Another Winter Olympics has come to a close and for all the initial worry and concern, from the outside it appears the games went quite well – especially for Canada, and particularly our team sports, earning gold in men's and women's curling and hockey and the women's two-person bobsleigh.
Of course, it wasn't just the team sports that Canada claimed the world's top spots in, winning four gold medals in freestyle skiing as well as a gold in the men's 1,500-metre short track speed skating. Canadian athletes also brought home 10 silver medals and five bronze, for a heavy medal haul nearing Canada's record-breaking 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where Canadians captured 14 gold, seven silver and five bronze.
But for all the Canadian successes at these most recent games, it's certainly easy to see Canada's strength is in its ability to work as a team. Whether it's the 221 athletes representing our country's Winter Olympic team, or the two women and their bobsleigh, sliding over 100 kilometres an hour down a mile-long track towards their second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, Canada has cooperation down pat.
In curling, the women ran the table, going undefeated on their way to gold, while the men started slow but came on to win eight straight games, also capturing gold for their country.
And who would have thought Canada's hockey teams would be able to top their performances in Vancouver? But they did.
The Canadian men's team was the strongest it's been in decades, allowing only three goals all tournament, on their way to letting Canadians breathe a collective sigh of relief, and winning gold for the third time in the past four Winter Olympics.
But as much as the men dominated, it was the women who highlighted the games with their come-from-behind overtime victory over rival United States to claim gold for the fourth consecutive Winter Olympics. Canada's women's hockey team came into the tournament after a turbulent few months, losing three straight games to the Americans in December and having one head coach leave the team and another come in just two months before the Olympics.
These women not only came together to win it all at the Olympics, but they play together all season. The members of this amazing team showed their support for one another through the tough times, then came together at the right time to represent a nation in front of the world and come out on top of it all.
As a team, Canada showed the world it is an athletic force. Perhaps, the lessons of teamwork and themes of cooperation and tolerance that emanate from so many the Olympic athletes, and Canadians in particular, could translate to the world outside of sport for the betterment of us all.
