What is your favourite Sochi 2014 moment? [POLL]
Vote for your favourite at the bottom of this post. You can vote once per day through June 5th.
The second hardest working team in Sochi was for sure the story team at Olympic.ca, right? Am I right? Show of hands?!
Well, anyway, we didn’t sleep much, and in our bleary-eyed state we did our best to share 16 days of red and white glory.
As we get set to celebrate our athletes at Alberta’s Celebration of Excellence, we decided to share our favourite moments from Sochi.
Who do you agree with? Vote below and also tell us your favourite Sochi moment @CDNOlympicTeam.
Clutch, by Asif Hossain, Community Editor
After shooting out of a cannon with nine medals (four golds) in the first four days, Canada suffered a gold drought of seven days from February 12-18. With our place at the medals table on the slide, Canada looked to Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse for relief. They didn’t disappoint. After the first two runs it looked like the United States may unseat the reigning women’s bobsleigh champions with a cumulative 0.23 seconds lead. But Humphries’ near-flawless driving under pressure took advantage of technical errors made by the U.S. rivals on the second day, and the Canadians won by a total of 0.10 seconds. The 0.33 seconds swing and one of the more exciting comebacks in Sochi, put the country back in a celebratory mood en route to finishing the Games strong with 10 gold medals.
Alex the Great, by Steve Boudreau, Community Editor
It would be foolish, nay, irresponsible to leave Alex Bilodeau’s repeat gold medal performance out of the mix for top Sochi moment. Alex managed to live up to his legendary win in Vancouver and put together an impressive final run overcoming tremendous pressure and passing his main rival and current World Cup Champ Mikaël Kingsbury. Bilodeau’s inspiring final Olympic race was equalled only by the manner in which he conducted himself afterwards, once again embracing his brother, praising Kingsbury, his coaches and the Olympic movement.”
The Gesture, by Janet Kwan, Digital Intern
When the news broke that Gilmore Junio had given his spot in the 1000m to teammate Denny Morrison, most of us were caught by surprise. Who gives up the chance to compete at the Olympic Games? But in a move exemplary of the Olympic spirit, Gilmore wanted only what was best for the team, even if that took him off the ice. That selfless gift to a friend turned into one of most talked about moments of the Games when Denny skated to silver for his first individual Olympic medal, four years after immense disappointment in Vancouver. At just the right time, Denny produced one of his best races ever, cheered on by Canadians at home and Gilmore in the stands. With the boost of confidence, Denny went on to win bronze in the 1500m. As the one with the hardware, of course Denny was celebrated. But standing alongside him the entire way was the one who made it possible, certainly not an unsung hero.
Sister Act, by Marie-Ève Leclerc, Digital Intern
There was curiosity before the Olympics about the three sisters from Quebec all competing in ladies’ moguls. Maxime, Chloe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe weren’t household names yet, but that was about to change on Day 1 at Sochi. Although Maxime was out of the final round, Chloe and Justine advanced in second and third place, behind dominant American favourite Hannah Kearney. On a dramatic last run late in the evening at Rosa Khutor, Justine shot up from third to the gold medal position and Chloe nestled in for the silver, both sisters finishing ahead of Kearney as she failed to displace them on the night’s final descent. The one-two finish sent Canada into ecstasy and started a national love affair with the Dufour-Lapointe sisters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pQdusv4E3w
The Post, by Mark Nadolny, Digital Coordinator
Canada’s women found themselves down 2-0 vs the USA with just over 3 minutes left in the Gold Medal Game. Then something magical happened. First, Brianne Jenner scored to cut the lead to only one goal. Soon after, with Canada’s goalie pulled to give the team an advantage, the puck slid its way down the ice, barely hitting off the post and skidding wide of the empty net. The close call obviously energized the Canadians, specifically Marie-Philip Poulin, who would go on to score the game-tying goal with under a minute left in regulation as well as the overtime gold-medal clinching goal. The story-book ending couldn’t have been written any better.
Loonie Luck, by Callum Ng, Senior Writer/Producer
In the days leading up to Sochi, all talk of the men’s alpine team focused on Erik Guay. And that was fair. He is arguably the ski racer of his generation. In the men’s downhill, Guay finished a respectable 10th and it seemed Canada’s 20 year gap between Olympic alpine medals would only continue. Then Jan Hudec happened. Notoriously stellar on race day, the Calgarian hurtled down the super-G course into a bronze medal tie with American Bode Miller. It was as good as gold for Hudec, who had persevered through multiple major knee surgeries not to mention a herniated disc in his lower back just a couple of weeks earlier. And in a classic Canadian moment, the day before the race Hudec had buried a dollar in the snow near the finish line. While Hudec met with the media post-race, the “lucky loonie” was retrieved, giving Hudec two valuable pieces of metal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJZkURnjG8
Hugs, by Paula Nichols, Lead Researcher
Perhaps it’s because I am a huge figure skating fan. Perhaps it’s because I was there to witness it live at the Iceberg Skating Palace. But when I think of my favourite moment of the Games, the first thing that comes to mind is the plethora of hugs shared by the Canadian figure skaters during the inaugural Olympic team event. In general, figure skating is an individual event. It can be lonely, standing at centre ice waiting to perform and then waiting to be judged. But something special happened in Sochi. In contrast to the other countries whose teams seemed to be just groups of individuals, the Canadians banded together to cheer, console and celebrate. Over three days of competition the Canadian box in the kiss ‘n cry was always packed, even including skaters who were not entered in the team event, ensuring that there was always a mob to welcome whoever came off the ice. It culminated in a silver medal, a hands-held jump onto the podium and one final group hug on the ice before taking over the kiss ‘n cry for a team photo session. It was an awesome example of what the Olympic experience is all about.
POLL
Got another favourite moment from Sochi 2014? Let us know in the comments below.
