 | With the eyes of the world on Canada during the Olympics we’ve already committed a number of gaffe’s that have caused the world to sit up and take notice. So far, into Day 5, the two biggest ones have been the failure of part of the torch to rise from the ground for the opening ceremonies and the exploding Zamboni machine at the Richmond Oval. The weather has also been non-cooperative but you can hardly blame that on Canada. |
But more so than any of this what seems to be shocking the world is the “Own the Podium” campaign that’s been in effect these past few years; the world is looking upon us gold hungry Canadians with shock and disgust as we go into the Olympic games hoping to win.
In past years, to be Canadian has been to sit in front of the TV being surprised if we win at anything other than hockey (and general outrage when we don’t win at that ). But almost as soon as it was announced that the games were coming to Canada the Own the Podium campaign was fired up and it became official: Canada wanted to win.
Perhaps one of the key symbols of the world’s disgust with us was the 18-0 trouncing of the Slovakian women’s hockey team. Frankly this is competition. World class competition. Competition. Two people or teams vying to reach a goal before the other (In this last instance Canada reached the goal 18 times before the other team did – you go girls). To compete is to try and win – getting to the Olympics is the first step and winning is the final step.
You can be guaranteed that if the skate was on the other foot and Slovakia had beaten up on Canada 18-0 no one would be suggesting that the Slovaks should back off. I certainly wouldn’t have – I’m perverse enough to enjoy that sort of blow out no matter who’s getting trounced.
A portion of the complaints regarding the trouncing of the Slovakians (doesn’t that sound like an opera “The Trouncing of the Slovaks”?) is coming from within Canada itself: that’s like the Israelites complaining to David “Ah jeepers David, we know you took down Goliath and all, but did you have to use a rock? That’s not that sportsmanlike!” That metaphor falls apart when you consider that Slovakia would be Goliath – but still it remains funny in a remote sort of way.
One of the biggest detractors of our new found gold hunger is Stephen Colbert; he’s been on Canada’s case for some time now because of our un-Canadian desire for victory. I’m not going to fight with him for two reasons: he’s funnier than I am and would humiliate me to pieces and he’s a satirist so whatever he’s saying you can pretty much take the opposite of it for his actual point.
I think I can imagine who’s behind the whole idea of the anti-“Own the Podium” Campaign: the chiropractors. Now, for the first time in many years, Canadian athletes are competing (there’s that word again) with the rest of the world and with the intention of winning. For the first time in the Olympics we’ve stopped slumping our shoulders and saying: “Chin up skier, at least you made it to the show” but instead we’re saying: “Silver’s great – gold’s better go get em next time tiger!”
The rest of Canada is developing a sense of pride in their athletes and we’re standing straighter because of that pride. What does standing straighter lead to? You guessed it: less back problems. Less back problems equals less work for the chiropractors.
Chiropractors are evil.
But as for the whole “Own the Podium” campaign, the thing is: we already own the podiums because we paid for them.
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