That being said, however, it was heartbreaking that Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian athlete, died in his training run. The very thought of an Olympic athlete dying never crosses anyone's mind, and when that tragic accident took place it was a very sad moment. I know that people from all over the world felt horrible, and everyone's heart goes out to Nodar's family, friends, and the Georgian team and nation.
Another downside to the Olympic experience was the Canadian media. Just before the end of the first week I heard nothing but anti- "Own the Podium" references on cable television and talk radio. To those unfamiliar with the Canadian "Own the Podium" initiative, it's basically a catch-phrase for supporting athletes financially. I believe Canada spent around 117 million over the past several years to bolster the support of our Olympic athletes to help them train and prepare for the games. Historically, Canada has spent very little supporting Olympic athletes, so the "Own the Podium" program was the first of its kind in Canada.
Early into the games, when some Canadian athletes didn't perform as well as the media had hoped they would, they began to question the worthiness of the "Own the Podium" program. The general theme they were tossing around indirectly, and sometimes directly, was that the program was a waste of money. Of course, what this basically boiled down to was the Canadian media jumped ship on their own athletes. If you're going to say it's not worth investing money on your athletes, what you're also saying is that you don't find them, or their cause, worthy enough to spend money on. You can't just do the athletes lip service and call it a day.
However, the good news is that our athletes didn't back down, didn't get disheartened, and continued to give their very best. In the end, they broke the all time record for gold medals won in any winter Olympic games with 14 of those beauties and achieved third overall in the total medal count standings. For a nation with a population a tenth of a size of the United States, this is an outstanding accomplishment! Now those in the media that were against the "Own the Podium" program will be doing a complete 180, and I am sure we will hear tons of good things about the worthiness of the program for a long time to come. Welcome back on board Canadian media, although I am sure many didn't miss you anyway.
Nonetheless, the games were amazing and what a finish! To have the Canadian men win hockey gold in such a dramatic fashion was a storybook ending to a very entertaining and memorable winter Olympics. Canada has definitely raised the bar for hosting the Games, and that has caused a swell of pride across the nation!
Top 3 Nations
1. United States 9 Gold - 15 Silver - 13 Bronze
*New all time total medal count record with 37 total
2. Germany 10 Gold - 13 Silver - 7 Bronze
3, Canada 14 Gold - 7 Silver - 5 Bronze
*New all time gold medal total record with 14
For full final standings, visit the official website of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
jrobichess makes chess videos and has a chess blog along with a personal chess site at http://www.jrobichess.com.
