Sunday marked the closing of the 2012 Olympic Games with the men's basketball final, the marathon, and of course the closing ceremonies. It was a solid end to what was a better than expected Olympics and when the helter skelter closing ceremonies closed (Really, trotting out the Spice Girls after a tribute to John Lennon? Really?) there were many storylines still left to be discussed.
Is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of all time? (Yes.) Is Usain Bolt the greatest sprinter of all time. (Yes again.) Is the 2012 USA Basketball team the best basketball team in Olympic history? (No it's always and always will be the 1992 Dream Team) Beyond the broad talking points that the games have left us is the questions at home. Specifically the main question that is always asked at every games end: Was the 2012 Olympics a success for Canada
When it comes to the Olympics I have a general set of criteria to what defines "success" in an event where there are so many individual sports and medals given out that the term "success" can be very vague and confusing. Firstly, medal count is obviously one of the factors, but within reason. The Canadian Olympic Committee is awesome in letting the fans know their medal goal, making the nation's expectations for them, while at the same time putting a little pressure on its athletes before the games. If Canada exceeds those medal expectations, it is obviously a successful Olympics, if they are one or two medals off it isn't the end of the world in my opinion. Canada set out to be in the top twelve in medals in the 2012 games, they finished 13th, just a couple medals off of their goal. Being off their target with only one gold medal to their name gives Canada a barely passing grade on the first test.
The second part of my criteria is moments. In the end nobody is going to remember the medal count of the Canadian Olympic Team or that Ukraine finished with three more medals than us. What will be remembered will be the signature moments. The Donovan Bailey winning the gold medal at the 1996 games, the Sidney Crosby overtime goal at the 2010 Winter Games, these are the things that define an Olympic Games past the medal count. Not every country can be China, the USA, or even Team GB, but every country comes in the Olympics with a potential to have a defining moment. Canada's Olympics did have memorable moments, the women's soccer team is an obvious one, Clara Hughes ending her Olympic career in cycling, the gold medal in the trampoline, Tonya Verbeek in wrestling, and more memories that I likely have let slip my mind. Canada may not have had golden moments, but it had memorable ones that will take awhile for me to forget. This gives Canada a more than passing grade in test two.
The final test is patriotism, did these Olympics make me feel an overall sense of what being a Canadian is all about? Did watching the Canadian athletes make me proud to be a Canadian and share in their triumphs and downfalls? Did the country itself come together and show a real sense of unity and pride? The 2010 Vancouver Games obviously set the benchmark for this as CTV shoved "Believe" down our throats and actually managed to get a lot of people to drink the Kool-Aid. That combined with the fact that hockey is in the winter games, and that Canada had a very, very impressive showing at home, put the Summer Olympic Team in a very tough spot with big shoes to fill. It is hard to gauge how a country in its whole feels, impossible actually, but a few events showed that Canada genuinely cared during this Olympics still. The story of the kid who gave his medal to the disqualified 4 X 100 mens relay team after they had their dream crushed due to the smallest of technicalities, wiping away their bronze medal finish. The Canadian women's soccer team and their game against the United States, taking advantage of the mid-afternoon start time and having a large number of Canadians tuning in to see Christine Sinclair for the first time and the internet storm and live tweeting of the match that followed showed Canada did gain a sense of pride for the country in the Olympics. As for myself, I found myself being more proud of Canada in defeat than I was during the Winter Olympics. As for myself I found myself identifying myself more with the failures of the Summer Olympians more than I did when the men's and women's hockey teams won double gold at home and Canada owned the podium in 2010. Maybe it is from my empty trophy case from my own team sports career and identifying myself in defeat, or maybe it is because I just like the Summer Olympics more. But I found myself caring about the effort and triumph in defeat more than the glory of victory.
For that the 2012 Olympics were a success for me, I am proud of the Canadian Olympic Team and what they did in 2012. Sure they only won one gold medal, sure they didn't set any Olympic medals. Sure, most of the defining moments of our country's performances were ended in tears and disappointments. But that's what being a Canadian is, we try our best and wear our hearts on our sleeves. We also improved out performances in events where the deck is clearly stacked against us and had a lot of young athletes show promise in marquee events. From a silver and a bronze in the pool from Cochrane and Hayden, to the bronze medal in high jump, to our impressive decathlete setting personal bests in many of his events. Canada showed that even though we don't have the funding, or the population, or the fanbase, we can still put people on the podium with a little thing called effort.
I know I came into the Olympics with a column decrying that it isn't truly the world's best sporting event, and I still stick by my statement as the World Cup being a better product, but the 2012 Games grew on me. I appreciate the effort these athletes give to have one shining moment in the spotlight. They dedicate their entire careers and lives to sports that don't get them the lead on SportsCentre when they win at an international event, or a World Championship, they aren't $6 million dollar a year mercenary hockey players. These two weeks are the payoff for those athletes and while they are Olympians who use their sport and their successes to catapult themselves to riches there are only so many NBA players, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt's in the Olympics. The athletes are should be what is admired and remembered, not the pop concerts that are the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, not who finished where in the medal count.
The last moment of Canada's Olympics that gives the best glimpse of what I am talking about is the last place finisher in the women's triathlon. She came in with hopes of a strong performance and is a world class triathlete by all accounts. However she hurt herself and was clearly going to finish dead last. In a situation where many million dollar athletes mail it in, she limped the rest of the course, tears in her eyes and all, because it was her moment. That is the lasting image of the Olympics for me, win or lose, someone who deserves their spotlight, who put in the work, gets their day. If there is a closing to the Olympics for me it is not a statement, or a question, but a request. Don't forget the Olympians, it is easy to, and I am sure by tomorrow you will be back to the NHL, the MLB, the NBA and etc. myself included. But the Olympic spirit and struggle should be admired by all, always. Goodbye London.
