The start of the 2010 Vancouver Games couldn't have been more ignominious.
The tragic death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili cast a dark pall over what should have been a celebratory opening ceremony - which itself was marred by an embarrassing technical glitch during the cauldron lighting.
The underwhelming opening party was panned coast-to-coast by Canadians, who launched barbs on the Internet aimed at the hokey ceremony. They hated the reworked rendition of "O Canada." There was too much lip-synching by the performers. There were too many dated stereotypes. There wasn't enough cultural diversity represented.
The "celebration" stumbled to a close, with hockey icon Wayne Gretzky standing awkwardly atop a truck in the pouring rain for several minutes as he was driven to the external cauldron.
The uncooperative weather continued through the first few days, sparking numerous rain delays and ticket cancellations en masse.
Long line-ups for services and a fenced-off outdoor cauldron only fermented public anger.
If that weren't enough, critics around the world attacked the 2010 Winter Olympics before they even properly got off the ground, questioning Canada's ability to host an international event of this scale.
The multitude of setbacks threatened to derail these Olympics completely. "Worst Games Ever?" was the question posed on the front page of London's The Guardian.
But then came a shift.
| Yes | |
|---|---|
| No | |
| I have mixed feelings |
Alexandre Bilodeau captured gold in freestyle skiing, giving Canada its first gold medal on home soil. With the biggest monkey off our backs, we let out a huge collective sigh of relief and finally began to cheer.
A slew of others followed in Bilodeau's footsteps.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir wowed audiences and made history with a flawless ice dance performance that garnered Canada's first ever gold medal in the event. They also became the first North American ice dancers to win Olympic gold.
Skeleton star Jon Montgomery showed the rest of the world not all Canadians are prudes as he took a victory stroll with a pitcher of beer in hand after his gold-medal run. The show of unfettered exuberance was enough to land him on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The resounding victories confirmed that we were finally champions.
And then there was Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater who suffered the loss of her mother Therese, who suffered a massive, fatal heart attack just days before she was to watch her daughter perform.
Joannie could have packed it in then and nobody would have blamed her. But there she was, two days after her mother's untimely death and barely holding it together, skating her heart out and inspiring millions through her brave performance.
Her show of mettle that day seemed to spur on her fellow Canadian athletes in the latter part of these Games.
A veritable Canadian gold rush followed in the final weekend, with medals in speed-skating, curling, snowboarding and men's ice hockey.
The final push put Canada over the top as the nation finished the Games with a record-setting 14 gold medals, 26 in total (seven silver, five bronze). While Canada didn't own the podium - a lofty goal set before the Olympics - the dominance in first-place finishes was a resounding success and sets the bar high for the next host country, Russia.
The biggest triumph, Team Canada's thrilling hockey win, was a suitable finish to these Games - the exclamation mark on the host nation's remarkable Olympic turnaround.
And if Canadians seemed understandably subdued at the start of these Games, there was no stopping the show of national joy after Sidney Crosby secured gold for Canada.
"Before this, Canada only seemed patriotic when there was a beer commercial on TV," said Tony Sam, 41, who drove to Vancouver with friends from Chilliwack, B.C., to watch Canada defeat the U.S. 3-2 in overtime.
"This is the most exciting thing that's happened in Canada, maybe ever."
An Olympics that had been prematurely written off earlier this month has more than redeemed itself.
The last 17 days have been a showcase of national pride, perseverance, and triumph over tragedy - a watershed Games for a long-suffering country.
With files from the Canadian Press
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Medals won placed Canada back in the World's spotlight. And proud to be a Canadian. What a disastrous closing ceremonies. Pyro technics and lights display were awesome - but the music was dreadful. Surely Canada has talent far superior and more representative of our culture. Wonder what the rest of the world thinks of Canada after that awful music production - that would have been better at a clearing in the forest in Northern Canada
I LOVED the concert! But, Catherine O'Hare's "comic" routine was embarrassing.
As for all of Canada's GOLD- YESSSSSSSSS!!!!
Congratulations to all the atheletes who competed. I for one appreciated the fact that CTV was showing other countries winning thier medasl too. Too often in the past TV coverage was only for what happened to that countries athletes. I think it is too bad that all the other countries didn't show the same. The US coverage was so limited! If it wasn't a medal performance they seemed to ignore thier own athletes sfforts. It is good for people to see an athlete do thier best even if it doesn't get a medal.
I LOVED the Closing ceremonies too! They were a lot of fun. I wish Russia the best at Socchi in 2014. They had even warmer tempratures there this Year than Vancouver did!
I thought it was very sad to have lost the Georgian Luger, but I hope that his country got to see the moment of silence and standing ovation that the Georgian team got in his honour at the Opening ceremonies and the very special response of everyone in the audience at the Closing ceremonies. I hope they can take some comfort that thier loss was shared by all of us.
Here's hoping that the government doesn't decide to pinch pennies but will continue the support that gave us such great results, medals or not, for our athletes. Harper had such a sour puss during the closing ceremonies, that I wanted to kick him in the butt and say hey! The entire counrty had a great time, what's your problem?
I saw nithing wrong with Steven Harper at the closing, I just thank god we did not have to see that jerk Cretein or his pal Mc Quinty representing the country now that would have made me switch the TV offfor sure.
Iàm very proud to be a Canadian. I beleive Canada did a fantastic job hosting the Olympics. Sure there was a few things that went wrong, but this is live, not a tv show where they can take 2 to make it perfect. Listening to the American channel, they were overwelme on how zthe people from Canda were so polite and welcoming. Congratulations to all the athletes from all over the world. You gave it your very best. In my book you are all winners. My sympathy goes out to the Georgian Luger`s family and to Joannie Rochette`s family.
the most exciting thing 'ever'? I guess two World Wars don't rank. No patriotic fervor in the country unless expressed in a beer commercial? How few Canadians know any Canadian history at all? You need this to find ANY patriotism? We've a lot to be very proud about, and be patriotic about - go to Europe and they'll tell you. Obviously you haven't learned it at home.
Get a life Keith, you suck...................
Go back on your rocking chair and yell at the neighbours dog Keith. While your at it go for that US citizenship and stay there. We don't need you're your cranky low esteem atitude.
Great for Canada, great for a sportsprogram that was neglected for so long,
and great, for all Athletes competing whatever nations they represented...all of the were complimentary of the effort put in to make them comfortable, nothing but praise from the hundred thousand or so visitors which came from BC, Canada and the rest of the world. There will always be some with the need to critisise, because it will make them better in their own eyes. Great handling of the few rowdy incidents by the Police and the security forces. Great effort by the participants and a very great
thank you to all the volunteers who made it possible. Now we can all put our support into making sure next time, in Sochi or next time after, we contribute to the Idea, we lobby for the inclusion of Women Ski jumping,
we lobby for the continuation of our sport program and we lobby for
special projects like "Right to play" and "Paralympics.
keith...people don't generally associate world wars with "exciting"...well, normal people don't anyway
It was the athletes, and only the athletes that made this Olympics a success!
What a gong show the Olympics committee is, and while they made all their friends lots of money the residents of BC and Vancouver will be paying for their poor management for years to come.
I live in Vancouver and thought the games and coverage were fabulous. However, I have no idea why they would choose a warm climate for "Winter" games .. they had to make the ski hills and because they had hay underneath, the climbing temps caused some sagging .. then there was the fog .. the snow which caused poor visibility .. cancelled performances and many disappointed fans .. the music of the openings was great with the exception of KD Lang who from a distance we thought was Michael Buble .. the closing ceremonies was nothing short of terrible .. Headley? Those are musicians? Simple Plan?? Egads .. Michael Buble was the only decent entertainer of the closings .. Catherine O'Hara was terrible .. she should have joined Headley, Simple Plan, Alannis and Avril on stage en masse and saved a lot of time plus a lot of heartburn having to sit through such awful performances .. Nickelback was .. well ... Nickelback .. I think what disappointed me most was doesn't VANOC realize that we are a province where French is NOT the first language? They didn't do it for Calgary, why here??
The games were good...but it was very annoying to have to listen to ...and to add insult to injury french was spoken first ...enough with the frencheverything in french
French is spoken first because it is the IOC's official language - it has nothing to do with Canada being bilingual - they do it at all Olympics. I was at the closing ceremonies - great experience and really loved it!!! Some acts were better than others but I loved the variety of different bands! The RCMP/beaver/moose portion was the absolute BEST!! SOOOO awesome to be sitting there with all the lights! I thooght Celine Dion should've showed - any idea why she wasn't there??!!
Small closed minded people should get off the french people's backs, you have probably never even been out of surrey! I have lived in Vancouver for 20 years and I am now working in Montreal and have been here for 6 months and it is great!! The people are very friendly and there are tonnes of festivals and things going on most weekends!! Vancouver and the west coast are supposed to be laid back but most just seem stuck not to mention the over the top police presence!! If 4 people are seen together smiling in Vancouver...out come the nightsticks!! So please give our french Canadian brothers and sisters a break, people in Montreal know how to have a good time!!!
The music! You call that noise "music"? I know Canada doesn't have a Pavarotti or a Bocelli, but I'm sure we could have done better. What a perfect way to ruin a great Olympics!
The music was tuneless and just horrible rubbish. Where was TROOPER? SLOAN? BTO or The Guess Who? BRIAN ADAMS???? A bit of APRIL WINE would have been a treat!
Guess they were too busy.
I do agree!
The flying moose and huge beavers were an embarrassment. The comedy routines were dull. Where was Shania Twain, Burton Cummings, Celine Dion and others. Neil Young is an aging folk singer who sang much too long.
Other than the closing ceremonies the Olympics were great. Vancouver showed the rest of the world what Canadian hospitality is all about. There were no incidents, muggings, rapes, murders. People had fun and partied every night.
i have to agree that the closing ceremonies were a bit of a disppointment. even the opening ceremonies, although entertaining, were too centered around natives...nothing against them, but i found it to be a bit much...other than that, the olympics themselves were great.