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The most memorable Beijing Olympic moments

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The Beijing Olympics were bound to be memorable for many different reasons — both on and off the ice and snow.

The Games lived up to that billing, though maybe not in the ways some expected.

Much of the pre-Games talk centred around COVID-19 and reported human rights violations in the host country — and to be sure, those were talking points throughout. Games participants were fenced off from the rest of Beijing while tested daily by staff in hazmat suits and rates were low — seemingly a success, though giving a bit of a cold feel to the whole production.

But the story of the Games turned out to be doping, a seemingly never-ending Olympic problem that reached a crisis point in Beijing. We now have a 15-year-old from a country with a history of cheating at the centre of a sickening scandal.

We also have more questions than answers. Will Russia face stiffer sanctions — is calling the country the Russian Olympic Committee really much of a punishment, anyway? Will Kamila Valieva’s coaches be disciplined? Will Russia’s team figure skating medal be stripped, giving fourth-place Canada another medal? Should figure skating’s age minimum rise?

In the midst of all the bad stuff, there was plenty to smile about for fans of Canadian athletes, who took home 26 medals to finish fourth in the medal standings.

After spending the past 18 days staying up through the overnight in Canada to monitor the happenings in Beijing, here’s one man’s ranking of 10 vivid Olympic memories:

10. Parrot keeps eyes on the prize

Snowboarder Max Parrot won Canada’s first — and only — individual gold medal, but it was his bronze medal that stood out to these eyes.

After winning the slopestyle, replays showed that the judges missed a mistake by Parrot, which could have cost him the gold medal. Chinese fans voiced their anger on social media (China’s Su Yiming was second) and even fellow Canadian Mark McMorris questioned the result — he later apologized.

It would have been easy for Parrot to lose focus after the controversy. But instead, he came through with bronze in big air.

It was followed by a nice chat with Yiming, who told Parrot he looked up to him.

As role models go, Parrot’s a great one. He had a wonderful Olympics three years after being diagnosed with cancer.

9. Battling for bronze

Bronze may be the lowest spot on the podium, but there’s a huge difference between finishing third and fourth.

For proof, take a look at the inaugural Olympic mixed team snowboard cross event.

Italy’s Caterina Carpano collided with Canada’s Meryeta O’Dine midway through the last leg of the four-team final, essentially eliminating both teams from gold contention and putting them out of view of television cameras.

O’Dine got up, worked hard to climb up a jump and beat Carpano down the rest of the course to take bronze with Eliot Grondin.

It was the second medal for both — O’Dine took bronze in the women’s event, while Grondin copped silver in men’s.

“[I] dug my head into the snow, popped it up and realized that I was doing a little bit better than she was,” O’Dine told CBC. “I just instantly got up and started hiking up the jump to try and get on the podium.”

8. Heartbreaking finish

Canada’s Rachel Homan and John Morris had the hammer in their mixed doubles curling round-robin finale — in good position to win and advance to the semifinals.

But Homan’s final shot went a sliver too far against Italy, ending their tournament in cruel fashion.

It was the second straight Olympic disappointment for Homan, who missed the playoffs in the women’s event in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Upon returning home, Homan went on Twitter to congratulate longtime Ottawa friend Ivanie Blondin for winning speedskating gold before acknowledging she was “struggling beyond words.”

The response on social media was uplifting.

7. American dream?

It was totally understandable for Canadians to have some mixed emotions after watching Kaillie Humphries win monobob gold for the United States.

Canada’s 2014 athlete of the year had a bitter split with the national team after making allegations of abuse against her old coach following the 2018 Olympics. She got her U.S. citizenship just in time to represent the country in Beijing.

On top of the podium, Humprhies put her hand on her heart and sang The Star-Spangled Banner.

“This is for USA, honestly,” Humphries told NBC. “Thank you guys for supporting me, backing me. This team has been absolutely incredible. I am so honoured to bring back the gold medal to the United States of America.”

6. Captain Clutch? No doubt

Is there a better big-game performer than Marie-Philip Poulin?

That we are asking that question tells you all you need to know about the Canadian women’s hockey captain.

The program hit a low point with a semifinal loss to Finland at the 2019 World Championship, following a gold-medal loss to the United States at the 2018 Olympics.

Last year, though, Poulin scored the overtime winner against the Americans in the World Championship final.

And in Beijing, Poulin scored two goals as Canada beat the U.S. 3-2 in the final to reclaim Olympic gold.

5. Hamelin’s heroics

Charles Hamelin just didn’t have the speed he did in previous Olympics for much of his time in Beijing.

But the 37-year-old short-track speedskating star wasn’t about to exit the Olympic stage without one more magic moment.

In the men’s 5,000-metre relay, Hamelin looked like his old self, helping Canada win gold as he tied the national record for most career Olympic medals (six).

Fittingly, a great exchange from Pascal Dion to Hamelin basically sealed the race.

“When we passed them (the runner-up Koreans), we just hit the gas and said to them ‘catch us if you can’ and they didn’t,” Hamelin told CBC, expressing a Canadian confidence that has been contagious for our best athletes.

4. Political posturing

Most joint press conferences with the IOC and Beijing organizing committee were relatively tame sessions — until the last one.

Several times, Beijing spokesperson Yan Jiarong interjected on questions not even asked of her.

She called reports of human rights violations against Uyghurs “lies” and insisted Taiwan was part of China.

All this came while she also said the Games should not be political – which seemed at odds with her statements.

The next day, IOC president Thomas Bach said they had talked with the organizers about their concerns.

3. Pursuit of glory

Canada’s women’s team pursuit squad was making a charge, but time was running out.

Speedskaters Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais seemed destined for silver despite the big push.

Then, drama. A Japanese skater fell on the final turn. There was no tight finish — Canada had gold.

Weidemann had a medal of every colour — and this moment solidified her eventual pick as Canada’s Closing Ceremony flag-bearer.

“I have no words,” Weidemann told CBC.

That was OK — the picture told the golden story.

2. ‘I never give up’

Canada’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe didn’t come close to matching her silver and gold medals from the past two Olympics in the women’s moguls.

What she did, though, might be more important.

Dufour-Lapointe fell during the finals, ending her medal hopes. She screamed in frustration, but she wasn’t done. She got up and asked a course worker to retrieve her pole.

There was no stopping, no quitting — Dufour-Lapointe was finishing. She embraced her older sister Chloe, who also was competing in the event, afterward and her sibling told her what to do next.

“My sister at first (had to) hold me and carry me for a while. I had to cry, I had to let it out because it’s a pain,” Justine told CBC.

“But on the other hand, she told me I have another choice — to stay calm and go talk to you guys and make sure I have the right thing to say and speak with my heart.”

She did just that.

“I had to finish this Olympic dream on my two feet and make sure everyone who is going to watch tonight (knows) that over the winning, over the bad days like this, the only thing that is important is to never give up.

“Never give up.”

1. Skating shame

Kamila Valieva was as heavy a favourite as there was at the Olympics. Nobody was supposed to challenge the 15-year-old Russian figure skating phenom.

Of course, that theory didn’t take into account what would transpire before the women’s event.

A positive doping test for a banned heart medication for an athlete from a country with a history of breaking the rules. A failed appeal by the International Olympic Committee to prevent her from competing. An ensuing statement that no medals would be handed out if Valieva finished in the top three.

There she stood at centre ice for the free skate — five minutes away from as controversial a win as one could imagine. But it didn’t happen. Not even close. Two falls. Even more stumbles. Then, a violent wave of her arm in frustration. Then, tears and a coach with ice-cold comments to her skater, actually asking why she didn’t fight more.

It was fourth place — and it was horrifying.

It also was the enduring image of these Games — an absolute embarrassment and disgrace for the IOC.



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