They come and leave so quickly

Posted by admin on Mar 23, 2010 in Sports | 0 comments

In case you haven’t noticed (and to be completely fair I’m not sure how you would have), the Paralympic Games are over and much like they began, they left quietly. Canada finished in the medal count in third place, with 19 medals, 10 golds, 5 silver, and 4 bronzes. Only the Russians who won 38 medals overall and Germany with 24 bested Canada.

However, Canada’s top disappointment at the Games was likely in the sport of sledge hockey. Canada, who came into the tournament as the overall favourite to win gold, had to settle for 4th place, after losing to Japan 2-1 in the semifinals. The game was seen as a major shock within the sledge hockey community, followed up with the United States of America clinching the gold medal with a 2-1 win over Japan in the gold medal match. In the bronze medal match, Canada again was upset by Norway, with a score of 2-1, failing to achieve Canada’s goal of sweeping the hockey sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Overall, while it appeared to be a well-run, well-supported Paralympic Games, there were problems.

The first issue came about when CTV decided not to broadcast the Opening Ceremonies live on their network for all of Canada to enjoy. Most Canadians had to watch the replay the following morning, while only regional coverage of the actual ceremonies were broadcasted live.

In an article written on the Globe and Mail website, President of the International Paralympic Committee, Sir Philip Craven stated, “It absolutely smacks in the face of one of our four values, which is equality. So, when I heard this, I was not very happy about it, at all.” Since this time, CTV aired the Closing Ceremonies for all the country to see.

In the end Craven ended by saying “I think they’re really missing out, not getting it to the rest of the country. These are Canada’s Games, and they should be all over the country. It seems they’ve partially responded. I’m glad there’s been some improvement, but it’s not everything that should have been done.”