THE STORY OF THE GAMES we were best when it counted The Games started as a ‘crazy’ dream and ended up a wondrous spectacle that transfixed and, just maybe, transformed a nation BY KEN MacQueen and jonathon gatehouse Ignition: Wayne Gretzky lit the outdoor Olympic cauldron in front of thousands of rain- soaked spectators here are tides and rhythms to an event that spans 17 days and includes 82 countries—an event so large it is capable of altering the emotional climate of a city, a province, a nation; indeed, the moods of many nations. Rather like the weather at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, which flip- Tflopped time and time again from monsoon to shorts and sunshine. From a Canadian perspective, the run of these Games—from early stumbles to tri- umphant conclusion—went a bit like speed skater ’s 1,000-m race on the first Thursday at the Richmond Oval. At the start gun, 24-year-old Nesbitt later said, “Instead of skating I kind of panicked. I had a slip after two or three steps.” Sometimes when that happens it’s hard to regain control. Just 200 m into the race Nesbitt was in a dis- mal 15th place. At 600 m she had clawed back to ninth, and the podium seemed an impos- sible reach. But she prepared mentally and physically for such things. The only way for- ward is to draw on your training, stick to your plan and to make sure no one can accuse you of giving up. And so she raged through the The Olympic last lap, throwing herself across the line to win ’s third gold medal by two one- bid began as hundredths of a second—still scowling at her- a spark with self for not having run a perfect race. the outcome. And so that Canada won more win- It was later that night, after the medal pres- VANOC, the Vancouver a tourism ter gold than any host coun- entation ceremony at BC Place, that Nesbitt Olympic Organizing Com- employee. try before, well above the finally unclenched. Yes, she allowed to a mittee, fulfilled its promise 10 gold the U.S. won in Salt couple of Maclean’s reporters, she was feel- to create a world-class ‘Go away, Lake. There, we said it. Um, ing better now. It’s just that she thought she event. Bruce,’ his sorry. could do better, she said. “I don’t want to The Canadian Olympic What our did— regret anything, right?” Then the smile grew Committee and its curiously boss said. those who made the podium bigger. “But if you don’t have the race of your controversial Own the and many who fell short—is life and you still win gold, it’s pretty sweet.” Podium program delivered elevate us with their very Writ large, these Games followed a similar the conditions that earned Canada more human stories of commitment, sacrifice, guts path to a “pretty sweet” conclusion. The organ- medals than at any Olympics in history. And and sportsmanship. Make that sportswom-

izational and emotional equivalent of those those who don’t often follow sports learned anship, for Canadian women carried the load, G ES first 200 m were indeed the worst: struggling of a 22-year-old moguls skier named Alexan- as they did in , by winning 56 per cent through the tragic death of Georgian luger dre Bilodeau who won, on the second night of the podium finishes. When the great Clara

Nodar Kumaritashvili hours before the open- of the Games, the first Canadian gold medal Hughes capped off her Olympic career on IMA G ETTY ing ceremonies; warring against the elements ever on domestic soil. True to his promise the Richmond oval with her for control of Cypress Mountain; fighting pre- that night, there were many more to come: sixth medal, she donated her $10,000 medal mature claims the Games were hell-bent for 14 in total, the most of any country. bonus to an East Vancouver outdoor program disaster; staring down international rants that True, our 206 athletes didn’t own the for at-risk youth. With equal generosity, she R ALSTON/AFP/ we were too hungry for medals, and domestic podium with their 26 medals. Full credit for credited Canadian fans for lifting her across bleats that we weren’t hungry enough. that goes to the remarkable performance of the finish line. “They gave me wings,” she OLYMPICS SPECIAL And then a corner was turned, and another, the U.S. Olympic team with 3 7, building— said. Well, Ms. Hughes, the feeling is : MA R K g e :

and another. You win by following your Canadian legislators take note!—on the resour- mutual. pa training, by having a plan, and a backup ces and legacy of the 2002 It’s largely up to us what we make of these plan, and yet one more. You win by dealing Winter Games. But one can add immodestly Games, now that the men’s hockey team has s maclean’ with the moment, not by obsessing about (a trend apparently born of these Games) gold, and the grand party that was the clos- p r e v io u s 30 Canada’s #1 news network has a dynamic new schedule. Know more. Know now.

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Built for speed: Whistler’s sliding track was the focus of tragedy, controversy and triumph

ing ceremonies is over, and the Olympic cir- By the time the bid was put before the IOC cus has left town. Much can be built from at a meeting in Prague in 2003, with speeches the legacy. There’s no secret to the formula— by Campbell, then-prime minister Jean Chré- it’s the one that brought the Olympics to tien and Wayne Gretzky, the Vancouver bid Vancouver and the one that saw them through: team was a well-oiled machine. In the final 8 to 9pm ET vision, planning and ceaseless toil. A thick vote, Vancouver edged out Pyeongchang, skin doesn’t hurt either. . The announcement by IOC president Jacques Rogge was greeted by cheer- The idea of a Vancouver-Whistler Olympic ing crowds jamming GM Place in Vancouver bid began with the spark of an idea in 1996. and in Whistler’s outdoor square. Bruce McMillan, an employee at Tourism The euphoria died soon enough. There Vancouver, popped into his boss’s office to were protests, from gritty anti-poverty activ- with Peter Mansbridge announce his brainwave. The organization’s ists who call the event a misuse of resources, CEO Rick Antonson was swamped with paper- to residents of a posh West Vancouver neigh- Monday to Saturday work. “Go away, Bruce,” he said. bourhood who set up roadblocks in a futile 9 & 11pm ET/PT McMillan persevered. Vancouver and then- attempt to prevent construction of a new Sunday at 9pm ET B.C. premier Glen Clark got on board. Clark highway diversion to Whistler. There were became one of the bid’s biggest early boost- cost overruns at the expanded waterfront ers, calling the bid his “crazy dream.” convention centre. Construction of the rapid- The bid outlived Clark’s political career. transit line from downtown Vancouver to the It was Premier Gordon Campbell’s decision airport devastated businesses along the in 2001 to put the bid process in the hands Cambie Street corridor. But the biggest threat of Jack Poole, a tough-as-nails real estate came from the collapse of the global finan- Rie d el /AP developer with a high tolerance for risk. The cial system, less than two years before open- job that would preoccupy the rest of his life ing day. The Olympics are about money as

Ch a r lie paid a salary of $1 a year. much as sport, and for a time it looked like

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PUB: Macleans Mag AM: OLYMPICS SPECIAL s maclean’ 32 Think of him Vancouver would be the first city to host the B.C.’s always muscular protest groups used Games during a depression since the approaching Games to draw attention to as your in 1932. Vancouver had to bail out the developer such issues as globalization, poverty, social voice of the athletes’ village with a $100-million housing, the problems of Vancouver’s drug- emergency loan. Although VANOC raised addled Downtown Eastside, unresolved native in Ottawa. $953 million in domestic and international land claims and the seal hunt, to name a few. sponsor revenue alone, the economic crisis Add to this a local population skeptical of triggered massive internal cost-cutting as it cost overruns, wary of inconvenience and struggled to stay within its $1.75-billion budget. ground down by seven years of Olympic plan- “Notwithstanding what’s going on out there, ning and debate, and no one quite knew what the public expects us to get to the finish line, reception the world would get. no matter what,” said an increasingly weary A day before the Feb. 12 opening ceremon- John Furlong, VANOC’s CEO. ies, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed Intelligent. Professional. And Throughout, VANOC pressed ahead with the B.C. legislature in Victoria. It was telling, well informed on the issues its inspired notion to stage the most ambi- if just a bit strange, that the often stiff and facing our nation. Evan asks the tious Olympic torch relay in history. It began buttoned-down Harper felt the need to urge tough questions for you on the in Victoria after the flame was delivered from Canadians to let loose. “Patriotism, as Can- Hill – your front row seat to the Athens and ranged across the country for 106 adians, should not make us feel the least bit nation’s political dramas. days, visiting more than 1,000 communities. shy or embarrassed,” he said, to the bemuse- cbc.ca/politics More than anything else VANOC could have ment of some in the American media. “We done, it transformed the will ask the world to forgive Vancouver Games into a us this uncharacteristic out- national event. Can’t decide burst of patriotism, of our Locally, the sweep of the pride, to be part of a coun- Games, from Whistler to who should try that is strong, confident, Richmond, encompassed be the final and tall among the nations,” the traditional territories Harper said. By opening day, of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, torchbearer? and in the days after, as the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. streets thronged with people, The so-called Four Host First Give your celebration houses thumped Nations were involved in Olympic into the early hours, and the bid process as early as choruses of O Canada 2004, a far-sighted move by cauldron erupted at the least provo- Poole, who had Metis herit- four arms. cation, it was clear: message age. The result was a large received, and understood. component of Aboriginal Canadian athletes held a culture in the Games and ceremonies, as well pre-Games pep rally in the Olympic Village. as economic development and job opportun- One speaker was Joé Juneau, a former Olym-

rd/CP a rd/CP ities. “We are writing a new chapter in Can- pic and NHL hockey player and assistant chef w adian history together,” declared Tewanee de mission for the Canadian team. He spoke

Hay Joseph, CEO of the host nations group. of the youth hockey program he fosters in Unfortunately, not everyone who worked the Inuit community of Kuujjuaq in north- on the Games could be there to see the caul- ern . He spoke of the piled stone inuk- dron lit. Last August, Leo Obstbaum, who shuk, a Games symbol that serves in the Arc- designed the Olympic medals and the over- tic as navigational and survival aids. You have all look of the Games, died at age 40. Then a great opportunity here, he told the team. h an J onat He r al d; in October, just one day after the torch was “We are the inukshuk for Canadian youth.” y lit in Greece, Poole, 76, succumbed to pan- g a r creatic cancer. Today, the cauldron, which The opening ceremonies of an Olympic drew throngs of visitors throughout the Games are meant to define the host nation

; C al ; stf Games, stands in a waterfront plaza that and set a tone of optimism and possibility bears Poole’s name. for the days to come. In that regard, Feb. 12 was a mixed success. The day will forever be Trail of the torch: Clockwise from top left, R ; ST g es ; in Vancouver, with NBA star Steve Nash; marked by the death of 21-year-old Nodar at CFS Alert, Nunavut; at Nathan Phillips Kumaritashvili, who flew off his sled during Square in Toronto; off Long Beach, near a training run and slammed into an exposed Tofino, B.C.; in K’omoks, B.C.; outside Drum- I ma Getty heller, Alta.; in Vancouver, with singer Sarah girder. VANOC, the IOC and the luge federa- Weekdays at 5 p m ET

CP; McLachlan; town of Old Crow, in the Yukon tion moved quickly to declare the track safe,

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PUB: Macleans Mag which had the unfortunate result of pinning the blame on pilot error. Overnight, VANOC rushed to adjust the ice on the corner and wall off the girders. With that death, the air of celebration seemed to visibly leak out of John Furlong, the man who had led the organizing com- mittee since its inception. The speech he gave at the opening ceremonies that night, before a massive global television audience, seemed flat. As for the ceremony itself, it was an ambi- tious and visually stunning spectacle, one that exceeded the expectations of many. Pre- dictably, it also launched a series of national debates: too little French, too much geog- raphy, little recognition of urban or Asian influence, no people of colour among the notables carrying in the Olympic flag or among those lighting the cauldron. Ah, yes, the cauldron. Perhaps it was an intentional metaphor of Canadian comprom- ise. Can’t decide who should be the final torchbearer? Build a cauldron with four arms. And so, at the climactic moment, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, NBA star Steve Nash, speed skater and skier Nancy Greene stood on the floor of BC Place. And waited. Three giant crystal arms appeared, but the fourth, intended for Le May Doan’s torch, failed to rise from the floor. If the Clara hydraulic failure was also a metaphor, it’s one best Hughes said left unexplored. Gretzky Canadians was then dispatched by pickup truck to light a lifted her second outdoor cauldron—

one that would soon present g es across the VANOC with its own set of finish line. challenges.

By far the greatest battle I ma Getty ‘They gave VANOC faced, one that me wings.’ started a month before the Games and continued throughout, was waged at r Ju inen / r aspe Cypress Mountain, the weather-battered site of all freestyle skiing and boarding events. Warm winds and lashing rain stripped the slopes and ate into the snow the crew had “farmed” elsewhere on the site and had stored at higher altitudes. What snow there was, ; J C la r k / Re u te s ; y and hundreds of loads trucked in from a site three hours away, was used to maintain the playing fields. By the first Sunday of the

Powerful backers: (top) Prime Minister Ste- A n d d/CP; Wyl phen Harper; B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell (middle); VANOC CEO John Furlong

(bottom), all smiles at the closing ceremony Adr ian Games the battle was being lost. VANOC Priestner Allinger, vice-president of sport, and made a hurried decision to cancel 8,000 Terry Wright, vice-president of operations, to standing-room tickets for boarder cross. That the group. Others with specialized responsibil- Tuesday was a public relations nightmare. ity were added as needed. From that meeting, VANOC cancelled a further 20,000 half-pipe the VANOC team got its marching orders. tickets. Compounding that, the increasingly Some of those demands in the weeks before If money talks, this is popular outdoor cauldron looked like it was the Games and during the crazy first week where it comes to debate. imprisoned behind an ugly chain-link secur- were odd, to say the least. Rebuilding Cypress Kevin has the money, the investment ity fence. Add to that the breakdown of some was a massive challenge. “We needed to make expertise, and lots of opinions. Amanda Cypress-bound buses as well as the ice instant decisions on flying in very expensive has the smarts and the business machines at the Richmond Oval and a seg- massive bales of straw,” says Cobb. “We got know-how to keep him in check. ment of the foreign press had already writ- some from the northwest of the . ten the Games off as a disaster. “What I read We got some from Oregon. Even finding the cbc.ca/money in the British press,” snapped Mark Adams, trucks was a challenge. And then finding suit- the IOC’s director of communications, “bears able snow. I had to learn all the different types absolutely no relation to what I’ve been see- of snow there are.” ing in the competition.” The cauldron, a victim of its own popular- True enough, competitions were going ity, was another challenge the MOC jumped ahead. iced a bronze medal on. Vancouverites awoke Wednesday, five that first Sunday at the Richmond Oval, days after the cauldron was lit, to find work- Kevin though Canada’s male speed skaters faltered. ers had built a viewing area on a nearby roof- O’Leary Cypress was proving fertile ground for Can- top. At street level, an eye-level gap in the adian athletes. In the first four days it yielded fence was created to allow better pictures and a silver for and that first gold a day later the deck was wired for lights to for Alexandre Bilodeau in moguls, and a sil- accommodate massive nighttime lineups for ver for Mike Robertson and gold for Maëlle a photo position. Overnight Thursday, pre- Ricker in snowboard cross. They can thank fabricated Plexiglas replaced much of the a well-rehearsed issues management team at chain-link. Canada’s medal content was fall- Amanda VANOC that Cypress was even open. ing far behind the U.S., but perceptions of Lang Games organization was on the upswing. Gil- Every Olympic morning, at about 4:30 bert Felli, IOC executive director, was lavish a.m.—just as the last hard-core revellers in in his praise. As the first week neared its close Vancouver and Whistler had crashed into he spoke of two pleasant surprises: “VANOC’s sleep or other forms of unconsciousness— ability to address issues, usually within 24 Dave Cobb, executive vice-president and hours,” he said. And the streets teeming with deputy CEO of VANOC, got a text message flag-waving Canadians. “The enthusiasm of delivered to his cellphone. It was the report the people was quite amazing.” from the overnight crew at VANOC’s main That spirit was captured in two medal-win- operations centre—the MOC. The rotating ning performances later in that first week. team of senior managers had spent the dark Short-track skater Marianne St-Gelais marked hours of the 24-7 operation filtering through her 20th birthday on Wednesday night with reports filed daily from each function at each a silver in the woman’s 500-m. At the next of 15 venues of the monster machine that is night’s medal presentation, she practically the Olympics. The aim was to have venue levitated off the medal’s podium, dancing teams solve 95 per cent of the problems on and shaking with joy like a kid on Christmas site. The worst five per cent, or system-wide morning. In Whistler, the news was bleak. crises, found their way to Cobb’s phone. The alpine team was shut out of the podium, Cobb, the one-time chief operating officer and gold medal hopeful Mellisa Holl- for the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, ingsworth tearfully apologized to the country signed on with VANOC in 2004. By Games on Friday for her fifth-place finish. It was skel- time, his role as head of sponsorship and eton racer Jon Montgomery to the rescue. His marketing evolved to something akin to gold medal run on Friday was a thing of beauty. troubleshooter at large. He had plenty of Even better was his unaffected exuberance: material to work with. walking through the streets of Whistler chug- The contents of Cobb’s phone messages ging from a pitcher of beer and then leaping NEW TIME formed the agenda for a daily 6:30 a.m. break- onto the podium the next day to massacre fast meeting with Furlong, his boss. From there, the national anthem. Canada got its hoser Weeknights at 7 pm ET the MOC executive convened, adding Cathy hero when it needed him most.

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PUB: Macleans Mag AM: When Emily Brydon finally made it the bottom of the ladies’ super-G course, long minutes after her scheduled arrival on a bright and warm Whistler Saturday morning, the applause was loud and sustained. But the cheers did little to salve her psychic and physical wounds. Canada’s top medal hope wasn’t the only one to wipe out—15 of the 53 competitors failed to finish—but her crash rated among the more spectacular. A lost edge on a wide right turn, then an explosion of snow as her arms, legs and skis all tried to head in different directions at extreme vel- ocity. “I think I just took part in a train wreck,” she later told reporters, large sunglasses hid- ing her teary eyes. “I was the train wreck. I’m one giant, walking bruise.” A Brothers Grimm- type end to a disappointing home Games (Brydon had finished a distant 16th in the downhill) and her Olympic career. That afternoon at the Richmond Oval, speed skater Denny Morrison faded badly on his final lap in the men’s 1,500-m, finish- ing ninth, well below his, and the country’s, podium expectations. And Canada’s evening hardly went better. Sitting in third place after the first heat of the two-man bob, flipped his sled on Turn 13 at the Whist- ler track—dubbed “50/50” for your chances of getting through it. He and brakeman Las- celles Brown emerged with just scrapes and bruises, proving more durable than their medal hopes. The pièce de résistance came in short track. The presence of both Charles and François Hamelin in the men’s 1,000-m Perseverance: (top) fog and rain at Cypress tested everyone’s limits; figure skater Joannie final—a five-man affair—seemed to guarantee Rochette, here with her father, Normand, overcame her mother’s death to win bronze a place on the podium. And when the broth- ers from Ste-Julie, Que., leapt out to an early asked the RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit try’s top NHL stars had been found wanting. one-two lead, pacing the field, there was bed- to divert some of its 10,000 officers from the Marty Brodeur, a hero in Salt Lake, looked lam inside Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. But venues to the streets. more than mortal in goal, mishandling pucks, with just two laps to go, a pair of Korean skat- Sunday hardly improved the mood. On and surrendering soft chances. At the other ers sneaked by them on the inside, while Cypress, Chris Del Bosco had a ski-cross end of the ice, Ryan Miller stood on his head. American star Apolo Ohno took the outside bronze in hand with the finish line in sight. Canada outshot the Americans 45-22, but route. Gassed, crushed, or both, the Hame- But a desperate push to catch ’s that was little solace. The 13 million people lins watched their competitors pull away to Michael Schmid and Andreas Matt of Austria who tuned in to watch across the country—a victory. Charles, the world record holder at ended in disaster: a hard wipeout off the last record audience for a sporting event—weren’t the distance, came fourth. François, fifth. jump. As he lay crumpled in the snow, Nor- looking for a moral victory. For the first—and as it turned out last— way’s Audun Groenvold skied by to take the Earlier in the evening, Ottawa’s Kristina time at the 2010 Games, Canada had gone final place on the podium. A case, perhaps, Groves had put the country back on the medal

a day without a medal, and perspective was of wanting it too much. “I wasn’t content,” board with a silver in 1,500-m speed skating. /CP Ch iasson u l in short supply. (In , the country’s Del Bosco admitted. “Third, I guess it’s all But there was little satisfaction. The 33-year- a first trip to the podium, a gold from wrestler right for some people. But I wanted to give old already owned two silvers from Turin. Carol Huynh, came on the eighth full day of 100 per cent for my sport and my country.” The goal was gold. With red eyes and second OLYMPICS SPECIAL competition.) Suddenly, the party seemed Could disappointment really be conta- prize hanging from her neck, she met the to be turning sour. In Vancouver, the thick gious? By the time the buzzer sounded that media in a subdued mood. “Deep in my heart, crowds that packed the downtown at night night on Canada’s 5-3 loss to the United States I really wanted to win that race.” The week- were developing an edge. City police ordered in men’s hockey, the answer was obvious. In end horribilis had Canadian officials backing s maclean’ liquor stores to shut just after sundown, and their first real test of the Games, the coun- away from their bold predictions about Own- P B linc h/ Re u te r s ; M a r k 36 It’s personal. ing the Podium, and the media grumbling ing flamenco in the original dance and vaulted about the ways the $117 million in extra gov- into first. When you want the real story, you ernment and corporate money had been The next night, as they went for gold in have to talk to the people behind the spent. Groves let it be known that the ath- the free dance, they had our undivided atten- story. Mark offers you the personal letes weren’t impressed with the carping. They tion. Skating second-to-last to Gustav Mah- connections that bring your news to were having enough trouble meeting their ler’s Symphony No. 5, their performance was life. It’s a fresh perspective on the own high standards without having to shoul- a marriage of power and grace. As they fin- day’s events. der the nation’s burden. “Sport is hard. We’re ished, entangled in an embrace at centre ice, all doing the very best we can with our bod- Moir gave Virtue a kiss and said, “Thank you cbc.ca/connect ies and our minds,” she said. “I look at [medal] so much.” The crowd at Pacific Coliseum expectations and shrug, they’re so meaning- were on their feet cheering. So too the patrons less. You never know what’s going to happen. at a pub near Stanley Park. Beneath the grand- The Olympics is just that crazy thing.” stands, Moir watched the final pair of the night, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the The knock on Joannie Rochette’s door at United States, on a TV monitor, while Virtue the Olympic Village came at 6 a.m. She averted her eyes. When the scores flashed up, opened it to find her father Normand, and he told his partner that they had finished her coach, Manon Perron. It was the worst second. He left her hanging for an instant possible news, at the worst possible time. before sharing the truth—they had won gold. Rochette’s mother Thérèse had suffered a Canada’s home Games were back on track. massive heart attack only hours after arriv- ing in B.C. to watch Joannie skate. The doc- The volunteers who spent close to a tors at Vancouver General were unable to month heroically struggling against Mother save her. She was dead, at just age 55. Nature on Cypress Mountain’s rain-soaked The COC made the news public at a mid- slopes did their part to preserve national morning briefing on Sunday. Canada’s chef advantage. “Lucky loonies” are buried all over de mission, Nathalie Lambert, a three-time the course. When the snow is finally allowed short-track medallist, was to melt, there will be more choked with emotion. The than enough change lying decision to continue, or The heroic around to buy a few rounds return home to Île-Dupras, and toast Canada’s freestyle Que., and mourn, was volunteers at success. entirely up to the six-time rain-soaked On Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor champion, she said. “I think Cypress was the beneficiary. In close Joannie is living through to whiteout conditions, she the most difficult day of her buried lucky tore up the hill and the ski- life. And it will be the most loonies all cross competition. The difficult week, and year of 26-year-old burst out of the her life.” over the gate in the finals like she was By early afternoon, Joan- course wearing a jet pack. At the nie’s answer was clear. With finish, she was 30 m ahead her tearful father looking of the Norwegian and French on from the stands, she took the ice for a skiers who took silver and bronze. McIvor, scheduled practice session. She made her way who was ranked second in the world coming through her short program tango flawlessly. into the Games, spoke about having the kind The few people in the rink applauded. of confidence that maybe only extra federal Ice dancer Tessa Virtue was sharing a room funding can buy. “This was the only race of with Rochette at the athletes’ village when my life where I just felt like I was going to win,” the tragedy struck. She spent much of the she said. “I used to think it was bad to think day consoling her close friend. And between that way, that I was going to jinx it.” the hugs and tears, she tried to prepare for A few hours later, the men’s hockey team the competition of her life. After the com- finally found their game. In a must-win play- pulsory dance on Friday, she and partner off against , with Roberto Luongo Scott Moir sat in second place, behind Char- in net before his home rink fans, Team Can- lie White and of the United States. ada handed out an 8-2 drubbing. It wasn’t a Sunday evening, while most of the country classic, but the game was notable for one Weeknights at 8 pm ET was watching hockey, they delivered a smok- thing: Shea Weber hammering a puck past

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PUB: Macleans Mag In the final days, the medals came so fast and Euphoria: Vancouver was jammed after Canada won gold in men’s hockey Thomas Greiss and straight furious that through the net’s mesh. It it was hard race at age 37, she matches period, the score was 6-1. And from the open- left scorch marks. ’s career total ing faceoff, the result was never really in doubt. What will be remembered to celebrate of six Olympic medals (the Afterwards, Russian goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov in perfect clarity, and great them all most ever won by a Can- provides the quote of the Games. “They came emotion, for decades to adian). In short-track speed like gorillas coming out of a cage.” From their come, happened just before skating, the ladies’ 3,000-m homes, more than 10.5 million tune in to the 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Coliseum. The roar relay team—Tania Vicent, Jessica Gregg, Kal- blowout. when Joannie Rochette took to the ice for her yna Roberge and Marianne St-Gelais—take short program was the aural equivalent of a silver. At the , Canada’s Traditionally, athletes sneak out of the loving embrace, but it hardly seemed to regis- sleds come one-two in the women’s bob. Kail- Olympic Village at night to get away from ter. The 24-year-old exchanged palm slaps lie Humphries of and Heather Moyse their coaches, and their own best interests. with her coach, skated to the centre of the of Summerside, P.E.I., winners of the gold, do Canada’s women’s hockey team did it to find rink and struck her pose. And for the next a dance on the podium. Calgary’s Helen Upper- some competition. Once, just before the two minutes and 50 seconds, a nation held ton and Pickering’s Shelley-Ann Brown, the Games began, and a second time after a pre- its breath. silver medallists, opt for the more traditional liminary round where they outscored their The cheers when she landed her first and tears and hugs. Four medals in the space of three opponents 41-2, the women played toughest jump, a triple Lutz-double toe loop four hours, tying the best-day-ever total set in clandestine “tune-ups” against a Vancouver combination, were deafening. When she fol- Turin in 2006. All won by women. At the end boys major midget team, splitting the series lowed with a triple flip, they were louder still. of Vancouver 2010’s day 13, Canada has 16 against the teens. It had the desired effect. In At the finish, the dam finally burst. As 11,000 medals—but only 3½ (Scott Moir) have been the semis, they outclassed Finland 5-0. And spectators stood applauding, Rochette doubled won by men. on Thursday afternoon, with Prime Minister over in tears. At the boards, she fell into her Not that there’s any danger of all that suc- Stephen Harper and Wayne Gretzky cheer- coach’s arms. The marks, a personal best of cess going to the heads of Canada’s women. ing them on, they blanked the U.S. 2-0 to 71.36, putting her in third place, seven points Leaving the track after her silver medal run, take their third consecutive Olympic gold. clear of her nearest competitor, hardly seemed Upperton wonders aloud if anyone besides Before the game, IOC president Jacques g es to matter. Sitting in the kiss-and-cry area, she the people in the grandstands saw it. A few Rogge took official notice of the elephant in called out to her Maman. hundred metres down the hill in Whistler, the room. The sport’s competitive balance OLYMPICS SPECIAL there are large crowds gathered in front of the needs to improve if it is to remain part of the I ma Getty Pop quiz: see if you can identify the theme. big screens on the streets, and packing every Games, he warned. “There is a discrepancy On Wednesday, Clara Hughes skates to a bar. But it’s the hockey team’s 7-3 thumping there, everyone agrees with that.” bronze in women’s speed skating’s most gruel- of Russia in the men’s quarter-finals that they’re Later that evening, a composed Joannie s maclean’ ling event, the 5,000-m. In her final Olympic cheering about. Four minutes into the second Rochette sealed the deal in the women’s long O lson / S cott 38 The story isn’t program. Skating to Camille Saint-Saëns’s ing Roberto Luongo got just enough of his complete until Samson and Delilah, she wobbled early, but glove on a shot by his Vancouver Canucks finished strong. Her free-skate score of 131.28, teammate Pavol Demitra to deflect it wide. you end up here. and total of 202.64, secured third spot on Canada would play for gold. Peter is the face of news and the most the podium, and perhaps the greatest ova- trusted journalist in Canada. He’s the tion ever accorded a bronze medallist. “I just Canada was in uncharted territory. As the real deal, backed by a crack team of went out there and did what my mother would final Saturday of the Games dawned, the top journalists. At the end of the day, have wanted me to do,” she said afterwards. country already had 10 golds, tying the Nor- it’s what you know that matters. “My mother always wanted me to be a strong wegians in , and the U.S. in Salt person. She was my biggest fan but at the Lake, for the most ever won by a winter host cbc.ca/thenational same time the most critical person you could nation. And equalling Canada’s best-ever ever meet.” Rochette laughed. “Tonight she Olympic showing at the boycott-thinned 1984 was telling me, ‘What went wrong with that Los Angeles Summer Games. The 11th came triple flip? It looked so good in practice.’ ” just before 2 p.m., at the Richmond Oval. The unheralded men’s pursuit team of Denny Could this really be happening to Can- Morrison, Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu ada? Medals coming so fast and furious that Giroux took an early lead on the Americans, with Peter Mansbridge it was hard to celebrate them all. On the final and never looked back. Their victory lap Friday night, the men reported for duty. Mir- wasn’t even completed when 34-year-old aculously avoiding a pileup at the last turn Jasey-Jay Anderson made it 12, winning the of the short-track 500-m race, Charles Ham- parallel giant slalom snowboard race at elin took the gold. The jingoistic cherry on Cypress, finally grasping an Olympic medal top for the screaming fans at Pacific Coliseum in his fourth Games. came when U.S. superstar Apolo Anton Ohno Kevin Martin and his rink nailed lucky 13, was disqualified for bumping, and Canada’s with an emphatic 6-3 victory over Norway’s François-Louis Tremblay was awarded the Thomas Ulsrud, and his team’s unspeakably bronze. A half-hour later, another short-track garish pants. At the Whistler Sliding Centre, gold, as Hamelin, his brother François, Trem- Lyndon Rush, , David Bissett blay and Olivier Jean outhustled the defending and Chris Le Bihan took a bronze in the four- Olympic champions, Korea, by 0.222 seconds. man bob, Canada’s second-ever in the disci- The Americans took bronze. pline, and first in 46 years. It probably should Short-track supremacy, and the general have been silver. Rush’s sled finished with a climate of success, took some of the sting out four-run total of 3:24.85, just 0.01 seconds of an epic choke on the curling sheet. Up 6-4 behind Germany 1, piloted by three-time on her last shot in the tenth end of the Olym- gold medallist André Lange. The Americans pic final, Team Canada skip Cheryl Bernard took the gold. “That shows how good he is,’’ missed an open hit and let Anette Norberg Rush said of his German counterpart. “He and the Swedes steal two to tie the game. In struggles and wins a silver medal, and I have the extra end, the unthinkable happened great runs and get a bronze.’’ Still, it was no again, as Bernard, this time holding last rock, time to be greedy. The medal, Canada’s 25th, missed a straightforward double takeout, los- eclipsed the Olympic high-water mark set in ing the game and the gold. The silver didn’t Turin four years ago. Vancouver 2010 was hang easily around her neck. When she met now officially our best-ever Games. Home- the media the next day, the 43-year-old Cal- field advantage confirmed. garian said she had spent a restless night, The victory celebrations, large and small, replaying the match in her mind. “I threw carried on into the wee hours. Just after 2 On Demand Edition at 6 pm ET - those shots over and over again, and I made a.m., a happy, -organized mob des- Go to cbc.ca/thenational to fi nd them every time.” cended on Vancouver’s Granville Street, carry- But nothing could put a damper on this ing portable stereos. They tuned their radios out how to get it party, including an all-too-close call against to the same station and waited. When the the Slovaks in the semifinals of men’s hockey. opening chords of Bryan Adams’s Summer 10 pm /10:30 NT on CBC Television Up 3-0 with less than 10 minutes to play, Team of ’69 spilled into the cool night air, they Canada took its foot off the pedal. Lubomir started dancing. Soon hundreds more ped- Visnovsky scored to make it 3-1. Then, with estrians joined in. How could a self-conscious five to go, Michal Handzus made it a one- city and country ever have come to this? goal game. With the Slovak goalie on the Could it ever get better? bench and an extra attacker on the ice, Can- Yes. Hockey gold. M Monday to Saturday ada barely survived the final seconds. A sprawl- With Jason Kirby 9 & 11 pm ET/PT Sunday at 9 pm ET

CBC_NN_039_05_4C_10_Macleans.inddCBC Radio Canada, English Communications 1 2/26/10 2:25:18 PM 250 Front Street West P.O. Box 500, Station “A” Toronto, ON M5W 1E6 Print Production 416-205-3781 CBC_NN_039_05_4C_10 APPROVALS Client: CBC News Network Trim Size: 2.75”x10.5” Colours MJO: AD: Art Director: Alan Chan Spot Colours: None Run Date: March 4th, 2010 CD: CW:

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