An Olympic cycle nobody could have envisioned — empty stands, restricted movement and the Winter Games almost back-to-back on top of the delayed Summer Games — came to an end early Sunday at Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing.
Island athletes played parts in both Tokyo and Beijing. The number of athletes and the podium impact was greater in the Tokyo Summer Olympics for Islanders, as can be imagined for a region where rain, not snow, is the central weather motif.
But we have the Panorama Recreation Centre rink and Mount Washington, and both again did not disappoint in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Hockey blueliner Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton extended the Island’s Winter Olympics gold-medal streak to three consecutive Games following Dallas Stars captain and Central Saanich product Jamie Benn’s gold in men’s hockey at Sochi 2014 and Comox freestyle-skier Cassie Sharpe’s gold in women’s halfpipe at Pyeongchang 2018. Sharpe followed up with a stirring comeback-from-injury Olympic silver medal in Beijing.
“I fell in love with the Olympics before I even fell in love with hockey and this is what I have aspired to my entire life,” said Zandee-Hart, who is scheduled to arrive at Victoria International Airport with her gold medal at 1:40 p.m. on Monday, after having taken part in the Closing Ceremony at the Bird’s Nest.
In that statement is the encapsulation of why the Olympics still resonate, even through the perilous political landmines the Beijing Games presented, which almost overshadowed that small matter of the pandemic. Simply put, it is one of the two greatest sporting shows on Earth, rivalled only by the World Cup.
“The Olympics, at its core, are a celebration of humanity and that can cut across political differences,” said Stephen Fielding, who teaches a course in the history of sport in the Camosun College faculty of history.
“The Olympics has its problems, like the UN, with regimes such as this [China’s] that are not democratic and want to present an image of themselves they want the world to see. But it’s still a rare opportunity for the world to get together. And when that happens, there’s a chance for good to happen and for growth to happen in the human community. I hope we don’t lose that.”
Christine O’Bonsawin, an associate professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Victoria who teaches a course on the history of the modern Olympics, has cast a highly critical eye on the Games movement.
“They unfortunately awarded these Winter Olympics to a nation with extreme human rights violations but the Games went on,” said O’Bonsawin, who has lectured and written widely on the Olympics.
It’s only because of the athletes that the rest of the world gave the 2022 Winter Games a pass, despite the political climate that was as cold as the actual climate in the distant mountains that ring Beijing.
“The IOC and despots make perfect bedmates. But it’s the athletes’ moment. It’s still about that,” said O’Bonsawin.
Tim Ryan of Victoria, the retired broadcaster who covered 10 Olympic Games for American networks CBS and NBC from Albertville in 1992 to London in 2012, said: “I’m glad they went ahead with the Games in China because I always think of the athletes first and how much effort and training they have put in for so long for this moment.
“It wasn’t a normal Games in terms of atmosphere but at least they got to compete in the competitions they have trained so hard for.”
The Sharpe siblings, Cassie and Darcy in respective freestyle skiing and snowboarding, Zandee-Hart, Victoria’s Adam Cracknell in men’s hockey and Mount Washington product Teal Harle of Campbell River in men’s ski freestyle were the Island athletes who took part in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Cracknell’s journey, plucked from Bakersfield of the AHL when the pandemic put paid to the plan of NHLers playing in the Beijing Games, is indicative of this surreal Olympic cycle.
“Like everybody else, I was looking forward to seeing Connor McDavid play with Sidney Crosby in the Olympics.
“Then suddenly, that doesn’t happen, because of the pandemic situation. Somebody had to step up. I’m humbled they asked me,” said the graduate of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association and Saanich Braves (now Predators) Junior B team.
Maybe that represents the true Olympic spirit, as the world looks for a return to something more normal at Summer Games Paris 2024 and Winter Games Milan-Cortina 2026.
