Losing to the U.S., Canada’s rival in hockey, was devastating to people across the nation. Despite dominating in sports like Ladies Speed Skating or Men’s Skeleton, hockey is what Canadians care about.
After the game last night that many celebrities were present at, Buzz Aldrin gave his thoughts on Canada’s loss to The Canadian Press, in this article published for the Vancouver 2010 special in The Star.
“The media makes an awful big thing about how many gold medals do you win, who’s first. That’s not the point.” Said Aldrin.
Own the Podium, has spent 117-million dollars in the past five years to ensure Canada finishes first in the medal standing. Own the Podium hasn’t been much luck for Canadians as we’re tied for fourth in the Olympics with nine medals and America leading with 24. Coming in first is now unrealistic for our country.
With services like Own the Podium set up it gives a ‘we’re better than you’ message to other countries. What’s wrong with Canada being happy to host the Olympics and give athletes recognition for their work and hardships endured to get here. I’m sure VANOC and Olympic fans give recognition to athletes, but is that what gets the most publicity? No. The focus is on what sports we lose, and how many medals we can achieve.
Canadians need to see the underlying issues of the Olympics. Sure, there apparently supposed to boost our economy, but what about the debt were consuming? What about the hundreds of poor people in Vancouver being kicked out of subsidised housing?
There are more important things to life than how many medals our country can claim on home soil.
Original Article: http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/769496–don-t-have-to-be-first-second-man-on-the-moon-tells-canada
