Canada at the XX Olympic Winter Games

Not only did Canada bound intp the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, they also excelled. Medalling a record breaking 24 times, Canada was on fire overseas.

With Danielle Goyette leading the crew on opening night as the chosen flag bearer, the athletes saw no reason to dishonour their flag, or their country.

On day one, Canada's champion Jennifer Heil captured the gold medal in women's moguls, paving the way for other athletes. Success was only to follow.

Despite not medalling in the pairs figure skating two days earlier, Valentine's Day will always be a day of memories for team Beckie Scott and Sara Renner. They skied to silver in the cross country team sprint, with Renner getting help from a rival as she snapped one of her poles mid-race and was handed another by a Norweigian coach.

February 15th, day 5 of the games, led to a content Anouk Leblanc Boucher as she was awarded a bronze medal in 500m speed skating. The medal was awarded after China's Fu Tianyu was disqualified.

February 16th was another big day for Canada. Jeffery Buttle, of Ontario, rose from 6th place to capture the bronze medal in men's figure skating as Melissa Hollingsworth-Richards also grabbed a bronze in skeleton. Men's (Arne Dankers, Steven Elm, Denny Morrison, Jason Parker, Justin Warsylewicz) and women's (Kristina Groves, Clara Hughes, Cindy Klassen, Christine Nesbitt, Shannon Rempel) team pursuit speed skating teams won silver, adding another two to Canada's total.

On the 17th, Sweden's women's hockey team cruised to an overtime victory against the US, sending them to the gold medal game to face Canada. This was the first time in international competition that Canada and USA were not facing each other in the gold medal game. Canada's Dominique Maltais also picked up a bronze medal in snowboard cross. Double medals followed for Canada in skeleton with Duff Gibson and Jeff Pain; Gibson grabbed gold while pain was only seconds behind taking silver. Canada also placed 4th, just slightly off the podium with Paul Boehm's performance.

February 19th proved to be special too. Not only did Torino have to cancel some of the events due to a severe snow storm, but the inside sports raged on with Cindy Klassen stealing silver in the 1000m, making it her 3rd medal of the games!

And finally, February 20th, the long await gold medal women's hockey match-up. But not against the US? Nope! Canada stoemd through the preliminaries, gaining it's well deserved spot in the gold medal game against Sweden. And once again, a repeat of 2002, only with more power and les penalties. Canada's girls are Golden Girls once again with a 4-1 victory. Canada's women scored 46 goals this tournament and only let two slide past goaltender Labonte. USA won bronze in a 4-0 sweep over Finland.
Marie France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, Canada's hopeful dance champions had to withdraw from the figure skating compeition due to a fall and injury to Dubreuil.
Francois Bourque, the hometown hero from New Richmond, placed 4th in giant slalom.

February 24th was also a big day for Canada, as Brad Gushue's Newfoundland curling rink took the cold, Canada's first gold medal in men's curling in Olympic history.

The big story of these games was Cindy Klassen. Breaking records with her 5 medal win in one Olympic games led her to leading Canada by bearing the flag in the closing ceremonies. What a run for Canada's 2006 Olympic team. And don't forget, we'll be seeing some of these faces in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.