The Best of Times

Like "A Tale of Two Cities" the contrast between Canada's Winter and Summer Programs is no less varying than Charles Dicken's depiction of Paris and London in the late 1700's.



While Canada's Summer Olympic Athletes have struggled for the past decade - Canada's Winter Olympic Athletes are flourishing. Consider that at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games, Canadians nearly won more medals (41) than they won in the previos 5 Winter Olympiads combined (44). But not only are our Winter Athletes winning more medals than at any time in their history they are also converting on medal winning opportunities more frequently than ever before. When measuring medals won as a % of medals awarded Canadians won a total of 1.76% of medals awarded in the 70's, 2.97% in the 80's, in the 90's Canadian athletes converted 6.26% of the time and now in this first decade of the 21st century - Canadian athletes won 8.43% of all Olympic Winter Medals awarded.

This past decade, in the sports of speedskating, hockey, curling and skeleton, Canadian athletes were more succesful than any other nation in the world. In the sports of figure skating and snowboarding Canada remained a world power, and in the sports of bobsleigh, and cross country skiing, where Canada used to be an also ran, our athletes are now winning medals.

Notable achievements from this past decade are:


Olympic Gold Medallists: Marc Gagnon (Short Track Speed Skating), Marc Gagnon & Eric Bedard & Jonathan Guilmette & Francois Louis Tremblay & Mathieu Turcotte (Short Track Relay), Catriona LeMay Doan (Speed Skating), Jamie Sale & David Pelletier (Figure Skating), Duff Gibson (Skeleton), Woman's Ice Hockey Team (2), Men's Ice Hockey Team, Cindy Klassen (Speed Skating), Clara Hughes (Speed Skating), Jen Heil (Freestyly Skiing), Chandra Crawford (Cross Country Skiing)

Multiple Medallists: Cindy Klassen (6 medals - Long Track Speed Skating), Clara Hughes (3 medals - Long Track Speed Skating), Marc Gagnon ( 3 medals - Short Track Speed Skating), Woman's Ice Hockey Team (2 medals), Beckie Scott (2 medals - Cross Country Skiing), Anouk Leblanc (2 medals - Short Track Speed Skating), Kristina Groves - ( 2 medals - Long Track Speed Skating), Eric Bedard (2 medals - Short Track Speed Skating), Alanna Kraus (2 medals - Short Track Speed Skating), Francois Louis Tremblay ( 2 medals - Short Track Speed Skating), Mathieu Turcotte (Short Track Speed Skating).

Medals by Sport (in order): Speed Skating - Short & Long Track (21), Curling (4), Cross Country Skiing (3), Ice Hockey (3), Skeleton (3), Freestyle Skiing (3), Figure Skating (2) Bobsleigh (1), Snowboard (1)