By Savannah Tam
The 2022 Winter Olympics are currently taking place in Beijing, China, and will run from February 4, 2022 - February 20, 2022. It is an international winter multi-sport event with 91 countries participating this year. Each country sends their best athletes to compete for gold.
They take place every 4 years, so the next one will be in winter 2026. Many people celebrate and get together to watch these events and cheer their country on. There are 2,871 athletes participating in the 109 events this year.
Canada is usually near the top of the leaderboard. The most gold they have ever won at the Winter Olympics was in 2010 when it was hosted in Vancouver, Canada, with 14 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze medals (26 total). The last games was the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Canada earned 11 gold, 8 silver, and 10 bronze medals (29 in total).
This year, Canada has gotten off to a rocky start. Before Tuesday, February 15, 2022 (Day 11), Canada was in 14th overall with 1 gold medal (won by Max Parrot) and 15 medals overall, which were mainly bronze. They were far from the leader, Norway, with 12 gold medals.
Canada currently has 4 gold medals and sits in 11th place. Our medal count is at 24 (4 gold, 7 silver, 13 bronze), not as much gold as expected. This is disappointing as Canada is missing the podium and not doing as well as in previous games. Unfortunate events, mistakes, and injuries have left Canadians short of qualifying and eliminated from their events.
The biggest team event for Canada is hockey. Canada’s hockey teams have had a great deal of triumph in the past and have come back to compete for gold. In 2018, the men won bronze, and the women won silver. The absence of National Hockey League (NHL) players was noticed once again as they were not allowed to participate in the 2022 Olympics (due to Covid-19).
The Canadian hockey teams were back in action on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. The men played for a spot to advance to the men’s semifinals while the women played for gold. The men faced Sweden in the quarterfinals and got shutout 2-0 in a devastating defeat. Earlier that evening, the USA men’s team was eliminated in the quarterfinals in a 3-2 shootout loss to Slovakia. Good news came from Canada’s Women’s Hockey Team, with a successful run this year. They achieved a 6-0 record throughout the tournament and got to the finals. They faced the USA in a long-running rivalry to reclaim gold. In 2018 Team Canada faced the USA and lost. This year they got their revenge and are coming home with gold!
There are 2 days left of the games with opportunities for Canada to win medals. Keep going, Canada! Good Luck!
For those interested in watching the 2022 Winter Paralympics, they run from March 4, 2022 - March 13, 2022.
(Note: Results updated as of February 18, 2022)