Olympics - Discussion

Norcalgal wrote:

Kashathediva wrote:The 15 yr old Russian was truly unbelievable and her team mate equally as skilled, graceful and did a wonderful job.

I watched both and felt they were heads above the other contestants. However, I feel that Alina 'gamed' the contest by putting all her jumps in the back end of the program. A true feat of athleticism but I was moved by Evgenia's storytelling.

And I know I probably butcher the spelling of their names - apologies.

http://nationalpost.com/sports/olympics/canada-facilitated-own-olympic-curling-demise-by-helping-the-world-improve
Canada facilitated own Olympic curling demise by helping the world improve


GANGNEUNG — Perhaps the best words of advice to a reeling Canadian curling community today would be these: be careful what you wish for.

Curlers in Canada wanted the world to embrace the game and wanted to help other countries get better. They’ve helped train curlers from other countries, welcomed them into their abundant facilities, welcomed them into their cash tournaments, and taken jobs as their coaches.

The result is curling teams around the world are better than they were four years ago, and that might help explain why Canada — a double gold medal winner at Sochi 2014 — finished off the podium for the first time ever in both men’s and women’s curling at the Olympics.

The latest disappointing result came Friday when Kevin Koe’s Calgary foursome dropped a 7-5 decision to Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz in the bronze medal game at Gangneung Curling Centre.

On one hand, it is great for the game internationally when teams like South Korea, Japan, the United States and Great Britain have a chance to play for medals. On the other, Canadians have viewed curling as a lock for medals since the sport became part of the Olympics in 1998. There are significant shockwaves crossing the country as people try to come to grips with what happened this month in Pyeongchang.

“We could have used a few more misses from our opponents this week, if teams were a little bit crappier,” Canadian men’s player Marc Kennedy said. “But they’re not. They’re damn good and they’ve learned how to win and it’s tough to keep up.”

It’s hard to imagine a Canadian curler talking about how hard it is to keep up with everyone else. The Canadians have always been the front-runners, double gold medal winners in Sochi, gold medallists in Vancouver and Turin and even Nagano. Even when not winning gold, Canada was always at least in the medals.

Not this time.

Koe’s team made the playoffs but then sputtered, first losing the semifinal 5-3 to the Americans, skipped by John Shuster, and then losing the bronze medal game to Switzerland. They were outplayed in both games, rarely had a chance to make any aggressive calls and were always on the defensive.

It just didn’t seem like Canadian curling.

Or maybe it did. It was just that the other teams were doing it better.

The expectations were high for these Olympics — how could they not be with Canada’s impressive track record? — but nonetheless two of three curling teams here will go home empty-handed and scratching their heads.

The only saving grace for Canadian curling was a gold medal won by Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris in mixed doubles, a new event at these Olympics. Imagine the hand-wringing that would be going on in the curling capital of the world without that positive result?

Many people, including Koe, will take little solace in that.

“Hugely disappointed,” said Koe, who curls with Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert. ”We feel like we’re a better team than we showed in the playoffs and it just sucks that we couldn’t pull it out when we needed to.

“Just too many misses in the final games. Those weren’t our best games. We managed to keep the games close but it’s tough when you are not playing your best.”

And yet, even without a medal, even with the crushing disappointment fresh in his gut, Kennedy was able to see how Canada’s loss is good for curling on the whole.

“We want the sport to grow around the world and the USA making the final might be the best thing that ever happened to curling,” Kennedy said.

“It might not be the best thing that ever happens to Canadian curling. But the U.S. is the biggest sporting market in the world and if you can get young American people playing the sport, there’s more money, there’d be more training and coaching … the sky’s the limit.”

Kennedy has no issue with the rest of the world beating Canada at its own game.

“We do have a World Curling Tour where these teams can come over to Canada and use our coaching and get better, and they have done that,” he said. “They do it, maybe to our detriment, but it has made for heck of entertainment and at the end of the day, is that not what this is all about?

South Korea’s EunJung Kim was playing in a women’s semifinal Friday night against Japan’s Satsuke Fujisawa. The media tent at the curling venue was never more full than it was at that moment. Scores of journalists and photographers were there from South Korea and Japan and the place was buzzing.

The game was a big deal. The building was full of enthusiastic, vocal fans who have already embraced curling, but will fall head over heels in love with it if the Korean curlers are successful.

If the United States is the biggest potential growth market for curling, Asia is a close second.

“As a fan, it’s wonderful,” Kennedy said. “I love seeing the sport grow. As a Canadian that wants to win everything, it sucks. But I’m a fan of the sport, so if other countries are getting to finals and winning, then it’s awesome. I love curling more than anything.”

This of course doesn’t mean Canada will stop winning world championships and Olympic gold medals. It just might mean it will have to work harder at it.

Koe doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about in the big picture. He was here, living an Olympic dream with his teammates and family, and he was thrilled to be a part of it. His team just had a couple of bad games at the wrong time.

“I think Curling Canada does everything right to get these teams ready for these events,” Koe said. “We lost two games in a row. Everybody loses two games in a row. Unfortunately for us, they came here.”

Koe would not change a thing about the way Canada selects its Olympic representatives, through trials in December, a couple months before the Games. Some people have suggested Canada should pick its Olympic teams sooner and give them more time to prepare to peak at exactly the right moment.

“History shows you it has worked,” Koe said. “This event, maybe people will start to think otherwise, but we were ready, we were playing well and no matter when we would have been chosen, we felt great coming here, in top top shape. We just didn’t play our best games.

“We have amazing depth in Canada. A lot of these countries have one good team. I couldn’t even tell you another good team in Sweden or Switzerland. They focus on one team and those teams do well. To say all these countries are at the level of Canada, I don’t think that’s accurate.”

Maybe not in the big picture. But it sure was accurate in these Olympics.

• Email: twyman@postmedia.com | Twitter: @Ted_Wyma

Travel advisory: Germans in Canada should exercise a high degree of empathy. Be nice, don’t gloat, give hugs, buy rounds of hot chocolate.

Just imagine how you would feel if Canada beat us in soccer

#CANGER @TeamD @CanadaFP @GermanyInCanada @KanadaBotschaft pic.twitter.com/0HlHoxMA7E

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 23, 2018

They've been a long time runnin'. @tessavirtue and @ScottMoir skate to @thehipdotcom. #FigureSkating #PyeongChang2018

WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/5RpK12i1Co pic.twitter.com/RNGEDAGxEk

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 25, 2018

umngirl wrote:The gala finale to “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman made me ridiculously happy.

The 2018 Paralympic Games are March 9-18.

Stream all the action at https://t.co/mFzK2VBhre or on the CBC Sports apphttps://t.co/3z5neoTkth pic.twitter.com/x94bJHmiMY

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 27, 2018

Canada had a huge opening day at the #Paralympics winning four medals

Tune in tonight to watch Day 2 action from Pyeongchang: https://t.co/3z5nepaVkP pic.twitter.com/2hYYesi3Eg

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) March 10, 2018

The @CDNParalympics team had a STRONG start at #PyeongChang2018.

Looking for all things #Paralympics? Follow @CBCSports who has you covered: https://t.co/C4LXTrpWTo#UpWithCBC @CBC pic.twitter.com/OSHQn5fy4n

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) March 10, 2018

Kury Oatway (@KOatway) holds on to that top spot and comes up golden for his first #Paralympics medal https://t.co/lAXfGk8VzD pic.twitter.com/5x1kEfePxo

— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) March 11, 2018

GOING TO THE SHIP! will compete for gold — for the first time since 2006 — against the reigning Paralympic champions #BelieveWeCAN#Paralympics #ParaIceHockey #SledgeHockey pic.twitter.com/6BIkP7TgaE

— Team Canada Sledge (@HC_Sledge) March 15, 2018

Brian McKeever sweeps cross-country podium, brings Canadian #Paralympics medal count to highest ever https://t.co/xquf9e6UOX pic.twitter.com/tKJntSkrqt

— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) March 17, 2018