Evidently Canada isn’t doing as well as hoped at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, at least in terms of its medal count. This has lead to a debate about the Own the Podium program.

Canada is sitting in fifth right now and was hoped, from what I’ve heard, to take more medals and actually lead the medal count.

Just for some perspective, in 1988, Canada was twelfth in the medal standings with five medals: no gold, two silver, three bronze. As of today, Canada has 11 medals: six gold, four silver and one bronze.

What the hell? Only one bronze? I know we’re expected to have more than 25 medals, so it’s obvious we’re not coming in third enough! We’re doing pretty well on the gold front, so let’s shoot for third to really pull up the medal count!

We’ve had our first gold medal at a home Olympics and we can’t complain about that, so we ought to cheer our athletes on to bronze! It’s a little easier and we ought to be able to get a dozen of those to make the Own the Podium people and the Canadian Olympic Committee happy.

Shoot for the Bronze! Shoot for the Bronze!

Seriously though, this isn’t some kind of crisis. We’re a country of 34 million people and we’re doing pretty damn well. Our athletes are doing a fine job and nobody should be complaining.

Home field advantage is a blessing and a curse, and I suspect this may have a lot to do with why some Canadian Olympic medal favourites may not be winning. I sympathize with them! I would hate to be in their shoes with the pressure they must feel!

It’s not the fault of fans either and I don’t know of anyone who’s blaming the athletes. I certainly hope the Canadian Olympic Committee rethinks the pressure it’s put on athletes.

I think that promising Olympic athletes should continue to receive funding so they can focus on their sports and not have their funding yanked if they don’t perform according to expectations.

All kidding aside, Canadians are proud of their athletes no matter whether they get a medal or not. Good job!

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