It's not that long ago that Canada was a sadsack nation when it came to the Olympics - winter or summer. It wasn't that we never won anything; it was that we always seemed to be underachieving in sports where we legitimately should have done better.
When the medals came, they were truly special. They were generally unexpected. We were proud that we had finally managed to penetrate the veil of mediocrity that seemed to lie over the Olympics for us. Our winners were heroes. But so were our losers.
From our perspective, we were the good guys. We tried hard. We were nice. We were happy to be there and just happy to represent our country, even if that meant finishing 26th. And even when we were caught cheating, if felt like we were the only country nice enough to allow ourselves to be caught: The bad guys were getting away with it.
After every Games, we would wring our collective hands with angst that we hadn't done better. More money! Bigger and better sponsors for our athletes! More athletes! More pride! A killer instinct! Stronger support from Corporate Canada! And so on.
Well now we've arrived. We're with the big boys in Sochi. We are expected to dominate. We are expected to win. When we finish 26th, we get passing mention. When we win a Silver but were supposed to win a Gold, we've let the country down. When we come out of nowhere and win a medal we weren't expecting, that's a story; if we were expected to win it, it's just taking what was rightfully ours.
When we don't win something we were supposed to win, our first thought is that someone else must be cheating.
For me, this isn't nearly as fun as the Olympics used to be.
We used to pride ourselves on following all the sports and all the athletes, not just the Canadians. We used to be David and they were Goliath. We used to be sweet and gracious. The Olympics were a time when we proudly put on display our sportsmanship, not our egos. We used to be righteously indignant at how the Americans behaved. Now, we're the Americans.
Before you have to tell me I'm being unfair, I'll readily admit that my opinion has been formed based on a relatively small sample of Olympic viewing. The 9-hour time shift has me watching events after they've happened. Watching all day long, I might be seeing all the stuff I used to love: The events where we have no shot at a medal; the profiles of the athletes who aren't contenders; the sports that aren't on the North American radar at all.
I know there have been beautiful moments; there always are. Athletes who have devoted their lives to attaining world's-best status are amazing people who do amazing things. The problem I have isn't with them. It's with us.
I used the word "we" throughout this post to call out an Olympic (and sporting in general) pet peeve of mine: "We" aren't doing what the athletes are doing; They are. They have put in time, effort, passion, devotion, persistence, ... that we couldn't even imagine (now I do mean "we"). They have made the sacrifices. They have put their lives on hold. They do this every day, and once every four years we pay attention to them.
How ridiculous is it that they feel the need to apologize to us when they don't get the medal we expected of them? Who are we to expect anything?
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Gotta go...short track luge is coming on.
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