Canada is a nation defined by winter, but it shone at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
With a few competitions remaining before the closing ceremony of the Games at 3 p.m. today, Canada’s total of 22 medals equalled its best in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics, a record set at Atlanta in 1996.
Canada is ranked 20th based on its four gold medals at Rio, but 10th based on total medals.
Athletes associated with Greater Victoria contributed with the silver medal by rowers Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee, and the bronze medals by swimmer Hilary Caldwell, the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team, and mountain-biker Catharine Pendrel.
Pendrel, who was just a casual member of the University of Victoria triathlon club when she began mountain biking on the Hartland trails, has taken that humble start all the way to the Olympic podium by overcoming an early crash to win her medal Saturday at age 35.
“I just kept fighting through, and it paid off in the end,” said Pendrel.
“I am just so happy that it came together on the day. This is a lifetime pursuit, and your lifestyle. It’s emotional, it’s physical, and it is such a relief to cross the line.”
A viewing party was out early Saturday morning to watch the race on big screens at the Westin Bear Mountain, where the Canadian mountain-bike team is based. A 5.5-kilometre trail was built at Bear Mountain to replicate the Rio course to help Pendrel during training.
“People got up early to watch and were in their cycling gear and decked in Canadian flags,” said Dale Gann, director of business development for Bear Mountain, which has been hosting Rio Games viewing parties the past two weeks.
“Everyone was concerned at the start [due to the crash]. But what we saw was an exceptional and experienced athlete, who was so focused, and who scratched her way back,” he said. “It was a pretty emotional morning here.”
Gutsy Victoria triathlete Kirsten Sweetland closed out the Games for Island athletes when she concluded her injury-riddled Olympic journey with a 41st-place finish Saturday.
The Rio fortnight featured a whiplash return to form for Canada in the two core sports that underpin any Summer Games. Track and field accounted for six medals, and swimming another six — even without a medal for Ryan Cochrane of Victoria, who had almost single-handedly kept Canadian swimming afloat the past two Olympics.
These Games introduced a host of fresh new faces to the Canadian public, most notably four-medal swimmer Penny Oleksiak, three-medal sprinter Andre De Grasse and gold-medallist high-jumper Derek Drouin.
Internationally, it was a stirring farewell Games for Olympic legends Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. The entire world stood as one and cheered true human physical brilliance.
The Rio Games, derided and beleaguered in the lead-up, rose to a crescendo Saturday with Brazil’s gold-medal victory over Germany in men’s soccer. The game lifted the entire Brazilian nation.
CBC said 86.3 per cent of Canadians watched at least a portion of the Rio Olympics.
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