What an exciting 17 days it has been. The 2010 Winter Olympics have just ended, however will never be forgotten! From start to finish, VANOC did an absolutely fabulous job in organizing arguably the best Winter Olympics in history.
To the people of Vancouver: Hosting the world in the way you have over the past three weeks, you’ve made Canada proud! On behalf of my fellow Canadians, I’d like to thank Vancouver, and all of British Columbia for showcasing our great country to the world! The world now knows who Canada is, and we owe it all to you.
To the World: thank you for being such gracious guests and for helping to make these winter Olympics the best ever!
Congratulations to all the athletes. Competing on a stage that was being watched by the world, you have all achieved success. We are proud of all of you. Congratulations!
Leading into the games, there was much talk about Canada’s OWN THE PODIUM program. For the first time, Canada stood behind it’s athletes with financial and training support. We made sure our athletes were ready to rock. However, about a week ago, apparently a few members of the Olympic Committee stated that the Own The Podium program was a failure. I beg to differ. Own The Podium IS A SUCCESS!! Allow me to clarify.
Olympic athletes represent the best of the best. Sports in its truest form, helps to identify the Champion in all of us. We are constantly surrounded by sports in our everyday lives. Every sport has its championship game(s). Golf, Tennis, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, and of course Hockey! There is always a clear winner. And this is the Champion. In golf we have Tiger Woods, or Mike Weir as the champions. Second or third place does not get you a jacket. In tennis it is Sampras, Agassi, Federer, or Nadal as Champs. Any mention of a second or third place winner at the Grand Slam? Wimbledon? Now we get to the team sports. There is only ONE Stanley Cup awarded, and that is to the winning team. The losing team does not get anything, and previously eliminated teams do not play for a medal. In baseball, you have to WIN the division to qualify for post-season play. AND, once again, there is only one winner in the World Series. The World Cup is no different, neither is the Super Bowl. Basketball’s Championship – whatever it’s called – (sorry Raptors’ Fans, but this really is HOCKEY COUNTRY) only has one winner too!
Therefore, I’d like to ask the IOC a question! Why do you reward second and third place finishes. I mean, it’s a nice touch and all, but give them an honourable mention. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it takes a special athlete to compete and win at the Olympics. These are the best athletes in their respective sports, from their respective countries, but we should be placing greater emphasis on the winners. That’s what the Olympics is all about. Champions!
For this reason, I am going to refer to the Silver and Bronze as “loser” medals. I have similar sentiments for points awarded to teams for losing in Overtime. These are points for losing. That is just not right. Let’s make a change, and have ONE Winner – THE GOLD MEDAL WINNER. THE Athlete that is the true champion of the sport, deserves to be honoured as THE Champion. Second and Third deserve our respect, but not a medal. Let’s keep track of the Second and Third place finishers in order to break any ties that may result in the Gold Medal standings. Important thing is that only the Winner should receive a medal for their performance.
Let’s do some quick math. As per your “old” system, the top three finishers were as follows: 1. USA with 37 medals (9 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze); 2. Germany with 30 medals (10 gold, 13 silver, 7 bronze); 3. Canada with 26 medals (14 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze). Therefore, a country like the USA is said to have won the Olympics because they had a more medals. In fact, they had 9 clear winners, and 28 medals for losing! A country with more losers, should not finish ahead of a country that had more winners.
Let’s rank the countries in the order that they should be ranked. Canada finishes FIRST with 14 winners. Germany retains their second place rank with 10 Gold Medals. We have a tie for 3rd place (and this is where your second or third place finishes can be used as tie breakers) with the USA and Norway. With 15 second place finishes against Norway’s 8, the USA would be ranked 3rd, Norway picks up 4th. South Korea and Switzerland tied for 5th place with 6 Gold Medals each, however we’ll give 5th to South Korea since they had 6 second place finishes to Switzerland’s 0. This wraps up the top 6. The rest can be ranked in a similar manner.
Ladies and gentleman, the clear winner of the 2010 Winter Olympics is CANADA with 14 GOLD Medals. Canada had the most WINNERS! I hereby declare Canada’s Own The Podium program a tremendous success!! CANADA OWNS THE PODIUM!!
Asif Khan, Realtor
Re/Max All-Stars Realty Inc.
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