Canada's run at the Beijing Olympic games was not necessarily their best, however Canada managed to tally up 18 medals in total – three gold, nine silver, and six bronze. With past performances at Olympic games, Beijing would rank as their third best performance. In 1996 in Atlanta Canada won 22 medals, and in 1984 in Los Angeles, Canada won 44 medals.
Some specific highlights from the games include: Adam van Koeverden’s silver win in the K-1 500 in which Adam had the lead for most of the race but was overtaken by Australian runner and former training partner Ken Wallace; Karine Sergerie’s silver win in taekwondo; Alexandre Despatie’s silver win in men’s diving; and finally The Canadian Men’s Rowing Team’s gold win.
But, the most emotional defeat was for equestrian rider Eric Lamaze. Riding his horse Hickstead, Lamaze paired up against Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in a jump off to claim victory to Canada’s 3rd gold medal. Lamaze had previously been exempt from both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic games due to positive drug testing. This time around he was not disqualified, and thankful that he had been given another chance to perform.
Overall, Canada wasn’t seen much in the Olympic highlights this year. China seemed to take the cake as far as winnings, and US remained a team on top of it all. But, most Canadians were happy with the results – even the Canadian athletes were seen glowing once they returned home. They gave it their all, and you really couldn’t ask for a far better attitude.
