If Only

By Paul James GlobeSports James On Soccer

As a Canadian viewer it was not easy controlling the lump in your throat during the past few weeks of a wonderful performance by all involved at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal was the icing on the cake of a Canadian Olympic vision made possible by the unfairly criticized Own The Podium program.

If the intent by Simon Barnes from The Times in London, who took a scathing swipe at Canada’s performance and ability to host was to embarrass us as a nation then it fell to the ground like a lead balloon. On the contrary, it appeared to propel the Canadian athletes to winning more gold medals in a Winter Olympic Games than had ever been achieved by any other nation.

Barnes’s reference to China and Australia coming of age through their own hosting of an Olympics was ironic when watching the hundred’s of thousands of Canadians taking to the streets to celebrate the athletic success of our own country. A sporting nation was forged as our athletes and supporters came of age in Vancouver. It was good to be a Canadian on Sunday night.

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