Apoligists 'r Us
Posts from fish_tie reminded me that Olympic curling has started, and thus it's time for my preemptory quadrennial Olympic curling apologia on behalf of Canada.
Canada, historically, hasn't done stunningly well at Olympic Curling. We find this disturbing on the grounds that there are more sheets of curling ice in the average Saskatchewan farmining community than in most the rest of the world combined. Seriously, there are a million and a half active curlers in Canada. No other country has even 50K active curlers.
Canada could send any one of about 50 high level teams and be significantly competitive at the Olympics, while most countries only have 2 or 3 internationally competitive rinks. That's why you see the same names over and over again - Pal Trulson, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, Jackie Lochart, Rhona Martin, Dordi Nordby, Anette Nordberg, Peja Lindholm - in International competition. Those countries only have a few rinks that can cut it at that level. In addition to these competitive names, the Olympics brings in a bunch of rinks from basically non-curling nations, many of whom have never even played on proper curling ice, and puts them in the competition to be slaughtered by the best.
The net result of this is that the Canadian Olympic Trials, which take the best of the best Canadian curlers, are actually the single most competitive tournament in an Olympic cycle. (Similarly, the Brier and the Scott are far more competitive than the World Championships that they lead to.) Canadian curlers play for 2 years with their focus on making and winning those Canadian trials. The actual Olympic competition is secondary to making it to the Olympics in the first place.
Basically, the reason Canadians don't have every gold medal in Olympic history is that they peak too damned soon, get cocky, and forget that there are good teams in the rest of the world, who can beat them. So, yeah, they've beaten the 50 of the top 60 teams in the world to get where they are. But 10 of the top 60 teams in the world are still lined up against them, and those 10 have more international experience (because Canadians never need to leave Canada), more familiarity with the other teams at the Olympics (because Canadians never need to leave Canada) and more on the line (because Canadians care far more about a Brier win than an Olympic one).
Canada, historically, hasn't done stunningly well at Olympic Curling. We find this disturbing on the grounds that there are more sheets of curling ice in the average Saskatchewan farmining community than in most the rest of the world combined. Seriously, there are a million and a half active curlers in Canada. No other country has even 50K active curlers.
Canada could send any one of about 50 high level teams and be significantly competitive at the Olympics, while most countries only have 2 or 3 internationally competitive rinks. That's why you see the same names over and over again - Pal Trulson, Markku Uusipaavalniemi, Jackie Lochart, Rhona Martin, Dordi Nordby, Anette Nordberg, Peja Lindholm - in International competition. Those countries only have a few rinks that can cut it at that level. In addition to these competitive names, the Olympics brings in a bunch of rinks from basically non-curling nations, many of whom have never even played on proper curling ice, and puts them in the competition to be slaughtered by the best.
The net result of this is that the Canadian Olympic Trials, which take the best of the best Canadian curlers, are actually the single most competitive tournament in an Olympic cycle. (Similarly, the Brier and the Scott are far more competitive than the World Championships that they lead to.) Canadian curlers play for 2 years with their focus on making and winning those Canadian trials. The actual Olympic competition is secondary to making it to the Olympics in the first place.
Basically, the reason Canadians don't have every gold medal in Olympic history is that they peak too damned soon, get cocky, and forget that there are good teams in the rest of the world, who can beat them. So, yeah, they've beaten the 50 of the top 60 teams in the world to get where they are. But 10 of the top 60 teams in the world are still lined up against them, and those 10 have more international experience (because Canadians never need to leave Canada), more familiarity with the other teams at the Olympics (because Canadians never need to leave Canada) and more on the line (because Canadians care far more about a Brier win than an Olympic one).