A generation ago, it was Rene Levesque tweaking the country's nose after Gaetan Boucher won Canada's only two gold medals at the 1984 games in Sarajevo. Levesque reportedly said, "That's Quebec 2, Canada 0."

In the spring of 2001, it was Secretary of State for Sport Denis Coderre, launching a national discussion after the public and the media blew a gasket when the Canadian team cratered at the Sydney Olympics.

Now we have the Conservatives in Ottawa, riding the pride that swept across Canada like a tide and landing onshore with millions of dollars for amateur sport.

If you are among those who believe this is a good decision, you must still be surprised by what federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty disclosed in his budget.

After all, in the months leading up to the Vancouver Games, Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn was the proverbial wet blanket on sports funding.

This was a typical comment when asked whether Ottawa would be adding anything to its original $11-million commitment to the "Own the Podium" program.

"The prime minister has made it very clear: There is no new money in this budget. Full stop. We have got to get our deficit back down to zero."

Yet not only does that fly in the face of what was announced in Ottawa, Mr, Lunn went further than doubling the amount to elite sport, plus extra money for the Paralympics and Partipaction.

Role reversal

In the foyer of Parliament after the budget announcement, he told the CBC's Rosemary Barton, "these decisions were made long before the Olympics in fairness. I've said all along these decisions would not be based on results of the Olympics."

So which was it?

If the money was always in the pipeline, why didn't Mr. Lunn say that, even give some positive indication rather than leave so many athletes, coaches and federations twisting in the winter wind.

The uncertainty for example, led to layoff notices being delivered to 37 staff at the Calgary Sports Centre. Dale Henwood oversees the centre and said he's already gone back to a dozen of those to whom he delivered pink slips and told them to wait before taking another job.

Henwood was careful to praise the federal government for "going over and above in their commitment to amateur sport."
But he admitted if he'd known the money was coming, he wouldn't have told those trainers, physiotherapists and other support staff in Calgary they'd be out of work after the Olympics.
 
If it wasn't about Canada's record haul of 14 gold medals at the Games, then why do smart people such as Roger Jackson, the CEO of Own the Podium and Chris Rudge, the outgoing CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, believe that the home team's success was in fact, a key reason for the government's seemingly unexpected largesse.

Funding flip-flop

Jackson will soon cede leadership of Own the Podium to Olympic hero Alex Baumann. On the government's apparent funding flip-flop, he told CBC, "I felt the situation was fluid, and that the overwhelming support and interests of Canadians in supporting our athletes, and their interest in the Games, was an important contributor."

That speaks to public pressure and the response to it. What is evident is that the Olympics gave the Conservatives a bump as its popularity rose in a poll conducted during the Games. Now just days after almost everyone in the amateur sport community was painting a bleak picture of their financial future, Ottawa loosened its purse strings even while it was still running a substantial deficit.

Yes the athletes are thrilled, as they should be, that their efforts apparently made a difference and many Canadians are nodding their head approvingly at seeing such a terrific performance receive continued support.

But it appears that long before the cauldron was lit, some games were already being played.

That note of optimism was contained in a press release this weekend about the future of the Whistler Sliding Centre.

That note of optimism was contained in a press release this weekend about the future of the Whistler Sliding Centre.

The man who said it, Svein Romstad, is the Secretary-General of the International Luge Federation.

Only two weeks before, Romstad could barely speak, choking back tears as he described the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year-old luger from Georgia who was killed in a crash on the track just hours before the Opening Ceremony.

The press release goes on to say both the luge federation and the governing body of bobsleigh and skeleton plans to hold World Cup competitions at the facility next winter. There was even a chilling suggestion that recreational sliders and tourists might benefit from time spent on the ice.

Last week, I received a call from a former international luge coach who said he doubted many countries would travel all the way to B.C. to race on a track that, as he put it, "will beat the hell out of them."

The coach, who did not want to be identified, suggested there are still a number of questions about the Whistler track that have not been adequately answered.

Even as the sliding athletes began their competition in the wake of the Georgian's death, problems continued. There were many crashes in bobsleigh. The Swiss withdrew a sled because the coach felt their athletes were intimidated by the course. The Dutch did the same, intimating one their pilots was simply too raw and too scared to drive it.

Werner Hoeger created a stir several days after the crash when he said he had written luge officials after he crashed last fall, expressing his concerns with track safety.

The Venezuelan-American was dismissed in some quarters because he is a 50-something university professor who is not considered among the elite in the sport. But he insists he just wants all athletes to be safe and so he thinks changes are needed.

In an e-mail to CBC News, Hoeger wrote, "I believe that if the Whistler track is to be used again, modifications will need to be made. Perhaps, the current women's start should become the permanent men's start position."

That's what happened after Kumaritashvili was killed though the other sliding sports went from the original start point when their events began.

Hoeger said he wants the Whistler Sliding Centre to be a legacy to the sport and to Canada but not at the expense of protecting athletes.

"I do believe that additional tracks are needed on this continent. Rather than the track becoming a white elephant, modifications should be made to make it a safer track for all three sports."

For a year now, we've listened to the song, watched the ad campaign on television, heard the athletes utter those two words I Believe.

The slogan was based on the conviction that for the first time as an Olympic host nation, Canada would win a gold medal. That happened, as we know, a record number of times in fact.

But 16 days of competition, here's something I believe: Nodar Kumaritashvili should not be forgotten. Not by those who operate the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre and not by those who safeguard the sport he loved so much.

That's a sample of the torrent of bad reviews being offered up by the British tabs and broadsheets barely a few days into these Games. Columnists, including one not even in B.C., have made grand pronouncements on the success of this titanic organizational effort.

Oops, probably shouldn't use that reference.

Not to give too much credence to all that whinging, but there's seems no escaping the conclusion that the first few days of these Winter Games have been akin to the temperamental West Coast weather - less than perfect.

From the B.C. Place torch malfunction to the mud of Cypress and the odd decision to keep people away from the outdoor torch in Vancouver, it's been an unfortunate combination of both predictable and unpredictable circumstances.

VANOC and the IOC knew that hosting a Winter Games in the mild climate of Vancouver was a risk, but who could've known the warmest weather in more than a century would create a soggy mess.

Yet, it's precisely the local knowledge could have anticipated the damage heavy rain was capable of causing at Cypress. Being unable to recognize that has cost the organizing committee tens of thousands of dollars in refunded tickets and alienated thousands of spectators.

If all the talk before the games was that the luge track was scary and less experienced sliders might have trouble, would it not have been fairly simple to wrap the steel pillars at riskier turns with thick foam padding jauntily decorated with Vancouver 2010 material?

Whatever happened, no one could have questioned that every possibility had been considered - even the worst-case scenario we saw Friday.

Having been to eight Olympics, I can tell you most encounter difficulties. Atlanta was a transportation nightmare in which some athletes were late for their events and disqualified. Nagano was logistically fine, but lacked passion. Turin also had transport problems and doping scandals rocked Salt Lake City and Athens.

Vancouver 2010 has had its trials and tribulations, but nothing can take away from the enjoyment and enthusiasm that permeates the days and nights here in Whistler and, from what I've seen, in Vancouver, too.

Pronouncing the Games a disaster now is far too premature and even, dare I say, not cricket.

One British columnist, who IS actually covering the Games, seemed to understand that when he wrote, "You may reasonably conclude from it that these Winter Olympic Games are close to farce, that the red seen everywhere among the crowds is a reflection of official embarrassment. You would be wrong."

And he would be right.

Jacques Rogge, the most powerful man at the Olympics, removes his glasses and wipes his eyes.

At the foot of a huge metal rendition of the Olympic rings here in Whistler, tea lights burn in front of the now-damp photo of a dead athlete.

These are scenes unseen in the century-long history of this festival of sport and unity. A tragedy has pierced the heart of these games with the swiftness of steel on ice.

The sudden, horrifying death of Nodar Kumaritashvili has sparked angry charges from his father in Georgia that his son died on a dangerous track. But coaches suggest that it was bad driving, not body-bending turns that led to the crash.

Luge officials, reeling from shock and uncertainty, have responded to intense media scrutiny with changes to the track - even though several athletes say no modifications were needed.  

The Olympic spotlight can hold those to account such as the skating judges in Salt Lake City. But it also is harsh - unforgiving - and, ironically, quick to judge.

But feelings seem too raw so close to the incident. There is little time to mourn as the Games rumble by like an express train.

A young man has been killed, a son has been lost, a team shattered, a nation numbed.  There's a danger that the breathtaking finger-pointing might overtake the sheer need to put an arm around another's shoulder.

At Whistler's Medals Plaza, there will be music and memories. The Swiss have won the first gold of the Games. The House of Switzerland is riotous as revellers savour the triumph.

Nearby, the candles at Nodar Kumartashvili's memorial flicker, and go out in the rain.