Heartbeat Highlights

It has been an incredible weekend of podiums for Canada in Olympic sports on the world stage. I am counting 19 (apologies if I am missing any). With 375 days before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, these are some of our men and women who will be going for gold for Canada.


Snowboard Cross World Championships
1st Maëlle Ricker
2nd Dominique Maltais


FIS World Cup Moguls - Women
1st - Justine Dufour-Lapointe
2nd - Chloé Dufour-Lapointe

FIS World Cup Moguls - Men
1st - Mikaël Kingsbury


Bobsleigh World Championships
1st Kaillie Humphries and Chelsea Valois
(although not an Olympic event, Canada was 3rd in the Bobsleigh Team Event)

Speed Skating Sprint World Championships
Although the Canadians did not medal in the overall competition (combining times for two1000m races and two 500m races), they were in the top 3 in single races.
Women 1000m (Sat) 1st - Christine Nesbitt (5th overall)
Women 1000m (Sun) 2nd - Christine Nesbitt
Men 500m (Sat) - 2nd Jamie Gregg (4th overall)
Men 500m (Sun) - 2nd Jamie Gregg
Men 500m (Sun) - 3rd Gilmore Junio

FIS Kitzbühel Downhill - Men
2nd - Erik Guay

X Games Snowboard Slopestyle - Men
1st Mark McMorris
2nd Max Parrot
(Mark was also 2nd in Snowboard Big Air which is not an Olympic event)

X Games Ski Superpipe - Women
2nd Roz Groenewoud
3rd Megan Gunning

X Games Ski Slopestyle - Women
2nd Kaya Turski
3rd Dara Howell

X Games Snowboard Slopestyle - Women
3rd Spencer O'Brien

How many of these did you see on television this weekend? There was a lot of sports coverage but not enough to cover everything. The Snowboard World Championships held in Stoneham, Québec were not televised on English television (thanks to TVA Sports for broadcasting it live in French). What an opportunity wasted to not have shown this World Championship event being held in Canada.

The World Cup Moguls being held in Calgary and the Speed Skating Sprint World Championships being held in Utah are being televised next weekend. I was also surprised that the Bobsleigh World Championships weren't shown in a timely fashion (like World Cups often are). The World Championships were shown on Monday morning (except for the women who were shown on Saturday).

Sports are so much better when they're live. Part of the appeal is the anticipation and the excitement of the results. As much as I love to see our Canadians perform, it's not the same when the results are known. It's so much more exciting when we are on the edge of our seat watching it live.

A decade ago, it may have been acceptable to show sports on tape delayed. We weren't as likely to hear the results then. In today's world of social media and instant news, I wish our sports channels would make a stronger effort to show sports live or at least in a more timely fashion. Live online feeds is a step in the right direction but with some events being held in the middle of the night, it's the minority who will stay up or get up to see it live.

Some sports do it right. Bobsleigh/Skeleton have a YouTube channel that show live events and go the extra mile by keeping the videos available for later viewing. The International Biathlon Union offer the same benefits on their website. The sports federations may need to take matters into their own hands in order to publicize and grow their respective sports.

Our athletes are winning world championships. I don't think it's too much to ask to see it live (or at least be able to PVR live coverage).

I look forward to the day when we have a dedicated Canadian amateur sports television station who will do it right and help fans support our athletes year round.

"The Olympics isn't every four years, it's every single day".