Canada on worst Olympic gold medal pace in 30 years

Feb 14 2022, 10:05 pm

Ten days into the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, Canada has just one Olympic gold medal.

Snowboard Max Parrot is Canada’s lone Olympic champion so far, winning gold in slopestyle snowboarding last week.

In the official IOC medal count from Beijing, Canada sits in the 14th spot, including sitting behind Slovenia (seven medals) and Switzerland (eight).

If it seems weird, it is. Canada hasn’t gotten off to as slow a start when it comes to topping the podium in three full decades, since the 1992 Olympics in Albertville.

Canada has topped the podium in double figures in each of the last three Winter Olympics, winning 11 gold medals in 2018, 10 in 2014, and 14 on home soil in Vancouver in 2010.

Canada won just two gold medals in Albertville, following that up two years later with three gold medals at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer.

In 1992, Canada won its two gold medals on Day 8 and Day 13, in women’s downhill skiing (Kerrin Lee-Gartner) and short-track speed skating (women’s 3000m relay).

But it isn’t all doom and gloom for the Canadians with six days remaining in the Games.

Canada sits tied for fourth in the overall Olympic medal table, with 15.

And there will be chances aplenty for the Canadians to add to their gold total.

Five snowboarders (including Parrot) feature in tonight’s big air finals, while the women’s hockey team is facing the Americans in the gold medal game on Wednesday night.

Later in the week, the men’s and women’s curling teams both have a chance of reaching their respective finals, while the men’s hockey team kicks off its playoff stretch tomorrow against China.

Norway leads the way with nine gold medals, while Germany and the United States sit second and third with eight and seven each. Canada might be a ways from catching those countries but still has a chance to turn things around over the next week.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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