Freestyle skiing gives Canada 1st gold at home
2 moguls medals, skicross gold, at wet, foggy Cypress Mountain
Last Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010 | 12:43 PM ET
By Lindsey Craig, CBC Sports
Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada's first Olympic gold medal on home soil on Feb. 14, 2010. (Mark Ralston/Getty Images)Freestyle skiing will go down in Canadian history books for giving the country a very special first.
On the second day of Olympic competition, mogullist Alexandre Bilodeau delivered the country's first Olympic gold medal on home soil.
It happened when his near perfect run down Cypress Mountain knocked reigning Olympic champion, Canadian-born Dale Begg-Smith, who competes for Australia, from the top spot.
Bilodeau, his face lit up after his golden run, captured the hearts of Canadians when he said his brother, Frédéric, who has cerebral palsy, was "an inspiration".
The Rosemère, Que., native wasn't the athlete Canada had expected to win the coveted prize.
First 2010 medal
Fellow Canadian mogullist Jennifer Heil took gold in the event at the 2006 Olympics, and was slated to compete on the first day of competition, before Bilodeau.
Having won the overall World Cup title four times (2004-07), and having been world champion twice, it seemed bets that Heil would win Canada's first gold at home were as good as gold.
Heil did climb the podium that day - but it wasn't gold hanging around her neck. Heil came second in the women's moguls event, clinching the silver.
It was Canada's first medal of the Games.
Rising to the occasion
Another memorable moment came courtesy of Canadian Kristi Richards, a mogullist who came to the Games overshadowed by medal-favourite Heil.
Richards fell in her final run down the mountain, ending any chance to climb the podium.
It was how she reacted following her fall, however, that moved the entire sea of red watching her.
After her tumble, even as her medal hopes quickly vanished, Richards picked herself up and completed her Olympic moment by performing her last jump.
Golden girl
On Feb. 24, Whistler's own Ashleigh McIvor, 26, made her mark by winning gold in the Olympic debut of skicross.
Calling it "the most amazing moment", McIvor, the defending 2009 world champion, finished ahead of Norway's Hedda Berntsen (silver) and France's Mario Josserand, who took bronze.
But other moments weren't so gracious to the host nation.
Just as high hopes had been placed on McIvor's shoulders, so too was there an expectation that Canada's Chris Del Bosco would climb the podium in the same event.
But in the men's final, in position for bronze, Del Bosco fell trying to advance on a jump close to the finish line.
The disappointing result, however, reflected exactly why sports enthusiasts are flocking to the skicross - excitement, danger, unpredictability and gutsy performances. Fall to fifth
In men's aerials, on Feb. 25, Calgary's Kyle Nissen found himself in the gold medal position after his first of two jumps, but couldn't nail his second attempt.
He dropped to fifth place, allowing Belarus to take gold, the U.S. to grab silver, and China to take bronze.
Canada's Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ont., also came eighth in the event. Calgary's Warren Shouldice botched the landing of his first jump, but aced his second jump to finish in 10th place.
Jamaica represents
Also making headlines was Jamaica's only athlete of the Games, Errol Kerr. Conjuring images of the Jamaican bobsled team at 1988's Calgary Games, Kerr competed in the men's skicross event.
For an athlete from a country that's never seen snow, and who trains sporadically without any government funding, his ninth place finish was an accomplishment in itself.
Slippery slope
Conditions at Cypress Mountain, home to the skicross, aerials and moguls events, hampered the Games from Day 1.
If it wasn't rain, it was fog. If it wasn't lack of snow, it was too much snow. Weather wreaked havoc on the mountain, causing event delays and postponements.
It even caused the cancellation and refunding of tickets for roughly 4,000 spectators for each event at the venue. That's because warm, heavy rains melted away the base of snow that was to support the general seating area.
Inadequate bus service, long exit lines and even a broken food service system added to the list of problems.
