Monday, February 25, 2002
The Greatest
With 5 medals, Marc Gagnon is Canada's king of the Winter Olympics
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- Within 24 hours of establishing himself as Canada's greatest Winter Olympian, Marc Gagnon did what most other Canadians did yesterday.
He plopped himself in front of a TV set and watched the men's hockey team bring home the Olympic gold for the first time in 50 years.
AND LIKE EVERYONE
else north of the border, he was thrilled, not only with Team Canada's victory, but with the late charge by Canadian athletes from all sports at the Winter Olympics.
"I'm very proud to have been part of this team, said Gagnon, a native of Chicoutimi, Que. "We had such a great group of athletes, we just performed to our best.
'JUST SUPER GREAT'
"With 17 medals, the group was just super great."
The Canadian team dragged to a slow start in the first week on the hills and ice of Utah, prompting segments of the media to proclaim, prematurely it turns out, that this would be one of Canada's worst performances in years.
But thanks to the surge in Week 2, including Gagnon's record three medals in short track speed skating, including two golds on Saturday night, the Canadians finished with a team record 17 medals, tying Russia for fourth place overall. Through much of the Games, Gagnon, a veteran of three Olympics and five medals -- the most by a Canadian in the Winter Games -- cheered on his teammates.
"This year was really special, we had a TV in our room and we gathered to watch the other Canadians compete, cheering them on," he said. "We had that (kind of) TV room in Nagano and Lillehammer, but this year, we were really cheering each other, together. We wanted to have the best Olympics we've ever had. Salt Lake will be in my memories forever (and) I hope the accomplishments we all had will inspire people, and I hope we keep getting better at future Olympics."
Even with two Olympic medals and four overall world championship titles under his belt heading into these Games, the classy Gagnon is virtually unknown in English Canada. Short track speed skating gets little attention away from the Olympics, and even at the Games it doesn't receive the notice that hockey, or figure skating or even skiing does.
'I'M ALMOST DONE'
But it's safe to say that after his three-medal performance here, gold in the men's 500 and the 5,000-metre relay, and bronze in the 1,500, Gagnon, 26, might be noticed a little more often.
That began yesterday, when the personable skater got a phone call at the main media centre from Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
The old saying that good things come to those that wait certainly applies to Gagnon. In Salt Lake, he was in danger of becoming one of those athletes who dominated his sport away from the Olympics, but just couldn't come away with the gold when it mattered.
"For me it's pretty easy to say that (Saturday) was probably the greatest night of my life, two golds in 90 minutes," he said. "Even though a lot of things will stay in my mind, it will be the hour and a half I'll always remember."
Gagnon is not sure whether he'll back back for the 2006 Turin Games, but he does expect to take part in the world championships, April 3-5, on home ice in Montreal.
"I can't wait to skate in front of my crowd (and) I hope a lot of people will cheer all the Canadians," Gagnon said.
"This is a great sport. I'm almost done, I don't know if I'll go four more years, if my body will hold up. But I want people to get into it, it's a great sport."
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2002 Games Short Track Speed Skating Coverage
