2014 Review/2018 Questions

[Kelekin]

I thought I'd start an open thread to discuss the Olympics for Canada as a whole and where we go from here. It's been a fun couple weeks posting daily threads on CP and we have had a ton of new discussions each day about a lot of unheralded sports. What sports were you impressed with? What athletes do you expect to improve in the future? How can we fund sport better? etc.

I must say, I love that Canada is great at some of the most thrilling sports in the games. The freestyle skiing events are fabulous, and while it's a personal preference, I like seeing stunts on skis more than snowboards. The Women's Hockey final was one of the best Olympic hockey games I had ever seen, which really brought life into a rivalry that was starting to get stale for me.

For disappointments, I have to say speed skating, both long and short track, is not looking as great for the next Olympics. I imagine Hamelin will retire, and our ladies definitely regressed this Olympics. In long track, Denny Morrison getting those medals was definitely a welcome surprise in what is likely his last Olympics, but most of our young skaters have not been impressing. As this is a field Canada has done so well in, it makes me question what we can do to get more people into these sports. Also, the fact that we are way less competitive in snowboard events is a disappointment for a country with so many snowboarders.

Looking ahead at 2018, I think we will continue to be strong in freestyle skiing. I could see the Dufour-Lapointe sisters (Chloe and Justine) returning as they are both young, and Mikael Kingsbury will absolutely be back to assert Moguls dominance.

[nieuwy-89]

Sochi provided another excellent Olympic Games. We had a great time in our house following the results every day and catching the highlights in Prime Time. Overall I am proud of the Canadian team. I think if there was a stat for which country had the most top 10 finishes we would be at the top. It is amazing the range and depth of athletes that we have in almost all of the events.

Speed skating was a dissapointment but was made up for by the strength in the "X-factor" events. I would hope that the Olympic legacy of Vancouver 2010 will start to really pay off in 2018 when athletes who just started training in 2010-2014 will hit their prime. Hopefully our outright dominance in hockey and curling will continue for the decades to come!

[Party Elephant]

It's going to be tough to repeat the double-double.

Agree with you on the speed skating, it's hard to say what needs to be done to get us back to where we were in previous olympics. Other than Hamelin who obviously had some disappointing mistakes there's no speed skating superstar like Klassen, Hughes or LeMay-Doan.

It would be nice if we could find a way to be competitive in some of the more traditional events that we've never been that good at, like cross country, skiing and ski jumping. We were close with luge getting 3 fourth places so perhaps that's a sport we could be medalling in next time around, what with the improved sliding facilities we now have. Luge and ski jumping are the only sports we've never medalled in, so come 2018 it could be down to just ski jumping. Unfortunately we didn't win a medal in skeleton, a sport we usually do well in, this time, but like luge that's one that we should see improvement in due to better training facilities.

[Northendzone]

Seems that we have a bit of a jump on other countries in the x-games sports, so one would think that would continue for the next 2 or so games. As a nation we likely care the most about hockey and curling, so there will always be high expectations to grab those four medals.

Overall, we a re a winter nation and most of our Olympic spend should be on those sports.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Even though Alex Bilodeau will not be going to the next Olympics, our future in moguls still seems to remain bright. Mikael Kingsbury put on a hell of a performance alongside Bilodeau and Marc-Antoine Gagnon was not far behind. Those two guys are both quite young, so between them and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters I feel pretty good about moguls going into 2018.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by nieuwy-89

Speed skating was a dissapointment but was made up for by the strength in the "X-factor" events. I would hope that the Olympic legacy of Vancouver 2010 will start to really pay off in 2018 when athletes who just started training in 2010-2014 will hit their prime. Hopefully our outright dominance in hockey and curling will continue for the decades to come!

I think this will be true, especially with speed skating. For so long Calgary was the only place speed skaters could train, and we're at the end of the boom that the 1988 games gave to the youth in this country with most of the veterans who will retire after these games being kids back then. 2018 may be a lull year as we're going to lose a lot of the veteran talent, but past that I think the 2010 legacy will start to kick in and a new crop of Canadian talent will start to dominate, especially with the new focus in getting them the proper funding

[The Goon]

Thinking more long-term, we should force Kingsbury and Bilodeau to mate with the Dufour-Lapointe sisters to ensure a next generation of freestyle dominance.

[formulate]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Thinking more long-term, we should force Kingsbury and Bilodeau to mate with the Dufour-Lapointe sisters to ensure a next generation of freestyle dominance.

'Force' is probably the wrong word.

[SebC]

I'm absolutely delighted that we got men's hockey, women's hockey, men's curling and women's curling. Somehow, dropping women's curling (and women's moguls) in 2010 felt like more of a letdown than any podiums we missed in Sochi.

I'm also more excited with the slopestyle medals we picked up than the bobsleigh. speedskating, and figure skating medals we dropped. Just like I value men's hockey above all else, I value what we've gained more than what we've lost.

Finally, as a country, silver feels like gold where we've placed 1-2... something we accomplished three times in Sochi, but only once in Vancouver.

So while statistically we were slight worse, somehow I am happier with our results.

---------

Going forward, I think it's important that we look at how we qualify athletes - if Morrison was our best shot in his speedskating events, then he should have been qualified to begin with. Likewise, as the best curling nation in the world, how do we make sure we're sending a Jones, and not a Bernard?

[SebC]

Originally Posted by formulate

'Force' is probably the wrong word.

"Encourage"?

[nik-]

Originally Posted by SebC

"Encourage"?

The men probably wouldn't need much encouragement

[Mccree]

Are there any new events in Korea?

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

Even though Alex Bilodeau will not be going to the next Olympics, our future in moguls still seems to remain bright. Mikael Kingsbury put on a hell of a performance alongside Bilodeau and Marc-Antoine Gagnon was not far behind. Those two guys are both quite young, so between them and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters I feel pretty good about moguls going into 2018.

I believe him but you never know. Michael Phelps said the same thing in London two years ago.

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by The Goon

Thinking more long-term, we should force Kingsbury and Bilodeau to mate with the Dufour-Lapointe sisters to ensure a next generation of freestyle dominance.

Do not forget about the third sister and Gagnon, who finished fourth in the freestyle. They too must must mate.

[Kelekin]

Originally Posted by Mccree

Are there any new events in Korea?

Not that have been announced. The closest event to possibly being added is Bandy, a lot of people figured it would be in for Sochi.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Mccree

Are there any new events in Korea?

They probably won't discuss new events until 2016.

[darklord700]

Hope Patrick Chan will skate in Korea. He's that close to the first gold medal in figure skating. But he'll be 27 or so which is an advanced age in skating.

[Fire]

Seeing the size of the nets in Bandy makes me chuckle.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by Fire

Seeing the size of the nets in Bandy makes me chuckle.

Could someone please explain too me what bandy is ?

[Fire]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

Could someone please explain too me what bandy is ?

Check it out on Youtube. It's looks like a combination of hockey, lacrosse and soccer.