High expectations for Team Canada in PyeongChang
Posted February 10, 2018 8:35 am.
Last Updated February 10, 2018 8:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (NEWS 1130) – Team Canada is looking to ramp up its medal tally in PyeongChang.
With a lot invested into the drive for the Olympic podium here in Canada, many across the country are watching the games closely and hoping.
Programs like Own the Podium have pumped a lot of money into training athletes with the potential to train medals.
“Those are the athletes who’ve had the most money invested into them, it’s a merit, meritocracy based system,” explains Sportsnet‘s Shi Davidi. “And the expectation is that Canada’s going to be right around where it’s been the past two Olympic games. Maybe they get to the record or maybe they’re right around there similar to the way they were in Sochi.”
Davidi says expectations are quite high. “And I think that the team –it’s the largest that Canada’s ever sent to the Winter Games — there’s a deep field and experienced one, they bring lots of previous medalists to it.”
At the 2010 games in Vancouver, Team Canada took home 26 medals. There are hopes for even more in PyeongChang.
Meanwhile, the Winter Games are a time to cheer hard for a lot of sports that don’t normally make it into the spotlight
Sportsnet’s Kristina Rutherford is in the host country and says while speed-skating is one of the biggest draws, locals are also extremely enthusiastic for many of the other events.
“Really good crowd,” she says from PyeongChang. “I was at the curling, and actually the Korean team is quite strong and they won. There was a ton of cheering and people on their feet and I think a lot of them it was the first time they’d even watched curling.”
The streets are also crawling with folks looking to soak up the atmosphere in any way they can.
We heard earlier this week about all the robots hard at work, but Rutherford suggests it’s their human counterparts that are the real help for visitors.
“As always at these events the volunteers, there’s hundreds of volunteers,” Rutherford says. “They’re extremely helpful and it’s been really well-run and well-received by the public for sure.”
