http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/sports/olympics/21podium.html?hpw
Canadian Olympic officials very publicly announced long ago that they expected to own the podium and lead the medal count for the first time at an Olympics. Midway through these Winter Games, however, Canada sat in fourth place. The United States had more than twice as many medals. Just dont take the hockey one, Dean Pirozzini said.
Or the curling one, his wife added.
Canadas aggressive mining for medals looks certain not to pan out. A goal of winning 35 medals, 11 more than it earned at the 2006 Turin Games, appears as far-fetched as finding an unfriendly Olympic volunteer. As the Games approached, a more realistic 30 became the number bandied about, because Germanys 29 led the medal table in 2006. Still, a newspaper, The Vancouver Sun, projected 39.
Through Saturday, the United States had stormed across the border and grabbed 23 medals, including six gold. (American athletes have mockingly suggested that they are renting the podium for a month.) Germany had 14, Norway 11, South Korea nine and Canada eight.
Through its $110 million Own the Podium program, Canada funneled resources to particular sports and athletes where it saw opportunity, and
annoyed some foreign athletes by being stingy with access to venues for training. It spread word of its ambitions far and wide, a bold declaration that some felt was rather un-Canadian and unbecoming a proper host.
Were not that far behind where we thought wed be, said Nathalie Lambert, a three-time medalist in short-track speedskating in the 1990s, and an official for the Canadian Olympic Committee. Were still in contention.
Officials believe that the final week of the Games, with medals to be awarded in events like hockey, curling and speedskating, could yield up to 12 more medals for the home team. The best-case finishes would still leave Canada behind its projections. And it is fair to wonder whether pressure has affected the athletes.
Mellisa Hollingsworth, a favorite for a gold medal in skeleton, cried when she finished fifth on Friday. I feel like I let my whole country down, Hollingsworth said.
Before these Games, Canada had never won a gold medal on home soil despite holding two previous Olympics the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, and the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.
So the country fixed its collective gaze to the moguls skier Jennifer Heil, the defending Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Cup champion. Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to watch her compete on the first full day of the Games. But hope was doused by the American Hannah Kearney. Heils otherwise strong silver-medal performance felt like a national letdown.
A night later, without Harper in the stands, the mogulist Alexandre Bilodeau became the answer to a new nationwide trivia question by winning gold. Three other Canadians have captured gold.
Yet the first week of the Olympics was largely a series of disappointing finishes, penciled in medals that had to be erased. The speedskater Kristina Groves finished six-hundredths of a second from bronze in the 1,000 meters. The figure skater Patrick Chan, a medal favorite, finished fifth.
With 15 Canadians going for medals Saturday, they won none, the first day of the Games they had not earned a medal. They had three top-10 finishers in the mens 30-kilometer pursuit cross-country race. In a five-man 1,000-meter final in short-track speedskating, the two Canadians in the race the brothers Charles and Francois Hamelin were passed on the last lap by the American Apolo Ohno for the bronze medal.
We always said there should be a fourth medal, Dean Pirozzini said while waiting in line at the mint. Aluminum. Wed clean up in that.
Was at Wings for the speed skating failures and everyone kinda sighed. Huge cheers when Martin made that final shot though