Midland basked in the glow of the Olympics when the torch relay passed through on Tuesday.
As commercialized and high-priced as the modern Olympics have now become, celebrating the accomplishments of athletes is what it ultimately comes down to.
And, from my end of the universe, it has been a blast to drink in the spirit of the Olympics.
I can remember being absolutely spellbound in 1983, when I stood in the same arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., where the U.S. men’s hockey team defeated the dreaded Soviet Red Army to claim gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
In 1984 in Penetanguishene, I stood in sub-zero temperatures, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Brian Orser, fresh from competing at the Sarajevo Games.
I got my first look at an Olympic medal that night, and the magic behind the medals still hasn’t diminished 25 years later.
In Midland and Penetanguishene, we are lucky to have Olympians right in our midst, quietly going about their lives without fanfare.
Penetanguishene’s Chris Kontos, a veteran of more than 250 National Hockey League games, won a silver medal with Canada’s men’s hockey team in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.
The shootout loss to Sweden lingered in his mind for many years, but even the 40-something Kontos admits you’d now have trouble ripping that medal from his cold, dead hands some 15 years after the moment.
The memory of getting to fondle the Olympic gold medals won by Midland’s Glenn Howard (curling, Torino 2006) and Paul Rosen (sledge hockey, Salt Lake City 2002) still leaves me with goosebumps.
We should never lose sight of the Olympians in our midst. They are part of an elite group of athletes.
Athletes who stood tall and gave it all they could during, yes, one moment in time.
mdodd@simcoe.com
