And it’s all over. Just like that. Two weeks can really fly when you’re having fun (or suffering near crippling anxiety attacks as you watch Latvia go toe to toe with our men’s hockey team). Coming off of our best Olympic performance ever in Vancouver was never going to be easy to live up to – but we kind of did…
You see, it’s all about managing expectations and being realistic about results when the difference between the podium and obscurity can be 100ths of a second (or, you know, really bad ice skating judges). We earned 26 total medals in Vancouver, 14 of which were gold. And while expectations were extremely high heading into Sochi, with some media outlets had us bringing home as many as 31-35 medals, the 25 we did claim should still be more than enough to make our country proud. Here’s why:
Hockey: A+
Both our men and women once again stepped onto the world stage and showed everyone that this is our game. Two teams, two gold medals. Sounds about right. #Wearewinter, indeed.
Curling: A+
You think you know how to brandish a broom? Prove it. We’ve been dominating this sport since its inception and both our men and women taking gold shows we’ve got the stones to prove it.
Freestyle Skiing: A
Nine medals in 10 events. Sounds like a pretty good run to us. Not to mention that the Dufour-Lapointe sisters have become international media darlings in the process and Alex Bilodeau became the first man to ever successfully defend the men’s Olympic moguls crown.
Alpine Skiing: B+
You might be surprised to find us grading Alpine Skiing this high considering we earned only one bronze medal. But when it’s your first medal in a sport in 20 years, it bumps you up the grade scale quite a bit.
Figure Skating: B
Okay, so we got three silvers here. Probably this grade could be higher, but Patrick Chan should have won the gold (sorry, it’s true) and everyone’s favourite fairytalers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, were basically screwed out of defending their first place finish in Vancouver. So maybe this is really a B+, but for now it feels like we could have had so much more.
Snowboarding: B-
We picked up two medals but likely should have had a few more. Still, with one of our best earning a bronze despite having a broken rib, we were able to prove that this might have just been an off year – 2018 could easily provide more medals here.
Short Track: B-
It’s not like Charles Hamelin wanted to fall. Twice. But short track, as the man said, “is a sport that can be really exciting and can be really, really glorious for some people, and sometimes it can be really rude and really cruel for some other people.” He still picked up one gold though and the 29-year-old could even be back for 2018.
Long Track: C
We’ve got a lot of ice up here and only a silver and bronze combined for both men and women is tough to be satisfied with. We know Christine Nesbitt won’t be, either; she finished well back of the podium in what we were all hoping would be a medal performance.
Luge/Skeleton/Bobsled: C-
Kaillie Humphries coming through with partner Heather Moyse for a gold medal repeat just isn’t enough to make up for the fact that we didn’t medal in any other event – including three 4th place finishes by the men (ouch).
Biathlon, Cross-Country, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined: O
That’s right – 0. We don’t even give a grade for this one. We’re so far from reaching the podium at this point that we should probably start focusing on the sports we do well in… yeah, that line probably won’t upset anybody.
So there you have it, a rundown of our Olympic efforts in Sochi 2014. A few seconds, points, or non-falls and we would have done even better than our best performance ever in Vancouver… which is why we’re already looking forward to South Korea in 2018. #GoCanadaGo.
#LYNL | (Live Your Notable Life)
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