Stand up and cheer Calgary

Today marks the half -way point of the 2010 Olympics and like we expected Canadian athletes are excelling. 8 Olympic medals to date, 4 of which are Olympic Gold. Canadians from coast to coast are rejoicing as a result.

Olympic Officials, journalists, and athletes credit the Own the Podium program for Canada's success in Vancouver. However, as reported in previous blog posts Canadians have been excelling at the Winter Olympic Games since 1998. In those Games Canada finished 5th in the overall medal count. In Salt Lake City we were fourth, four years later Canada finished 3rd in the medal count and in Vancouver we currently sit 5th.

Pull the veil a little further back and one will see an all too familiar trend emerging in Vancouver. Virtually all of Canada's medal winning athletes live and train in Alberta. Consider the following:

Jenn Heil - 2nd in the moguls is from Spruce Grove, Alberta

Michael Robertson - Silver in Snow Board Cross - Lives and trains in Canmore, Alberta

Christine Nesbitt - Gold in Long Track Speed Skating - Lives in Calgary

Jon Montgomery - Gold in Skeleton - Lives in Calgary

Kristina Groves - Bronze in the Woman's 3,000 in Long Track Speed Skating - Lives in Calgary

As for the other three medalists - two of them Alexandre Bilodeau and Maelle Ricker frequent the athletic facilities in and around Calgary regularly. And the company that manages these facilities is WinSport Canada.

As the rest of the country applauds the Own the Podium program isn't it time we recognized who is truly responsible for Canada's success at these Games. Stand up and Cheer Calgary! It is you and your Olympic Legacy who is truly responsible for Canada's success at these Olympic Games.