Monday, February 17, 2014

Proud To Be A Canuck

 I am proud of where I live.. I feel my chest puff up when someone asks where I'm from. I like the views, I like the people and I like our values. But every four years is when I really feel that Canadian Pride. The Winter Olympics.

 This year, in Sochi there have been a number of situations involving Canadians that will warm even the coldest of hearts ...

//1     Canadian head coach of the cross country team, Justin Wadsworth ran to Russian Anton Gafarov's aid after he fell and broke a ski during the semifinal heat in the cross country sprint. He ran over to Gafarov with an extra ski so that he could finish the run. So Canadian...

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  //2     I don't have any names or links for this one, but last week when I was watching the women's snowboarding, one of our Canadian snowboarders sprayed the crowd when she finished her run. She quickly yelled, 'Sorry!' It's not a big deal, but Rob said, "That's so Canadian.."

//3     Speed skater Gilmore Junio decided to give his place to fellow Canadian Denny Morrison, after Morrison slipped in the qualifying rounds. Junio thought that Morrison had a better chance of getting Canada a medal than he did. I've never heard of anything like this being done before! Morrison did end up getting Canada a silver medal. But I feel like Junio should have given himself more credit. It was nice of him to do that for Morrison but I later heard that Morrison had won medals in the past and he was participating in other events.  So really, the story of one Canadian man doing something quite selfless for his country sort of turns into another Canadian being a selfish, pompous athlete taking, when he'd already had a piece of the Olympic Pie. Although, Morrison did start up an online drive to nominate Junio to be our flag bearer at the Closing Ceremonies. So- I'm still proud.

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 //4     The Dufour- Lapointe sisters! Two of the sisters; Justine won the gold and Chloe won the silver medal in women's moguls early last week! It was just really heart warming hearing their story after the girls won. Maxime- the oldest, placed in Vancouver in the 2010 Olympics. She was Chloe and Justine's inspiration to start the sport. I think it's because Rob and I have a daughter that the Dufour-Lapointe sisters touched our hearts so much. My eyes would just overflow with tears if Alina, not to mention two more of our (unborn) daughters made it to the Olympics and then two of them placed! Here's the photo that warms my heart the most;

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//5    This story is by far my favourite... It makes me the proudest to be Canadian....
Team Canada has a beer fridge that can only be unlocked with the scanning of a Canadian Passport. Brilliant!!! We Canadians want to make sure that our athletes are supplied with their Canadian brew at this important time in their lives.
Work Hard. Play Harder. 

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What has your country done in the Winter Olympics to make YOU proud!?! 
What event will you have to make time to watch this year!?

11 comments:

Heather @ The Maritime Reader said...

As you probably guessed, I love this post and I am soooo proud to be Canadian too!! We are having a great run at the 2014 Olympics!!!

Amanda said...

I can't get over how much I love the Canadian beer fridge/passport deal! x

Helene in Between said...

i have to agree! and i love this post! i think for a lot of olympians it brings out the best- not just physically but emotionally!

Anonymous said...

I support Canadian athletes buuuuut I'm just a litttttle bit more bias for the Men's Hockey Team and wouldn't miss any games (no matter how many times my professor told me to come to class early), you can probably guess that I was in tears when we won Gold in 2010. But nonetheless, Olympic games makes me so proud to be a Canadian! :3

Anonymous said...

Excellent post! Canadian girls rock! Well anything Canadian rocks, honestly. Great examples from Sochi of how awesome we can be.

I still get a little teary when I hear "I Believe" from Vancouver 2010. It was such as amazing experience to have the Olympics here. Good times, great memories and proud moments.

Unknown said...

These are all amazing. I love the beer fridge- what a cool idea! I've only been to Toronto and I didn't have a great experience so this post warmed my heart to Canada. I mean... and you living there and being my blog friend. That makes me like Canada a little more too :)

Rachel said...

Ya know, what's kind of funny/sad is that it's totally reasonable to say "That's so Canadian!" in response to an extraordinary display of politeness, but it makes just as much sense to say, "That's so American!" in response to a display of obnoxiousness/ignorance. Oh well...

Jade Wright said...

I love that your so proud of where you are from - it makes me feel very proud of the Canadian's too actually!!

Hmm... South Africa.......... I keep quiet :P

I think I'll always think of myself as a British person because it is where I was born - even if I have been in Africa most of my life.

www.bohemianmuses.blogspot.com

Alex[andra] said...

I love the beer fridge! I also really, really love being Canadian too :)

Alex[andra] said...

Also, I'm sad that one of your commenters went to Toronto and didn't have a great experience. :(

Sarah said...

All great reasons to love the Olympics! I must admit, I am mostly indifferent to the Olympics. Don't slap me! BUT this post made it interesting to me. I like how you approached writing about your Olympics mania - you makes it all very accessible! The beer machine is amazing. Technology is incredible. And the Junio/Morrison situation is a little tragic but still inspiring. If I were to watch an upcoming competition, which would you recommend?