Canada's Olympics Podium

Hey, what's all the fuss? Canadian athletes are doing really well. They're out there performing to the very best of their abilities. Making those who support them proud as all hell. The very fact that they've honed their skills to the degree they have, to enable them to perform to the extent they do is important in and of itself. So, congratulations to all of Canada's elite winter-sports athletes. We're bloody well proud of them.

Now, about that fairly costly $118-million "Own the Podium" gambit, what genius thought that one up? Don't our competing athletes with their superlative skills, determination and dedication feel under sufficient stress to score high, without that unneeded weight of public expectations? And isn't it just stupidly juvenile to think that these athletes can be psyched into gold, silver and bronze? With the emphasis on gold, needless to say.

Why was it seen as imperative that Canada build itself into a frenzy of podium ownership, as delusional an expectation as any ever heard of, given the competition. That being other countries investing in the athletic prowess of their young and gifted. The most successful scoring country is the United States. It has a population ten times that of Canada's. If Canada wins ten medals, then logically the U.S. should comparatively win 100. Has that happened? Will it?

As it is, Canada stands in fourth position in medals thus far, with only Norway, Germany and the United States scoring higher. Not a bad position to be in, with countries like South Korea, Austria, Russia, France, Switzerland Sweden behind, in that descending order. So where's China with it's 1.3-billion people and its government sponsored selection of promising athletic children forced to live their sports to achieve excellence?

And where is Great Britain, whose press has gone completely lunatic, reporting on their impression of the many and unforgivable failures of the 2012 Vancouver Winter Olympics to live up to expectations? Has Britain gone up to the podium even once during these games? Is England planning to 'own' the podium their turn around? The Canadian press, I'll warrant, will be far kinder in their compassionate understanding for another competing country's efforts.

And isn't it kind of nice to see Canadians invested in enthusiasm for their competing athletes, their scintillating enthusiasm shining the light of approval on all of them, irrespective of rankings? If we're going to blow the piggy bank and damn the consequences, when we should be spending a little more wisely, then we might as well enjoy it and admire and appreciate the talents Canadians have.

Not degrade them by higher expectations than are possible to achieve. Our gold medal winners, silver and bronze deserve their $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000 encouragements, and Canada deserves the immense satisfaction that these peerless athletes bring to the country.