Canada Criticized for Poor Olympic Results
The 2012 London Olympics have barely finished, and already a host of countries have come under fire for 'under performing', including Canada, which took home only a single gold medal, a far cry from its neighbours to the south, who took home the lion's share of 46 gold medals.
According to the final medal count of the 2012 Olympics, Canada finished 36th overall, with one gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals, behind far smaller nations such as Norway, Lithuania, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Croatia and even South Africa, to name a few.
Prior to this year's Olympics, Canada's poorest showing was way back in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where the nation placed 26th. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Canada managed to finish a respectable 19th, taking home three gold, nine silver and six bronze medals.
Canada Only Managed One Gold Medal
It should be mentioned that while the above medal rankings are determined by the number of gold medals a nation has won, Canada did bring home a total of 18 medals, more than many nations ranked above it. But in the nation versus nation environment of the Olympic Games, winning is everything, and gold medals are the ultimate representation and lasting proof of victory.
Which begs the question of where did Canada go wrong in the London Olympics?
While it could be argued that every country that did not come close to the top nations could be asked the same question, it is particularly relevant to Canada, considering its first world status, its size, its wealth, its vast population and the quality and high number of state-of-the-art training facilities it boasts.
There are many sports pundits who feel that given these criteria, Canada should have finished in the top 10 at least, and certainly not so far down the list as to end up in the same neighbourhood as Georgia, Columbia and Mexico. But the worst criticism has not been reserved for Canada's athletes, but for Canada's government and populace in general, who seem to be very accepting of Olympic outcome this year.
Canada Performed Much Better in Beijing
Many feel that Canada's generally placid attitude of 'we went to London and tried our best, but we didn't do as well as we did in Beijing. But we still won 18 medals' should be replaced by 'The fact is we performed below par in London. So let's find out why, correct our mistakes, and do much better next time.'
In fact, Canada could probably do a lot worse than to take a leaf out of Australia's book. The team from Down Under finished 10th overall in London with a none-too-shabby 7 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals. However, most Australians are reportedly up-in-arms about the fact they didn't do even better.
So it will be interesting to see how Canada comes into the 2016 Rio Games.
