Ashes

I think it will depend on how bad public backlash / media shaming is. But you’re probably right, I’m not seeing a change anytime soon. If anything, it will require intense closed door lobbying by the COC/NSO’s/private investors to move the needle.

Well… maybe NOW we will get the funding we need from the feds. This is the only positive I can take

YAY THE WORLD ISNT TOTALLY HORRIBLE!!! 😅🥇🇨🇦🕺🏾

I’m worried about the Paralympics now… I don’t even want to watch them, for fear of being disappointed. Which is totally unfair to them, I realize. (but maybe I’ll have stopped crying while eating junk food in the fetal position on my bed by then LOL)

I was really counting on the Olympics being a positive distraction from getting dumped, but it’s just making me more depressed tbh 🫠

I’m afraid to ask, but where can medals come from in these final two days? We know that Canada is guaranteed at 2 more, in men’s hockey and curling, bringing us to 19 (hopefully gold, but that’s a big ask right now). Based on the schedule, these are what I’m thinking are our best shots: Freestyle Skiing 1. Mixed Aerials Team 2. Men’s Ski Cross 3. Women’s Half Pipe Curling 4. Women’s Team Speed Skating 5. Men’s Mass Start 6. Women’s Mass Start (Blondin) 7. Women’s Mass Start (Maltais)

A big part of the reason why we are doing so well in summer sports is actually pretty simple: accessibility. This should be a no brainer for the feds. Getting into winter sports is generally much more costly than summer. So it’s not surprising that you see droves of young people go to swimming, athletics, etc. There also is no drive or incentive to bring racialized, Indigenous, immigrant and disabled populations into winter sports. Coming from an Indian family, I can tell you that my parents had no desire to get me into anything more than skating. It didn’t resonate with newer Canadians when I was a kid, and without dedicated effort to attract new participants, it’s going to stay that way.

Further, there is no implicit spending dedicated to improving sport infrastructure in the most recent budget. Van Kooverden claims that it’s all a part of broader infrastructure spending, but if there is no guarantee as to where the money goes, it’s highly unlikely funds will be directed at improving facilities like the Calgary Oval.

I’m pretty livid about the Secretary of Sports reactions to our performance. He was making light of it in a video on social media, how we were “stressing 40 million people in the first half but cleaning up” in the second of the Games. When interviewed by the Globe & Mail, he defended the current funding levels, saying that the government needs to prioritize access to sport for all Canadians. Which I understand and agree with. But you can’t get Canadians into sport if they are not INSPIRED to do so. And how can we inspire people if we don’t perform at a high level?

We’ve had two medals that I didn’t expect at all, so that’s quite wonderful

I will take whatever fleeting amount of happiness I can get lol

After seeing the women loose in OT, Cassie get injured AND getting dumped by the person I was dating yesterday, I’d greatly appreciate ANY medals, wins or vaguely positive news today 🥴

The way that he’s being treated online has been awful - he’s being absolutely skewered by people saying the nastiest things. I get that fans are disappointed, but it’s not as if this guy isn’t trying his best. I can only imagine how defeated he must feel right now.

I THINK that I can see Canada realistically winning 6 more medals, likely 2 more gold. On the high end, I can see 12 more medals, 5 of which are gold. Either way, it’s gonna be tough. Please excuse me while I pray to every deity from every religion I can think of… 🙏🏽

Given how well the Cross Country Skiing team has done at these games, is there an event remaining in that sport that could bring a surprise medal to Canada? I’d be more than happy with continued top 10-20 finishes, but I never expected Chandra Crawford to win the Sprint in 2006, so you never know…

By that, do you mean replacing coaching staff? Or does that also include administrative change? Changes at the leadership level could help, but I'm not sure specifically how.

Wow… even Sports Illustrated is reporting on how bad Canada has been doing…. https://www.si.com/winter-olympics/through-day-8-canada-surprisingly-still-without-first-gold-medal

If Canada doesn’t win any gold medals at these Games, or fewer than Beijing, what do you think the response at the organizational/federal level would or should be? How exactly do we fix this?

This honestly isn’t even fun to watch anymore. Like, I don’t think we are being unreasonable in our expectations. Especially when the COC and athletes are hyping themselves up, I think fans have every right to be pissed off. I don’t think I can watch again unless we start winning golds, and that seems more and more unlikely.

The thing is, though, the government knew that the sports organizations were severely underfunded, and they still did nothing. Not a single new dollar in spending in the most recent budget. The only way the NSO’s are going to get more money as if there’s public outrage, which I think given the online chatter, there is already a lot of.

I guess as everyone’s alluded to, it’s been a combo of things that makes these current results sting. I was expecting Canada to get a gold by now with Elliot. Miks loss by the smallest margins and the fact that Isabelle didn’t medal has made this even worse. So we are now off the pace set by the CBCs (admittedly very lofty) predictions. I realize that I’m taking this way too seriously, so im going to get a tub of ice cream to eat my feelings lol 😝 🍦

Is there anything that we can point to as a positive today? Is it too early to panic about the medals or are we at a crisis point now?

I’m so sorry, I have no idea what I did or how that happened 😓

Okay, after looking over a few of the predictions offered by news outlets, it looks like Mik wasn’t favoured to win gold in the individual event. So I feel a little more calm… for now….

Yeah, I’m getting really worried this is going to be worse than Beijing