The Olympics have come and gone, demonstrating once again the limits of human capability.
Or maybe demonstrating our capacity to overcome limits.
There will be lots of handwringing and soul searching as in the months to come over Canada's performance at the Games. Did we win enough medals? Did we meet our goals?
Did our athletes live up to our expectations?
There are many ways to answer the latter question. The most obvious is to point out that even tenth in the world is quite an accomplishment. Truly exceptional. Personally, there is nothing that I do that I could say that I rank in the top 10 in the world.
Nor is there anything that I do where I am willing to venture my success in front of millions - if not billions - of people. I think that our athletes are truly exceptional and we should be proud of every single one of them. They are some of the best in the world.
But how do we rank in the grand scheme of things? One of the more interesting approaches is available through the website "Olympic Medals per Capita".
On a population basis, we did fairly well. With a total population of 34,771,400 and 18 medals, that is one medal for every 1.931 million people. Compare that to the United States that lead in the medal standings but only produced one medal for every 3.013 million citizens and Canadians fair pretty well.
China did even worse with one medal for every 15.310 million. To put that another way, if China had the same population as Canada, they would have only walked away with two podium placings.
Comparatively speaking, though, the winner of the games by this sort of measure would be Grenada. They had an outstanding one medal for every 110,821 citizens. Of course, being a small Caribbean country, they only have a population of 110,821 and with Kiriani James taking gold in the 400m, that is quite an accomplishment.
Jamaica isn't far behind with 12 medals and one for every 225,485 citizens. In those terms, Canada didn't quite measure up. However, there is only one Usain Bolt.
That is another question that arises in considering medal count. Of the 12 medals won by Jamaican sprinters, how many medalists were there? Or consider that the United States that took home 46 golds and 104 medals in all but 21 of those medals and 13 of those golds were won by just four swimmers (Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Alison Schmitt, and Ryan Lochte).
Outstanding performances - no question. But in swimming, with so many events that athletes can qualify for, what does that do to the medal counts? Or the performance of the whole team? And where do team sports fit in all of this?
In any case, in my opinion, Canadian athletes did us proud at the 2012 games. Nothing to apologize for. Nothing that needs forgiveness. Canadian athletes rock.
Interestingly enough, there has also been an increased emphasis in both Canadian sports and around the world in the science that supports athletes.
During the games, the "Canadian Olympic Broadcasting Consortium" even featured video segments explaining the biomechanics of gymnastics or the nutritional requirements of soccer players. Digging into the science of sport has produced some remarkable results.
Some might even argue that our present understanding of the science of sports is unfairly changing the game.
Consider, though, Ben Johnson in 1988. This was perhaps one of the lowest points in Canadian Olympic history. The use of steroids to up performance made a mockery of the competition. Ironically, they aren't even necessary.
Once athletics got past the steroid phase, other aspects of training and nutrition started to take over. In 1988, Johnson won the 100 metres in a time of 9.79 seconds. Many analysts - and Carl Lewis - declared that it was impossible for a person to run in under 9.8 seconds.
Here we are, 30 years later, and the world record sits at 9.58 seconds. What happened in the meantime? Not better drugs but an understanding of biomechanics, techniques for the training and development of fast twitch muscle mass, and improvements in nutrition. A focus on the science of sports has led to vast improvements in performance.
But as much as I love to watch Usain Bolt run, the crowning moment of the 2012 Olympic Games, for me, was seeing Oscar Pistorius compete. The "Blade Runner", by the simple expediency of running 400 metres around a track, changed the definition of "able bodied".
And perhaps the truest testament to the spirit of the games was provided by Kiriani James when, at the end of the race, he asked to trade bibs with Oscar Pistorius. Grenada may only have one medal but the winner of that medal is a man that truly understands sportsmanship and what the games are about.
