Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on March 15, 2010
How fitting is it that Brian McKeever wins the first Paralympic gold medal on home soil?
He almost made history at the Olympic Games in February by being the first Canadian (and possibly winter Olympian) to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics.
We had five cross-country skiers named to our team for the Olympics. Brian was not chosen to race at the Olympics remaining as alternate. I wrote my thoughts on the subject here at the time if you're interested. It was sad that Brian didn't get to race, but I thought it was the right decision. I thought we should field our best team and if the coach felt that Brian wasn't one of our top four, he shouldn't race. Even if I feel it was the right decision, I was still bummed about it.
So now, he is the one to make "history". He has won Canada's first gold medal at the Paralympic Olympics Games...the first that we have hosted.
It wasn't the fairytale ending we all hoped for...but it's a happy ending (or beginning) nonetheless.
When I attended the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, I was in awe at the Opening Ceremony and lucky enough to witness Canada's first gold medal on home soil. This magical experience has ignited my passion for the Olympics even more. I want to follow Olympic sports and athletes year round not just every four years. This blog is the continuation of my Olympic dream. Follow me on Twitter @olympichearts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Erik Guay...Overall Super-G Champion!
Originally posted on My Life Is Like A Song on March 13, 2010
Last April, I wrote a blog entitled "Lose Canada Lose".
In it I was saying that so many times, Canada would send World Champions to the Olympics only to have them crash and burn (sorry Kurt Browning, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Perdita Felicien, and others).
Last year, our Canadian teams weren't faring so well. The media was giving them a hard time, but for me, I was thinking (at the time), it's the Olympics that matter. I didn't mind if our men's curling team, women's curling team, figure skaters and women's hockey team didn't win at the World Championships. Let's wait and see how they do at the Olympics.
It's funny to read that post now. Three of those ended up winning gold (men's curling, women's hockey and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir), one silver (women's curling) and one bronze (Joannie Rochette) at the Olympics.
Was I disappointed when Jennifer Heil didn't win gold? Yes I was, because I thought it could have just taken the pressure off of everyone else for her to win on the first full day of competition.
But then when Alex Bilodeau won our first gold medal, I was satisfied with Heil's silver medal. How many athletes go into the Olympics as world champions and don't medal at all?
So now that the Olympics are over, I am really enjoying seeing the athletes succeed on the World stage.
This week, Erik Guay (who came in very respectably 5th twice at the Olympics - once 0.03 seconds off the bronze medal in the Super-G) won his first Super-G race last Sunday in Norway (he had won a downhill race in 2007), followed by a bronze in the downhill and won the last Super-G race in Germany on Thursday to take the overall Super-G title. What a week for him!!
He is the first Canadian since Steve Podborski in 1982 to win an overall alpine skiing title.
Would it have been great for him to win a medal at the Olympics? Of course, but all our deserving athletes can't win, can they? There are many other deserving athletes from other countries as well.
Alexandre Bilodeau won the Men's Moguls against the reigning World Champion (and best mogul skier in the world). We could say that Dale Begg-Smith "deserved" it more, but that is sports. It's unpredictable and on any given day, anyone (ok, not ANYONE) but any of the top can win.
So I say, well done Erik Guay!! You should be very proud of your Olympics and your World Cup Title.
And I say good luck to Jennifer Heil who has a 149 point advantage going into the last two Moguls events. She is hoping to win the overall title for a record-tying 5th time.
To Alexandre Bilodeau, I say well done at the Olympics...and you can't win them all. He injured his ankle on Friday and couldn't compete. He hopes to be better for the Finale on March 18th. Funny how things happen.
Last April, I wrote a blog entitled "Lose Canada Lose".
In it I was saying that so many times, Canada would send World Champions to the Olympics only to have them crash and burn (sorry Kurt Browning, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Perdita Felicien, and others).
Last year, our Canadian teams weren't faring so well. The media was giving them a hard time, but for me, I was thinking (at the time), it's the Olympics that matter. I didn't mind if our men's curling team, women's curling team, figure skaters and women's hockey team didn't win at the World Championships. Let's wait and see how they do at the Olympics.
It's funny to read that post now. Three of those ended up winning gold (men's curling, women's hockey and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir), one silver (women's curling) and one bronze (Joannie Rochette) at the Olympics.
Was I disappointed when Jennifer Heil didn't win gold? Yes I was, because I thought it could have just taken the pressure off of everyone else for her to win on the first full day of competition.
But then when Alex Bilodeau won our first gold medal, I was satisfied with Heil's silver medal. How many athletes go into the Olympics as world champions and don't medal at all?
So now that the Olympics are over, I am really enjoying seeing the athletes succeed on the World stage.
This week, Erik Guay (who came in very respectably 5th twice at the Olympics - once 0.03 seconds off the bronze medal in the Super-G) won his first Super-G race last Sunday in Norway (he had won a downhill race in 2007), followed by a bronze in the downhill and won the last Super-G race in Germany on Thursday to take the overall Super-G title. What a week for him!!
He is the first Canadian since Steve Podborski in 1982 to win an overall alpine skiing title.
Would it have been great for him to win a medal at the Olympics? Of course, but all our deserving athletes can't win, can they? There are many other deserving athletes from other countries as well.
Alexandre Bilodeau won the Men's Moguls against the reigning World Champion (and best mogul skier in the world). We could say that Dale Begg-Smith "deserved" it more, but that is sports. It's unpredictable and on any given day, anyone (ok, not ANYONE) but any of the top can win.
So I say, well done Erik Guay!! You should be very proud of your Olympics and your World Cup Title.
And I say good luck to Jennifer Heil who has a 149 point advantage going into the last two Moguls events. She is hoping to win the overall title for a record-tying 5th time.
To Alexandre Bilodeau, I say well done at the Olympics...and you can't win them all. He injured his ankle on Friday and couldn't compete. He hopes to be better for the Finale on March 18th. Funny how things happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)