The Post looks back at the 39 gold medals Canada has won in Winter Games history.
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When We Owned the Podium: Chandra Crawford
- January 30, 2010 7:07 PM |
- By Guy Spurrier
Story provided by
Name Chandra Crawford
Olympics 2006 at Turin, Italy
Event Women's cross-country sprint
The setting Canadians had been crushed by the quarter-final loss by the men's hockey team but were buoyed when Crawford and Cindy Klassen supplied their golds on a four-medal day.
On the day The 22-year-old had entered the day hoping to finish in the top 30.
She was not on anybody's list of medal favourites, although she had finished third in a World Cup event earlier that month. Teammate Sara Renner described Crawford as a new breed of Canadian racer who brought a fearlessness that her predecessors may have lacked. In the gruelling multi-heat event, Crawford upset a pair of favoured Swedes in the heats and took out teammate Beckie Scott and German Claudia Kuenzel in the final.
"I thought, 'Get out of here, ski, get to the front and keep it simple.' The next thing you know you cross the line and 200 people attack you and you're on the podium."
Afterlife Crawford earned two World Cup wins in 2008 but has been shutout in this campaign leading into Vancouver, recording a season-best 12th-place finish in the sprint in Dusseldorf in December. She has used her notoriety to launch a program called Fast and Female that allows girls ages nine to 19 to take part in cross-country and biathlon activities while meeting elite athletes who can inspire them.
-- Guy Spurrier, National Post
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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