Sidney Crosby Seals Gold Victory For Men's Hockey: Who Cares? Photo: The Star-Ledger

Canadians can now stop the hand-wringing, and finally we can hoist the red and white high towards the clouds, but how large was our Vancouver Olympic victory really? We did win more gold medals than any other country in Winter Olympic history. In terms of sporting success and country size, our victory was actually much larger than most people think. With a population nine times larger than ours (which means a much larger young population base from which to select top athletes) and with significantly larger financial resources, the U.S. won only 11 more medals, and they actually won significantly fewer gold medals than Canada. Put another way, Canada won 0.466666′ gold medals per million people (the medal some people consider the only one worth winning), while the United States won only 0.033333′ gold medals per million people. Yes, the Americans won the most medals, but they did not win 9 times more medals which their population would suggest they should. Furthermore, most of these medals were not the more prestigious gold medal category. When factoring in population and financial considerations, some small countries actually do extremely well in Olympic events, even if the medals won are few in number. So given Canada’s small stature and her gold medal record, even when considering the home-field advantage, we accomplished truly Olympian athletic feats: we actually did more than own the podium.
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Women will not compete in ski jumping at the 2010 Games. Photo Credit: Media Canada

On December 22nd, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeal of the female ski jumpers who wished to compete for the first time at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, ending the women’s court battle. The SCC gave no reason for its decision.

The unfortunate legacy of exclusion of women’s ski jumping from the Winter Olympics will hereby continue in Vancouver.

Upon hearing this news, my first inclination was to accept the IOC’s rationale: that women’s ski jumping lacked sufficient participation to be included in the Olympics, on a national and an individual level. Not enough gals, not enough countries, and a simple equation.

After all, this is Canada’s Olympics; our Olympics. Surely a country that prides itself on tolerance, multiculturalism and gender equity would not idly allow gender discrimination to prevail in Vancouver, the most populous city ever to host the Winter Games.
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"R.C.M.P. Stare Down Protest"

Senior R.C.M.P. Officials can deny harassing Vancouver Olympic protesters all they want and Pat McDonnel can sit and feint innocence as long as he can legally cover it up or maintain deniability, but lets look at the truth – the R.C.M.P.’s actions, not statements, and I.S.U. security behaviours for the 2010 Olympics.

Danika Surm, friend of open anti-Olympic protester Chris Shaw, claims she was approached by two plainclothed Olympic security officers and questioned about her friendship with an anti-Olympic protester. Surm said “she was on her way to class at a south Vancouver campus when she was approached by two plainclothed police officers with the Integrated Security Unit, the force in charge of Olympic security. The two officers questioned her about her friendship with Chris, who teaches neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and what she knew about his plans to protest against the Olympics in February. The R.C.M.P. then did the same thing to Chris Shaw’s ex-wife, even though the two haven’t been married for 15 years.
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