A Saturday full of redemption

Speedskaters, curlers, snowboarder rebound from defeats

Last Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010 | 3:46 AM ET

By Mihira Lakshman, CBC Sports

Canada's Denny Morrison, left, Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux celebrate after winning gold in the men's team pursuit long-track speedskating race Saturday. (Robert Skinner/Canadian Press)

The final Saturday of the Vancouver Olympics was huge for Canada, bringing the host country three more gold medals.

And each of those victories was value-added, coming with a healthy dose of redemption for the athletes who achieved the feats.

Take speedskater Denny Morrison, for example, leader of the gold-winning pursuit team. The 24-year-old from Fort St. John, B.C., had suffered a crushing defeat in his specialty last week, finishing ninth in the 1,500 metres.

It was a tough pill to swallow for Morrison, who briefly held the world record at the distance in 2008 and had twice reached the podium on the World Cup circuit this season.

Morrison was at a loss for words when it came to explaining how things could have gone so wrong.

"I don't know if it's something with the program or what, because I know as far as lactic capacity or total lactic power is concerned, if we were to do hill sprints I could crush all these guys," he said immediately after the 1,500.

"It's kind of frustrating… [to] know that I'm skating poorer and poorer, especially when I get tired."

After that race, he also said a reporter took him out of context, prompting headlines in a national publication suggesting Morrison was pinning the blame on the Own the Podium program.

Morrison has since clarified his comments, praising the government-funded initiative, for giving him the opportunity to compete in races all over the world.

While the media reports certainly bothered Morrison, his biggest score to settle was on the ice in his final chance to win a gold medal at these Games.

"It was cool to be able to come together after a rough week with no medals for any of the men," Morrison said. "To come away with gold as a team, there's no better way to finish off the Olympics for us."

Morrison was determined not to fade down the stretch in the team pursuit event, where he carried Canada's medal hopes along with Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux. As soon as any of the front two skaters started to fatigue, they received a boost from their teammates, in the form of a gentle tap on the butt.

"The gold was because of the push," coach Marcel Lacroix said. "It was so effective it was stupid."

As for his perceived criticism of Own the Podium, he wanted to use the spotlight he earned as a gold medallist to elaborate further.

"It depends how you look at [Own the Podium]. There's some pressure. But you can look at it as pressure or support," Morrison told CTV.

Team Canada skip Kevin Martin celebrates after winning the Olympic gold medal over Norway on Saturday. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Martin exorcises past demons

There was certainly no shortage of crowd support for Kevin Martin and his Edmonton-based curling rink in Saturday's gold-medal match against Norway's Thomas Ulsrud.

As the fans just concluded a roaring rendition of O Canada, Martin maintained his composure in the hack, making two routine takeouts in the 10th end and securing the victory for teammates Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert and John Morris.

They weren't tricky shots, but Martin remembers a routine draw to the four-foot that was heavy, eight years ago, costing him the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In 1992, Martin finished fourth in Albertville when curling made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport.

Olympic gold was the only thing missing from the mantel of one of Canada's most accomplished curlers.

"Finally," Martin said. "It took a long time, a lot of years. [But] the hard work's worth it."

Anderson satisfied, regardless

The third of Canada's gold medals on this historic Saturday also tells the tale of an athlete accomplishing something that what once seemed unattainable — and in snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson's case, improbable until the last second.

Victory was sweet for snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Que., has competed at every Winter Olympics since snowboarding was added at the 1998 Nagano Games. But his best finish was a fifth-place showing in 2006.

Contrast that to a storied World Cup and world championship career, where Anderson is a two-time world champion in the parallel giant slalom, a four-time overall World Cup champion and owner of 59 World Cup medals.

As the reigning world champion, expectations were high for the 34-year-old Anderson. Heading into his final run, he trailed Austria's Benjamin Karl by 76-100ths of a second.

But when Anderson emerged from the milky fog at the bottom of the run, he had made up the gap, capturing the gold medal, thanks to one of the greatest performances of his life in the final race of his Olympic career.

Not bad for someone who almost hung up his snowboard a few years ago to spend more time with his wife and two daughters.

For many observers, it seemed as if Anderson had validated his decision to stick with the sport for one more Olympics, and finally made up for missing the podium in his previous attempts.

But Anderson refused to see it that way.

"We can't base our life, our career, on one medal," he said. "It wouldn't have been the end of the world if it eluded me again. I was getting used to it."