The Olympics are all about bringing the countries of the world together to square off in athletic competition at the highest level and with the utmost degree of sportsmanship. They're also a great time to talk a little smack with friends from around the globe.
Coming from a country that's doing reasonably well in London, but is still lagging behind some of the world's sporting powers, I've had to pick my spots when sending greetings to those residing in other parts of the world.
Eight years ago, at the same time Athens hosted the Summer Olympics, we opened our home to an exchange student from South Korea. There were several evenings where Jae-Yong would join our family to watch the Games, and as much as I tried to convince that polite, Englishchallenged 16-year-old he'd be wise to hitch his wagon to Canada's sporting fortunes, he knew enough to point, with a smile plastered all over his face, to his homeland's place in the medal standings. Touché indeed.
Given South Korea is once again ahead of us in the medal table, I knew I had to find the right time to give him a good-natured poke. That opportunity presented itself in badminton, so I shot him a note that said something to the effect that even though we might not be faring too well, at least we don't cheat.
How much sarcasm the polite, slightly less English-challenged 24-year-old read into the Facebook post is unclear, but I had to laugh when I got a very sincere apology for what he called his country's most unsportsmanlike behaviour.
I then turned my attention to Australia where Scott, our former Tour de Delta billet, calls home. When our women's track cycling pursuit team knocked off the Aussies in a head-to-head race for bronze, I knew I had my chance to be a bit of a knocker by congratulating him on his country's fourth place finish.
I might have also mentioned something about how dreadful it must be that the Aussies had only one gold medal through the first week of the Olympics, conveniently leaving out the part that Canada was also stuck on a single trampolining gold.
He got the joke, but instead of derision back, I got his pity about how Canada always fares better in the Winter Olympics. Did he not read the part about our Canadian girls administering a beat down on his Aussie gals, and in cycling no less?
Perhaps they're taking that whole Olympic oath thing too much to heart because I thought Canadians were supposed to be the polite ones.
