So the Olympics in Torino (or, if you prefer, Turin) are over. 2 1/2 years to Beijing’s Summer Olympics; 4 years till the next Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The Good
* Five medals for Canadian long-track speed skater Cindy Klassen (one gold (1500m), two silver (team pursuit and 1000m), two bronze (3000m and 5000m)). Add in a bronze she won in Salt Lake City and you have the most decorated Canadian Olympian ever. Not to mention her attitude was/is amazing. You go, girl!

* Around $400,000 have been donated to Right To Play, an organization devoted to bringing sports to kids in underdeveloped countries. It all started when US speed skater Joey Cheek announced he was going to donate his $10,000 (?) he would receive from the US Olympic Committee (IIRC) to the org. Corporate sponsors have since matched his donation, various other athletes have also made donations, and fans have also donated. That’s a major thumbs up.

* US figure skater Michelle Kwan dropping out after reinjuring her groin to give her spot to Emily “My Sister Sarah Whooped Michelle’s Arse Four Years Ago” Hughes. Personally, I don’t think Michelle should’ve been at the Olympics to begin with; but it doesn’t mean what she did was any less noble.

* The first thing Canadian curler Brad Gushue did after winning the gold medal? Call his mom (at home in St. John’s, NL, battling cancer), then give a tearful short interview to the CBC. Aww.

* A Norwegian cross-country ski coach gave a ski pole to Canadian skiier Sara Renner after hers broke. She and teammate Beckie Scott ended up winning a silver after that for the 10k Relay. I wonder if he ever got his hug (last I checked, he was still waiting for it; she was willing to give him one but didn’t know what he looked like).

* Fans cheering on a Madagascar skiier during his run in the Giant Slalom…even though he fell twice and crossed the line in 42nd place. Grit and determination is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? And on a somewhat related note…

* The US mens curling team winning bronze. As I said in my previous blog post, while they may not have won gold, they definitely have done a lot for curling in the US. 23% of the US audience share went to curling coverage (CNBC and USA showed a lot of the US matches, and even excerpts from other matches at times, mainly toward the end of the round robin); the USA Curling website got so many hits in one day that it crashed. Who knows what the end results will bring!

* 24 medals for Canada–one shy of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s goal of 25; yet, they did complete their other goal of being in the top three in the medal count. Also, those 24 medals were in ten different disciplines out of fifteen (the only five not represented: alpine skiing, ski jumping, luge, nordic combined, and aerials); the US (25 medals) medaled in nine disciplines, and Germany (32 medals) had medals in only seven. There were also fourteen fourth-place finishes (some of which were by mere fractions of a second), which means there is a ton of potential for them to be had when they host the Winter Olympics in four years in Vancouver.

* Having the medals ceremony for the mens 50k cross-country race at the beginning of the closing ceremonies, a la having the medals ceremony for the medalists in the mens marathon during the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. To make it even cooler, the winner of said race was an Italian.

* The Petro-Canada commercials featuring various Canadian athletes saying thank-you to regular people. For some reason I found that ad campaign kinda cool. I think my favourites are a scene where a couple of figure skaters (a pairs team, methinks?) run up to this farmer guy and give him a great big hug; a Paralympic skiier pulling up to a guy sitting at a bus stop and letting him know, “Hey, I just wanna say thanks!”; and someone coming out from underneath a car and giving a thumbs up to the guy working on it.

* CBC’s coverage. Enough human interest stories, interviews, and athlete profiles to keep things interesting, but–overall–more, and better, coverage of various events; and–as always–a lot more of them aired live.

The Bad
* US speed skaters Chad Hendrick and Shani Davis. The less said about those two, the better. (For the latter, I mean in regards to his attitude, not that whole making history thing.)

* Selecting Todd Bertuzzi to be on Team Canada for mens hockey. He should never have been there. Heck, a lot of team members probably shouldn’t have been there.

* This is the last Winter Olympics for CBC to cover, at least for now. CTV snagged the Canadian broadcast rights for Vancouver. I don’t know if they’ve got broadcast rights for 2012 in London or 2014 in (insert whatever city it’ll be here…the current frontrunner is, I think, Sofia, Bulgaria). NBC has US broadcast rights sewn up for the next several years. Anyway, after Beijing in 2 1/2 years, I’m gonna miss watching the games on CBC. But then, lord knows where I’ll be in four years’ time. *nod*

* NBC’s coverage. The only stuff they aired live was curling, hockey, and some of the cross-country stuff; and even then, the majority of it was on either CNBC, MSNBC, or USA. In primetime, it seemed like they barely showed any of the remaining events. Except for most of the curling and some of the hockey, I watched more of CBC’s coverage.

* The US media calling our 25 medals “a disappointing Olympics”. Gang. Please. The year after a country hosts an Olympics, their medal count drops; it’s happened virtually every time. You should be thankful that the drop was only 32% compared to the average 40% other countries have suffered. Not to mention 25 medals is pretty freakin’ good, considering that the US is more of a summer sport nation anyway. (Just look at the last two Summer Olympics. I think the medal count for each was somewhere in the 40 or 50 range.)

But I know the real reason you’re all sour grapes. You’re sour because the big guns you’ve been promoting since circa December (NBC, I’m looking at you especially) choked. Michelle Kwan dropped out because of her injury and will probably never skate an an Olympics again. Bode Miller’s best finish was fifth in (IIRC) the Downhill; he went zero-for-five, medal-wise. And even though short-track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno won a gold (500m) and two bronze medals (1000m and 5000m Relay), that still wasn’t good enough for the US media. No, no. When he didn’t win gold right away, the love was lost. Then when someone like Sasha Cohen is expected to deliver in the clutch, doesn’t quite do it, but gets a medal anyway (she’s yet to have two clean programs in one event, apparently)? There’s still no love. The only time there’s any real love is when we medal in something that we’re not necessarily expected to medal in (cases in point: men’s curling team winning bronze, and the ice dancing duo of Belbin/Agosto winning silver).

A medal is a medal. It’s shiny, it’s round, it goes around a person’s neck. It doesn’t matter what colour it is; it’s still a medal. Most–if not all–Olympians are happy to get any medal, regardless of colour. Heck, most athletes are just happy to be at the freakin’ Olympics, as–for a lot of them–it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

So what if you got to hear The Star-Spangled Banner less often than you wanted? You should still be ecstatic for your athletes. One more thing: When’s the last time any of you in the media were at the Olympics as an athlete competing for your country and/or a medal? (Insert sound of crickets chirping here.) Yeah, I thought so.

The Bizarre

* The “flames of passion” roller bladers (you know, the skaters with the fire burning from backpacks on their backs?) in both the opening and closing ceremonies.

* A goldenpalace.com heckler going streaking during the bronze medal match for men’s curling. All he wore was a strategically-placed rubber chicken. (There was another one who came on during the closing ceremonies as the president of the organizing committee for Torino/Turin was speaking–only this one had clothes on.)

* Lots. And lots. Of clowns.

* The scoring during the aerials competition. Methinks it’s the next scoring system in need of an overhaul. (IMO, just use the same one used for diving.)

* Ricky Martin at the closing ceremonies? Whuh? Please, Beijing and Vancouver, don’t let this happen to you!

* * * * *

Finally, to add to my previous blog post: Anyone and everyone who said Team Gushue couldn’t win a medal can help themselves to a nice, hearty helping of crow. And be sure to give Randy Ferbey₁ and Jeff Stoughton₂ a double serving.

₁ Curler from Alberta. He skipped his team to four Briers (Canadian men’s curling championship) and two world championships, as well as two Canada Cups in a row (in the first two years of the event). During the Canadian curling trials last December, he was quoted as saying he thought there were a lot of weak teams at the trials, and that his team should’ve gotten an advantage because they qualified four times over.

₂ Curler from Manitoba. His team lost to Team Gushue in the trials’ final. Before the game, he mused that there was no way Gushue would beat him. HUMBUG!