By Gary Montgomery, BVN Staff –
As the Olympic Caldron cools and cleanup crews assemble, it is time for those of us who covered these events to reflect on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and the thrilling moments they provided after 17 days of competition culminating with the hockey finals between Teams USA and Canada for winter sports supremacy.
First, I have to confess, I don’t possess the journalistic prowess to convey to you just how much Canadians love hockey. It is almost unbelievable to see an entire nation frozen in front of big screen televisions throughout the country. In pubs, bars and restaurants, hotel lobbies anywhere someone was thoughtful enough to hang a monitor.
When Team Canada takes the ice, the entire country stops. The quarterfinal game between team USA and Canada was the most watched sporting event in Canadian history, watched by more than 13 million viewers, two-thirds of Canada’s population.
Many Americans watched and enjoyed the games but Canadians live the game.
Americans on the other hand couldn’t connect with the energy and enthusiasm on the same level for a number of reasons. The gold medal game between team USA and Canada was broadcast on 5 networks in Vancouver in three languages.
After Team USA topped the overall medal count, Canadians suddenly suggested that the total gold medal count should be the primary criteria for determining the winner rather than the traditional overall count.
The Winter Games differ significantly from the more popular summer Games, both in popularity and substance, not because they are smaller but because the sports involved don’t have worldwide appeal. A large portion of the world does not have access to Winter Sports and therefore could really care less about them.
Which in turn, starts the argument that skateboarding and curling are not really sports?
When asked my opinion, I saw it quite differently. The same argument can probably be made for table tennis or archery both Summer Games. My point is simple, whether we are talking about table tennis or tiddly winks, the Olympic process chooses the best competitors in the world in their respective sports and pits them against each other in the most ideal and equally matched conditions imaginable.
Anytime you pit the best competitors in the world against each other, it is worth the price of admission no matter what the sport.
There were 11,028 athletes representing 192 nations at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China. The Vancouver Winter Games had 2,632 participating athletes representing 82 nations.
From a certain vantage point you would have to agree that the Winter Olympics do not represent the whole world as the Summer Games do.
However, with the exception of that single point, the spirit of the competition is identical.
How anyone could not be moved by Joannie Rochette’s incredible performance. Rochette started competition only two days after her mother suffered a heart attack and died. Rochette went on to win the bronze medal and capture the hearts of the whole world as she fought back tears at the end of her finale.
Chicago native Shani Davis, the first ever African-American Athlete to win an individual gold medal, won another gold medal in the 1000m speed skating and Silver in the 1500m, bringing Davis’ career total to four Olympic medals.
One of my personal favorites, French pairs skaters, Vanessa James and Yannick Bonhuer becoming the first Black pairs team to ever qualify for the Olympics.
These games will likely be remembered for the way they started. The tragic death of an athlete, Georgian luge slider, Nodar Kemaritashvili lost control of his sled on a training run and was killed instantly. The misfires malfunctions, unusually warm weather, and melting snow were all factors. But in the end it was the inevitable spirit of the completion that saved the day and made the XXI Winter Olympics what some already say the greatest Winter Games of all time.
G Montgomery can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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