockey Team pummel Sweden 9-1. Canada did pretty much the same thing to Finland, and we will now see the Game everyone is waiting for in the Women's Hockey Finals. Go CANADA!!!
In Ice Dancing, the Canadian Team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir engaged themselves to all that attended the Ice Dance Competition and won Canada's First ever Gold Medal in Ice Dancing. Already being compared to Torvill and Dean (of the 1984 Sarejevo Winter Olympics), Virtue and Moir lifted an entire Nations' spirits with the performance of their life.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Men's Curling Team, headed by Kevin Martin, is 8-0, and the Women's Team is 7-1. Go figure, EH !!