Canadians, including sports experts on Monday, reacted to news that Canada had won its first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, and a first win in ski jumping, as well.
Max Parrot and Mark McMorris won gold and bronze in slopestyle snowboard, Kim Boutin won bronze in short track speed skating and the quartet of Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup and Abigail Strate won bronze in ski jumping.
“In the early days of these games, it’s great to see so many Canadian athletes make it to the podium,” said Donna Gall, a media professor at Ryerson University in Toronto and an expert in women and sport in Canada.
“I’m particularly impressed with the ski jumping mixed team winning the Bronze medal,” she told Humber News.
The four athletes made history winning a bronze medal in the mixed team normal hill competition and the first-ever medal in ski jumping.
The win was especially history making because it was the debut of what the Olympics call a mixed modality of men and women.
Although men were allowed to compete since 1924, women weren’t allowed to compete until 2014, and only in normal hill competition while men could compete in the normal and large hill, as well as in teams.
“While a group of women ski jumpers launched a human rights suit to be allowed to compete in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, it wasn’t until 2014 that they received permission from the IOC. So, I think Canada’s accomplishment in this sport, in particular, is really something to be celebrated,” said Gall.
Kim Boutin won bronze in 500m short track speed skating for her second straight medal in the event.
In a media release Monday by the Canadian Olympic team, Boutin was described as being one of the best in the world in her sport and that she has tied with Tania Vicent as Canada’s most decorated female short-track speed skater with her fourth Olympic medal.
Seeing Boutin and other female athletes performing well is very important for young girls since it might influence them to participate in sporting activities, Gall said.
“I think young girls who still may face some barriers or who may feel that sport isn’t for them can be influenced by seeing women compete and succeed in any number of sports competitions,” said Gall.
Another person who made history on Monday was Max Parrot, Canada’s first gold medal of the Games and the first-ever Olympic gold medallist in slopestyle. He shared the podium for the second time with fellow Canadian Mark McMorris, who won his third straight bronze medal in the event.
In a media release Monday by the Canadian Olympic team, Parrot’s bio include the fact that he was the top qualifier in slopestyle at Sochi 2014 but ended up finishing fifth in the final. And four years later, at PyeongChang 2018, scored a silver medal in slopestyle.
“Just competing in the games is a tremendous accomplishment; winning a medal I suspect is such a tangible recognition, a symbol that you can hold and show and even kiss, of all the years and years of hard and possibly lonely efforts that led to this moment,” Gall said.
Parrot in 2018 battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was treated with chemotherapy and in 2019 he said he had recovered.
He announced his return to competition two months after.
What happens after you win?
Competitors have expressed how exciting the winning moments can be, from making people proud to the exact feeling you get at the time you receive the medal.
But what happens after winning?
“Canadian athletes tend to struggle to make financial ends meet preparing for and after Olympics,” said Margaret MacNeill, associate Professor at Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto.
“They rarely get rich off a gold medal. Some do well with sponsorship or prize money if they are able to keep competing in international circuits,” she told Humber News on Monday.
Athletes in sports like ice hockey or snowboarding are “able to convert their medals into cultural capital from the prestige as they move onto the next chapters of their lives,” said MacNeill.
At the same time, competing can take a personal toll, she said.
“Athletes do a lot of soul-searching and sometimes question all the things they delayed in life or the sacrifices their families have made, especially when family, partners, friends and some coaches can’t be there to cheer them on in Tokyo or Beijing.”