It took 76 years and 17 Summer Olympics, but the women's soccer team finally eclipsed a blight on Canadian sport Thursday in London.
sa国际传媒 had not won a medal in a team sport at the Summer Olympics since the men's basketball team - with three Victoria players, Doug Peden and brothers Chuck and Art Chapman - captured silver at Berlin in 1936.
"I am totally amazed it took so long," said Chuck Chapman's daughter, Jan Mau. "If my dad were alive, he would have chuckled and have enjoyed all this. He never lived in the past. All things are temporary, he would say."
But some accomplishments take longer to equal than others. The lack of a team medal in the Summer Olympics since 1936 was considered a blot on Canadian sport, although Island players Gerald Kazanowski, Eli Pasquale and Greg Wiltjer came close with a tight loss against Yugoslavia in the men's basketball bronzemedal game of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.
It finally happened Thursday when Diana Matheson's goal, with under one minute remaining in time added, gave the heavily out-played Canadians a 1-0 upset victory against France in the women's soccer bronzemedal game at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
And suddenly those 1936 hoops silver medals aren't so lonely anymore. [email protected]
