The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Another Olympics is in the record books, and by all means it was a success.  Probably the only negative story to come out of London were the events that had empty seats as spectators...and not because of lack of interest.  Because tickets are so expensive and out of the reach of the average person, a lot of tickets were given to corporate sponsors, VIPs and Olympic committee members, who in turn didn't think it was worth showing up.  Hopefully, this is something that will be corrected in the future as it was quite upsetting for those who were dying to get their hands on tickets, told that the events were sold out...and more than half the arena would be empty.

With that aside, Canada will view these Olympics as the bronze Olympics:  18 medals total, 12 bronze.  The sense I get from others is that the total medal count is about what we expect from our country.  It would have been nice to have a few more gold, but otherwise it's a decent result.  For the most part, I can't remember most of the names of the athletes that did win their medal.  I couldn't even tell you the name of the trampolinist that was our sole gold medal winner.  What I'll remember from these Olympics is the tragedy and triumph of our women's soccer team (as well as our 4x100 men's relay team, but I want to talk about the ladies here).

The only event that I had taken the time to make sure I could tune into watch, the semi-final Canada vs USA matchup, had the Canadians as heavy underdogs against the #1 ranked USA team.  Unbelievable that Canada took an early 1-0 lead.  The Americans would tie it up...but then Canada would respond.  Back and forth it went in a crazy second half that, for me, was probably the most exciting half of soccer I had ever witnessed.  It was not to be for the red and white with their 3-2 lead, as a questionable call from the Norwegian referee in the 80th minute eventually led to the goal that would force overtime.   When it looked like it was headed to penalty kicks, the Americans got the game winning goal in extra time of overtime (I wish that was a typo), ripping the heart out of Canada in the process in a game that was robbed from them.  A three goal performance from Captain Christine Sinclair simply wasn't enough and they had to settle for fighting for the bronze.

When it was announced FIFA would be investigating "incidents that occurred after the matchup", that simply added fuel to the fire, in Canada's eyes anyway, at the thought that Sinclair might be suspended for speaking her mind and attacking the officiating.  Luckily, FIFA realized that Canada was already punished enough and no suspensions were forthcoming for the France match to take place a few days later.

The result was storybook for Canada, as they took the bronze medal 1-0 in a match where the French outplayed Canada and outplayed them badly.  In sports, such a finish by the undeserving team is rewarded with terms such as "resilient" and "courageous".  And really, winning a bronze was justice is Canada's eyes.  After all, they should have at least left London with a silver medal, right?  And how many times have you supported a team in your life when they "should" have won but lost?  Exactly.  We'll take it any way we can.  And to top it off, Sinclair was honoured by being the flag bearer for Canada at the closing ceremonies, with her Olympic record six goals in the tournament.  One of the world's best female soccer players, not known by many at the start, became a household name once the dust settled.

I actually think the Canadian women's soccer team, by getting jobbed by the officiating in their semi-final game, may have benefited long-term from the result.  The plucky underdogs deserved the win against the mighty Americans and the right to play for gold, and it was stolen from them.  It rallied the country together, and to be honest, it would have been likely a Japanese victory judging by the way they outplayed them in their round robin matchup if they met in the finals.  Would losing gold or winning bronze been remembered by Canadians?  In any case, their run to the bronze medal was a dramatic one, something that many Canadians will remember, and will hopefully carry over interest in the 2015 World Cup that Canada is hosting,  And more importantly, it will hopefully lead to young Canadian girls dreaming of becoming the next Christine Sinclair.