After the 2010 Vancouver Olympics success many wondered if Canada could carry over the magic of the Olympics at home into the Sochi games. Stars of 2010 had gotten older after all and the expectations were lower without the added motivation of competing on home soil. All of those concerns were addressed right away during Week One of the events as the Canadian contingent has taken the opportunity to steal the show and has ran with it.
Through Wednesday morning the Canadians have the second most total medals at the Olympics, a stunning four golds, four silvers and two bronze medals have Canada competing with usual Winter Olympics powerhouse countries in Germany, Norway and the Netherlands and most importantly have the Canadians a full three medals ahead of the Americans. As expected throughout the country once again we are getting the opportunity to embrace our countries athletes as they succeed in the international spotlight and have Canadian pride once again at a fever pitch.
With men's ice hockey starting and Canada turning their attentions to their marquee event, we look back at one of the greatest starts to the Olympics for the Canadians in history in what was a week filled with special moments.
Mark McMorris wins bronze for Saskatchewan, earns Canada's first medal in slopestyle
Mark McMorris was pegged as Canada's lock for a medal in the Olympics' first event to hand out a medal as Men's Snowboard Slopestyle kicked off the Olympics. With rival Shaun White pulling out of the competition before the event and McMorris coming off of a four year stretch where the youngster from Regina won nearly every snowboarding event possible a medal seemed like it was a lock even if McMorris was coming off a rib injury.
McMorris didn't disappoint and even if questionable judging may have came into play, he still ended with a bronze and Canada's first medal at the Olympics, a special moment in his sport and for Canada as they would start their dominance in the freestyle snow/ski events also earning gold/bronze in Women's Ski Slopestyle.
Alexandre Bilodeau defends Olympic moguls gold
In 2010, Alexandre Bilodeau was the athlete who gave Canada its first ever gold medal on home soil, winning the Men's Freestyle Moguls and etching his name into Canadian Olympic history. This year Bilodeau would be challenged by fellow Canadian Mikael Klingsbury as well as a very talented Russian skier who had the benefit of training on the tricky Sochi course, making his chances of being the first repeat mogul's gold medallist an uphill battle.
That uphill battle increased in difficulty further when Bilodeau failed to finish where he would have liked in the first two runs of the finals, setting him up for a final run where he would have to clear his head and deliver one of the best runs in his career to take the podium. Bilodeau did just that, mixing his world class aerials with steady speed on the moguls to finish with the Gold.
Dufour-Lapointe sisters earn Gold/silver in freestyle moguls
In the other Freestlyle Moguls event Canada did even better as the sister pairing of Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Chloe dufour-Lapointe both showed that Canada's best event may just currently be the moguls and not just hockey.
Breathtaking runs from both Justine and her sister Chloe gave Canada a viral story to fall in love with and officially started Canada's monstrous medal run with two big medals by upsetting American defending champion Hannah Kearney. Young and talented, the Dufour-Lapointe pair, along with their talented third sister could be household names at the Olympics in four years after shocking the world with their podium domination.
Charles Hamelin takes speedskating gold
Already boasting three total medals from performances in Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010, Charles Hamelin knew he had a good chance to add to his medals in Sochi when he took to the track for the 1,500 meter event.
After the disappointment of finishing seventh in Vancouver in the 1,500 meter event Hamelin worked on improving himself over the four year break and it paid off. Hamelin beat out Tianyu Han of China with a time of 2:14.985 to win by 70 milleseconds over the field for a surprising win in an event that is typically not his strong point as Hamelin's other Gold came in the 500 meter sprint.
Hamelin's win gave Canada a spot on a podium that has been dominated by the Dutch this year and with events left to go it might not be the last time we see Hamelin on the podium in Sochi.
Americans choking
While Canada has been soaring to start the Olympics, our rivals to the South have been struggling. 1,5000 meter medal lock Shani Davis didn't reach the podium, defending Gold medallist in the moguls Hannah Kearney was ousted from defending her Vancouver title. Shaun White, who pulled out of Slopestyle to focus on defending his back to back Snowboard Halfpipe titles, slammed twice on his first run before not even reaching the podium as well.
Seeing the Americans choke at the Olympics is not a sight we see often, and don't count out the USA finishing ahead of us in overall medals somehow by the end of the Olympics, but there is just a little added fun in winning medals while the Americans dominance at the Olympics tapers off. Consider it revenge for the 2012 London Games at the moment.
Canadian women's hockey takes round robin win over USA
The best moment on Wednesday morning for the Canadians didn't even involve a Gold medal. After being dominated by the USA Women's hockey team leading up to Sochi, Canada came into the third period down 1-0 to the Americans in a round robin matchup that was crucial for momentum heading into the very likely Gold Medal rematch next week. A loss would have been devastating for morale for both teams, leaving 20 minutes to decide the narrative.
Canada chose to rise up to the challenge, tying the game before scoring on a controversial goal to go up 2-1. Canada would add an insurance marker to go up 3-1 in what was eventually a 3-2 win. With the men dropping the puck on Thursday, it was nice to get a bonus Canadian Women's Hockey moment in the round robin with a classic win.
