Canada comes of age with triumphant performance

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This article was published 01/03/2010 (5863 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — If China used the last Games to introduce itself to the world, it would seem the Vancouver Olympics introduced Canadians to themselves.

When The Great One lit the Olympic cauldron, it was a spark that lit national pride for the great many.

“This has been a great human occasion for the country,” said John Furlong, the chief executive officer of the 2010 Olympic organizing committee.

The Games have come to Canada twice before, but it wasn’t until this third date that things seem to have really clicked.

Yes, the early moments of the relationship were tragic and uncomfortable. The death of a Georgian luger will forever mark these Games.

The teething problems of the first few days, the drubbing from the press, also had a nation questioning whether the drive to own the podium was more than it could handle. But then the sun came out, not just in the sky but in the form of the first gold medal won by a Canadian at a Canadian Games. The home-turf drought ended with men’s mogulist Alexandre Bilodeau.

The president of the International Olympic Committee said even he was hoping for that turning point. Jacques Rogge began his Olympic association with Canada at the 1976 Games in Montreal. “I remember my Canadian friends saying we have no gold medal,” he said. “I was in Calgary (for the 1988 Olympics) as a team leader and they were whining again, ‘We have no medal.’ I was coming here and every Canadian I met said ‘I hope we’ll get a medal.’

“They got it, that was the defining moment for me.”

As it was for all Canadians.

“That’s the kind of thing that Canadians relish from these kinds of Games,” said Doug Anderson, vice-president of research company Harris Decima. “And that’s certainly is something that can break down barriers.”

Seventeen days, 26 medals and a host of unforgettable Olympic moments. A new generation of Maple Leaf-clad heroes and heroines stepped to the podium, which Canada occupied more than enough to earn national adulation and global respect.

But will Canadian history remember Vancouver 2010 as a kind of nation-building milestone, a benchmark for pride and patriotic fervour akin to 1967’s coming-of-age centennial celebrations?

Will Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner against Team U.S.A. on Sunday rival Paul Henderson’s immortal moment against Team U.S.S.R in 1972?

To Deborah Morrison, president of Canada’s National History Society and the publisher of its magazine The Beaver, the answer is yes.

“The Vancouver Games are going to be one of those turning points that redefines how Canadians see themselves,” she said.

“I think we’re all ready to take more pride in ourselves and to celebrate what we’ve achieved,” said the Winnipeg history advocate.

“We know we’ve got a strong economy, strong communities, and are ready for the next great national enterprise — be it economic, environmental, social or cultural. These Games have provided that final dose of international affirmation that gives us renewed confidence in our own potential.”

It also proved, said René Fasel, the member of the International Olympic Committee who oversaw the 2010 Olympics, that while hockey might be Canada’s game, these truly were Canada’s Games. “People were not only focused on ice hockey here, you had so many medals that this was not only a celebration of hockey but a celebration of the Winter Games,” said Fasel, who is also the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

As Canada began what would become a historic run on gold medals, the country also began a run on red mittens, red sweatshirts, red face paint — anything to show Canadian pride.

— The Canadian Press, with files from Canwest News Service

After weeks of Canadians gritting their teeth in the hunt for Olympic gold, the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Games were the equivalent of a country-wide gap-toothed grin.

Yes, following a gold rush that inspired the collective swelling of our national pride, Canadians finally relaxed on Sunday with a closing to the Olympics that reminded the world of our unique sense of humour.

There were marching Mounties in miniskirts. Tabletop hockey players. The iconic Hockey Night in Canada theme. Dancing canoes, red-clad lumberjacks and giant inflatable beavers. Singer Michael Bublé even rode atop a massive motorized Mountie’s hat while performing The Maple Leaf Forever. Winnipeg’s Inward Eye hit the stage to represent Manitoba.

And as Canadian fans continued to celebrate the mighty achievements of their Olympic team, organizers paid their respects right back.

“Canadians, you joined each other and our colourful international visitors in common celebration — radiant, jubilant, spontaneous, peaceful,” VANOC CEO John Furlong said during his speech. “For us, you were the wind beneath our wings. You did not just cheer — rather you lived every glorious moment as if you yourselves were competing for gold.”

The show began with a good-natured gag and never really let up from there. After Canada hauled in a historic 14 first-place finishes, these ceremonies found Canadians mining for gold of the comic sort.

Anyone who’s ever swapped Canuck jokes over pints would have been well-versed in the language they were speaking here. And if foreign audiences were left feeling like they missed out on the inside joke — well, the attitude here seemed to be: too bad, eh?

The show’s cultural centrepiece included a goofy, three-part comic monologue delivered by a trio of prominent exports — Michael J. Fox, William Shatner and Catharine O’Hara — that broadly poked fun at various Canadian stereotypes.

O’Hara focused on the politeness of Canadians, with jokes about Canadians’ proclivity for apologizing.

“We’re sorry you thought Canada was one big frozen tundra,” she said. “We’d have corrected you, and that would have been rude, and the last thing a Canadian is, is impolite.”

There was the raising of the flag, the singing of the Canadian, Greek, Norwegian, Russian and Olympic anthems, the medal ceremony for men’s 50-kilometre cross-country skiing, the introduction of the IOC athlete commission members, the recognition of Olympic volunteers, the official speeches and the extinguishing of the flame.

Whew. There was also the Olympic handover ceremony and a celestial presentation from Sochi, the host of the 2014 Winter Games.

Neil Young then delivered one of the evening’s emotional high points with his wistful Long May You Run, softly sung from centre stage as fake snow fell from the roof, ultimately extinguishing the Olympic torch.

— The Canadian Press