"And Jacques Jock finishes a respectable eighth place … a valiant effort and Jock's time is a new personal best. He's got to be pleased about this!" a CBC sportscaster exclaims.
We hear this time and time again during the Olympics. The celebration of mediocre results is as Canadian as beaver pelts.
Canucks have a longstanding reputation for pulling off gutsy performances that fall just short of the real glory. Unfortunately the reputation is deserved. While Barrick and Goldcorp mine tons of the precious metal, Canada's top athletes seem predisposed toward the lower steps on the podium.
Canada is the only country not to win a gold medal when they've hosted the Olympics, shutout in both Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988. In the Summer Olympics, Canada's all-time haul is 260 medals—58 golds, 94 silvers, and 108 bronzes*. Of countries that have won over 100 medals only Poland has a higher proportion of bronzes at 47.1 percent (Canada's bronze medal haul is 40.9 percent).
However Canada's favourite sports are played on snow and ice and the Winter Games provid...
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