Like billions of people around the world, I love watching the Olympic Games. As a couch athlete, I dedicated many hours a day to the excellent TV coverage of the Paris 2024 Games. I love the stories behind the athletes - the years of sacrifice and dedication and the struggles and setbacks they overcame. Watching them compete and succeed with their coaches, parents and families in the audience is heartwarming. I am in awe of the world class speed, power, strength, balance, skill, tenacity, focus, and athletic grace on display in 32 different sports. Despite the pressure to perform against the very best, and with the world watching, I admire the athletes' humility, class and sportsmanship. Even wealthy professionals from the worlds of soccer, golf, tennis and basketball can be brought to tears on the Olympic stage. To be an Olympian and represent your country at the highest level is a tremendous life accomplishment.
The Latin motto of the Olympic Games is Citius, Altius, Fortius - Communiter - which translates into Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together. The International Olympic Committee added "communiter" in 2021 to recognize the unifying power of sport - timely in a world in desperate need of more unity. The Paris Games included 206 National Olympic Committees and over 10,000 athletes. People from diverse backgrounds and cultures coming together to represent, and for two-weeks at least, unite their countries, and maybe even the world. Olympians also inspire generations of children to be active and to dream big.
Each nation tends to focus on the events and results that feature their country's athletes but the Olympics provides countless inspirational moments. A 41-year old Cuban wrestler named Mijain Lopez won individual gold for an unprecedented 5th consecutive Olympics. This legendary athlete competed and won in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 130kg (heavyweight) division. He first competed in Athens in 2004 and did not medal. Over the next 20 years, he won Olympic gold five times in a row in a challenging, combative sport. The 100m women's track final was won by Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia - population 180,000 - and she became the "fastest woman in the world" and won her tiny island country's first medal of any colour, ever. Alfred went on to add a silver medal in the 200m sprint. Cindy Ngamba, originally from Cameroon but a refugee for the past 15 years, lost a close, heartbreaking bout in the 75kg boxing semi-finals, but won bronze and the first ever medal for the Refugee Olympic Team.
Canada enjoyed their best medal total in a summer Olympics in decades. Our 9 gold medals and 27 medals overall was our best finish in a summer Olympics not marred by political boycott. Every one of the 317 Canadian athletes accomplished tremendous results just to be included in the Olympic Games, and the 81 Canadian "top 8" results in Paris were outstanding. Whether it was 17yr old Summer McIntosh winning three golds and a silver in the pool, the incredible hammer throw double gold by B.C.'s Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg, the creative and athletic exploits of Vancouver breaker Phil "Wizard" Kim, or the absolutely clutch performance of the men's 4 X 100m relay team, there were many incredibly exciting moments for Team Canada.
At the same time, we have a ways to go as a sporting nation beyond our passion for ice hockey and the NHL. Can we cheer on athletes every four years and ignore them the rest of the time and expect success? Our 27 medals was a long way from the totals of countries like Australia (pop. 26 million), who won a remarkable 53 medals and 18 golds in Paris, or the Netherlands, with a population of 17 million, who won 15 gold and 34 medals. While Canada typically achieves greater results in the Winter Olympics, in Beijing in 2022, we won 26 medals but only 4 golds. This was far behind Norway (population 5.4 million) and their incredible 16 golds and 37 medals in Beijing.
Many nations, especially in Europe, have well established and well supported national and professional leagues and funded training programs for a diverse variety of sports - track, handball, water polo, volleyball, speed skating, cycling, rowing, rugby, etc. Canada is improving, and our national sport organizations, Sport Canada and the Own The Podium programs need to continue to work together to fund and support our national team athletes. To achieve success on the world stage, Canadian athletes should not struggle in anonymity in non-Olympic years. They need ongoing funding, access to training, and media coverage to compete and win at the highest level. This has to be done thoughtfully to create a culture of excellence that is also supportive of our athletes' well being - to fight and achieve your best is always more important than winning a medal. If we collectively tune out in the years in between the Olympic Games, can we really expect more than pretty good?
Merci infiniment to Paris - what a show! Congratulations and thank you to all of the Olympians for your inspiration. Faster. Stronger. Higher. Together, Canada. 🇨🇦
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| A cycling race through the streets of Paris. Cycling is one of countless sports watched and enthusiastically supported in Europe. |
