Canada House is a closed environment reserved for friends and families of Olympic athletes. Security made it very clear that no active media is allowed past the door. This is as natural a casual environment as you can find at the Games, but cameras were still flashing everywhere when I went inside to celebrate Canada’s gold and silver medals in the two-women bobsleigh, as well the Canadian hockey team’s drubbing of rival Russia, the team most pundits considered the spoiler to Canada gold in its national pastime. Naturally I grabbed my camera to catch a few shots of the day’s heroines who were posing up a storm, when they weren’t workin’ it on the makeshift dance floor, led by gold medalist Helen Moyes (pictured). Moyes and co. continued the refreshing legacy of the Canadian medalists’ unfettered, and intoxicating, exuberance. But Moyes and teammates also display a different legacy: North American development programs in Lake Placid, Park City (the US women took bronze last night) and Calgary. It used to be the Germans and Swiss arrived at the sliding venue, collected their brass and departed. As Canada considers significant cuts in athlete development, the decision makers may want to swing by Canada House on a night like last night to soak in a little medal euphoria- and perhaps stir it up with latest heroes Humphries, Moyes, Upperton and Brown.
