Since the 2018 winter Olympics began on February 9th 2018, Canada has the third highest medal count. With 13 medals, Canadian athletes trail Norway’s 17 medals and Germany’s 15 medals. Canada has skated, skied, luged, snowboarded, and curled themselves into the third highest medal ranking with 4 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze medals. These athletes have come from all corners of Canada to make their country and themselves proud in PyeongChang. This week’s gold medalists have given Canadians something to cheer about.
Who: Mikael Kingsbury
Event: Men’s Mogal
Medal: Gold
Age: 25
Home Province: Quebec
Fun Fact: Kingsbury is in his seventh year of being ranked number 1 in the world
Notable Quotable: “It’s just unbelievable. I won the Olympics. I’ll be the Olympic champion for the rest of my life.”
Who: Alex Gough, Sam Edrey, Tristan Walker, Justin Smith
Event: Luge Relay
Medal: Silver
Age: 30, 33, 26, 26
Home Province: Alberta
Fun Fact: This foursome has been to three Olympic games together. They received fourth place in this event in the Sochi games, and this was their chance for redemption
Notable Quotable: In referring to their fourth-place finish at the Sochi games, Edrey commented, “That fueled us. That fueled us for a long time. I just know that we put in all the hard work and did everything right. Tonight was about sliding for each other and sliding for Canada, and we did that.”
Who: Patrick Chan, Gabrielle Daleman, Kaetlyn Osmond, Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir
Event: Team Event -Figure Skating
Medal: Gold
Age: 27,20,22,32,33,28,39
Home Province: All hail from Ontario except for Osmond who is from Alberta
Fun Fact: Scott Moir published his story in the book “Tessa & Scott: Our Journey from Childhood Dream to Gold”
Notable Quotable: Patrick Chan admitted to being very nervous before his event. He admitting to having to give himself a little pep talk before he hit the ice saying, “I just had a conversation with myself” Even gold medalists need some encouragement!
Who: Kaitlyn Lawes, John Morris
Event: Mixed Doubles, Curling
Medal: Gold
Age: 29, 40
Home Province: Manitoba, Ontario
Fun Fact: After a bad car accident, Morris was forced to choose between his two favourite sports, hockey and curling. Luckily he chooses to curl.
Notable Quotable: When asked about her dynamic with partner John Morris, Kaitlyn Lawes commented, “We weren’t perfect right off the bat, we stumbled. We had to learn as quickly as possible how to play well together and overcome adversity. But we did, we learned quickly and adapted and before you know it we were really starting to play well together.”
Who: Ted-Jan Bloemen
Event: Speed Skating –Long Track
Medal: Gold
Age: 31
Home Province: Alberta
Fun Fact: Bloemen started his skating career in the Netherlands, his mother’s country of origin.
Notable Quotable: Overcome with emotion after his win, both he and his wife, watching in the stands, burst into tears. “I’m really grateful for all the people around me, and I’m a really happy person and I’ve been so for a long time. I’m really grateful for the team that I have around me, and the family that is here with me, and that’s how I feel: really proud, happy, and grateful.”
Next, Canadian athletes will fight for wins in multiple events including Ice Hockey, Freestyle Skiing, and Ski Jumping.
