2010 Vancouver Olympics

[Guest Low Roller]

The Media All-Star Team, selected by members of the accredited media at Canada Hockey Place, was announced at the end of the Men's Ice Hockey Gold medal game on Sunday.

All-Star Team

Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)

Defenceman: Shea WEBER (CAN)

Forward: Pavol DEMITRA (SVK)

Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)

Forward: Zach PARISE (USA)

Most valuable player: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Tournament Directorate Best Player Awards

Goaltender: Ryan MILLER (USA)

Defenceman: Brian RAFALSKI (USA)

Forward: Jonathan TOEWS (CAN)

Edited March 1, 2010 by Low Roller

[Kanada Kev]

Lots more great photos from the Big Picture:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/vancouver_2010_part_2_of_2.html

Edited March 1, 2010 by Guest

[rubberdinghy]

WOW...them's some perfect teeth!

[Northern Wish]

Comparing our Olympics to 1936 in Berlin?!?!

It was a Canadian party, and Canada sure enjoyed itself

Gil LeBreton

McClatchy Newspapers

It was a Canadian party, and Canada sure enjoyed itself Medvedev demands resignations over Olympic flop Russia now on the clock as countdown begins for 2014 Youth is silver lining for US team Oh Canada! Host country wins Olympic hockey gold in overtime Napier, Kohn now turn eyes toward Middle East Canada's pot of gold Olympic sliding touched by tragedy Go crazy, Canada: Hockey win triggers big party US, Canada shine atop Winter Games medals tables Rogge: Figure skating judging 'impeccable' Slovakian hockey player reprimanded for doping Yes, Crosby's 'got a little destiny to him' Tragedy, glitches and glory at star-crossed games Norway's Northug wins men's 50K cross-country race A perfect ending for Canada's Games VANCOUVER, British Columbia — After a spirited torch relay ignited pride in every corner of the country, the Olympic Games began and quickly galvanized the nation.

Flags were everywhere. The country's national symbol hung from windows and was worn on nearly everyone's clothing.

Fervent crowds cheered every victory by the host nation.

But enough about the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

At the opening of these Olympic Winter Games more than two weeks ago, Vancouver organizers expressed the hope that they could show the world a truly "Canadian Games."

That they succeeded in that, there is little doubt.

For 17 days we were barraged with Canadian flags, rode buses and trains with people in sweatshirts and jerseys adorned with Canadian maple leafs, and were serenaded at venues by Canadian spectators, lustily cheering for Canadian athletes.

The first Olympics I ever attended were also in Canada, the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. For a kid not long out of college, it was a profound experience, seeing Lasse Viren, Alberto Juantorena, Nadia Comaneci — the athletes of the world — on the sporting world's grandest stage.

One of the speakers at that Olympics used a phrase that lingers with me still: the family of man.

There is no earthly event that reinforces that notion as well as an Olympic Games. For all of the latter-day Games' inherent commercialism, that ideal persists. I truly believe that.

It persists, despite the overwhelming chauvinism of the past two weeks.

They showed us Canadian Games, all right. And in most cases, nothing but Canadian Games.

I'm not talking about TV coverage. I have no idea what Bob Costas and NBC were televising back in the States.

But from the opening ceremony to Sunday's closing, from the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili to Sunday's gold-medal hockey game, on the streets of Vancouver and at the Olympic venues, only a token nod was given to the rest of the world's athletes.

I was as surprised as I was disappointed.

Had the classic Canadian inferiority complex finally decided to bite back? Or was this a dark consequence of the Own the Podium program?

At the Games' outset, Canada's obsession with finally winning its first gold medal as a host nation was understandable — quaint, almost.

But that story swiftly swept the luge tragedy off the front pages. There were no follow-up stories about investigations, memorials or retributions to the family.

Kumaritashvili himself was blamed for the fatal accident. The luge competition went on. Some Canadian lugers even callously complained about the shortening of the track.

And so the tone for these Games was set.

It was Canada's party, and no dead luger, no critical British tabloid and no visiting Americans were going to spoil it.

That attitude is regrettable, because a good, if not especially memorable, Olympics followed.

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn won her cherished gold medal in the women's downhill, validating all the product endorsements and cover shoots she will have between now and 2014.

Evan Lysacek struck a blow for U.S. men's figure skating, giving legendary coach Frank Carroll an Olympic champion for the first time.

Texas-based Olympians fared well, winning five medals, which is as many as Finland, Japan and Italy.

Speedskater Chad Hedrick of Spring earned silver and bronze medals, Denton's Jordan Malone won a relay bronze in short track, and the Dallas Stars' Brenden Morrow (gold) and Jere Lehtinen (bronze) are going home with hockey medals.

But a lot happened that didn't make the front pages of the Vancouver newspapers or find its way into the Canadian TV network's opening montage.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze in cross-country skiing to become the ninth athlete to win five medals at a single Winter Olympics.

Skier Maria Riesch finished in the top 10 in all five Alpine events. Her native country, Germany, won at least one medal on every day of this Winter Olympics.

American short track speedskater Apolo Ohno won three medals, giving him eight and making him the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian of all time. But that's nothing — Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, at age 36, won two biathlon medals and now has 11.

Canada's rush to the victory stand over the Games' final week resulted in a Winter Olympics record for a single nation, 14 total. The U.S. hockey team can take solace that its silver-medal finish Sunday was the Americans' 37th medal, also a record for one nation.

But for the most part, the most underappreciated soul at these Olympics was an American or a European on the medals stand.

Yes, every host nation cheers lustily for its native Olympians. But never in my experience to the extent that we saw here, where the rest of the world's athletes were little more than drink coasters at the party.

South Korean Kim Yu-Na's dazzling gold-medal performance in women's figure skating, for example, was overwhelmed here by the attention given to Quebec's Joannie Rochette, whose mother tragically died.

Chief organizer of the Games, John Furlong, mentioned Kumaritashvili briefly in his Closing Ceremony remarks. But the hosts' insensitivity had long ago been duly noted.

At a news conference Saturday, for example, someone asked Ken Melamed, mayor of Whistler, where the luge run was located, if the village planned some sort of memorial to the luger from Georgia.

Why, yes, the mayor said, "We have to find a way to acknowledge Nodar ... and the Canadian athletes that have done well."

See? They don't get it.

The Vancouver Games' ticketing policy didn't help the partisan scene at the venues. To order Olympic tickets through the Vancouver 2010 Web site, a buyer had to have a Canadian address.

China sold 6.8 million tickets to its 2008 Summer Olympics. Vancouver only made 1.6 million available. The Canadians wanted to "Own the Podium," but organizers made sure that they owned the grandstands at each venue as well.

I'm still mystified that Canada fans were able to grab what seemed to be 98 percent of the tickets at the hockey venue. Olympic crowds have always been more inclusive.

In his closing news conference Sunday, IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged that there were "teething pains" as the Vancouver Games began.

"There was an extraordinary embrace by the city of Vancouver," he said. "Something I've never seen before."

There was embracing, all right, but then Canadians have always had the reputation for drinking a lot of beer. The loose marijuana laws only added to the nightly revelry in the downtown streets — which, frankly, seemed to have little to do with the Olympics.

Canada wanted to hold a party, and the Canadians did. The gold medals only seemed to fuel them.

Team Canada hockey jerseys became the uniform of the streets. Maple leafs were either hanging or on clothing everywhere.

One thing I never saw: a simple flag or shirt with the five Olympic rings. Not anywhere. After 15 Olympics, that was a first.

I didn't attend the '36 Olympics, but I've seen the pictures. Swastikas everywhere.

No political reference is meant, just an Olympic one. What on earth were the Canadians thinking?

An Olympic host is supposed to welcome the world. This one was too busy being (their word) "patriotic."

"Now you know us, eh?" chief organizer Furlong said.

We thought we did two weeks ago. Now, I'm wondering if Canadians can even recognize themselves.

Nice party. But so 1936.

Read more: It was a Canadian party, and Canada sure enjoyed itself - KansasCity.com

[AD]

haha, that's ridiculous

[Kanada Kev]

What a ridiculous article. Why the fuck can't we wave our flag and be patriotic? Writers like that would be complaining about Canadian complacency if we DIDN'T cheer and focused on non-Canadian athletes.

Come on ... he wonders why at the GOLD MEDAL HOCKEY GAME it was a sea of RED?

douche de douche douche

[peipunk]

Come on ... he wonders why at the GOLD MEDAL HOCKEY GAME it was a sea of RED?

No, he was wondering why Canadians were able to buy the vast majority of tickets.

[Kanada Kev]

Come on ... he wonders why at the GOLD MEDAL HOCKEY GAME it was a sea of RED?

No' date=' he was wondering why Canadians were able to buy the vast majority of tickets.[/quote']

Exactly ... and you don't think that Canadians would find a way to get their hands on those tix even if they were bought up by global scalpers, or other non-Canadian address holders anyhow?

I'm sure there will be plenty of Russians willing to unload their gold medal game tix in 2014 to Canadians with $$$$$ if Russia isn't in the final and Canada is. Will that be unfair?

[Northern Wish]

No, he was wondering why Canadians were able to buy the vast majority of tickets.

Since the rest of the article is so slanted and erroneous- I wonder how factual that statement was, about the Canadian address thing- and how tickets were distributed.

We hate Ticketmaster for improper onsales / limited options, I hope VANOC didn't stoop to their level....

[Guest Low Roller]

Canadian crowds at the Olympics reminded me of rowdy fans at a college football game: cheering the fuck out of anything wearing our colours, and practically booing everything that wasn't.

Canadians are changing as a people. We are no longer the reserved humble nation always saying "I'm sorry" every five seconds. Somewhere along the way we have become a loud and boisterous culture, very much in-your-face stopping short of singing "Canada! Fuck yeah!". Mind you we did belt out "O Canada" a bunch of times during CURLING. Really? curling?.

[AD]

Curling is so far beyond you. Even AHL-level curling.

[Kanada Kev]

Funniest moments of the Vancouver Olympics:

Edited March 2, 2010 by Guest

[Freak By Night]

Comparing our Olympics to 1936 in Berlin?!?!

Well, wasn't our Prime Minister hanging out with Jenn Heil?

Heil Harper!

[Freak By Night]

Canadian crowds at the Olympics reminded me of rowdy fans at a college football game: cheering the fuck out of anything wearing our colours, and practically booing everything that wasn't.

Canadians are changing as a people. We are no longer the reserved humble nation always saying "I'm sorry" every five seconds.

I say it's about friggin' time.

[MrBigTime]

We got exactly what we paid for out of this Olympics, and well done on and for us!

I think as a whole, we feel more "elite" as a country, due to the success of our athletes.

No matter what any journalist writes, no one can take away from what transpired this past Sunday alone. Hockey is a religion here, and most Canadians embrace it as such. I don't think we'll ever again see as much Canadian patriotism as we've seen over the past 2 weeks.

PS - And I also think it was great that we didn't see or hear Don Cherry once!!

Edited March 2, 2010 by Guest

[Booche]

I completely agree with AD, Kev and Deuce. Gone are the days when people would complain that Canadians werent "patriotic" enough when it came to events on the world stage. Hopefully.

If you werent, or arent, a proud and loud Canadian after all of that then there is something fucking wrong with you and it's time to quit.

[MrBigTime]

Edit:

I completely agree with AD, Kev and MrBigTime...

I'm trying to keep a dickhead reputation up on here and don't want my "Deuce" © brand tarnished... Dick!

[Velvet]

Come on ... he wonders why at the GOLD MEDAL HOCKEY GAME it was a sea of RED?

No' date=' he was wondering why Canadians were able to buy the vast majority of tickets.[/quote']

I think the writer is just going by how many people were wearing Canada merch at the game, and were cheering for Canada, which is a dumb thing to go by. I'll tell ya, everyone that visited the Olympics bought and wore merch, regardless of what country they were from. On the street, to see someone in a Canada jersey and assume they were Canadian would be asinine. Only 15% of the tickets for the gold medal game were for sale in the first place, the rest going to athletes, sponsors, media, Olympic people, etc.; it seems this writers sole motivation was to hit a word quota.

[Hal Johnson]

I'd also guess that when the Olympics are held anywhere in Europe they are within a reasonable driving distance from a plethora of other countries, therefore making it easier to have a more diverse crowd. The only other people able to drive to these games were Americans, and I guarantee not many of them anticipated their team playing for the gold (even they should have - the team was made up of some wicked talent.)

[AD]

Regarding the article comparing Vancouver to 1936 Berlin. The author and publisher made full apologies for running the piece. Publisher even noted that he was born in Canada to Dutch parents who were saved by canadians in WWII.

[c-towns]

[c-towns]

Stream the whole game in HD!