On medal count

Team Canada does not typically excel at the summer games. See chart below:
CANADA

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
92 - Barcelona	7	4	7	18
98 – Atlanta	3	11	8	22
00 – Sydney	3	3	8	14
04 – Athens	3	6	3	12
08 – Beijing	3	9	6	18
12 – London*	0	2	5	7

* As of Day 6: Canada has medaled twice in synchronized diving (3 m spring board and 10 m), judo, weight lifting, silver medals in the men's and women's eight, and a bronze in the pool (100 M freestyle).

The team went to London 2012 with a projected total of 22 medals, which according to commentators is not unreasonable given that Canadian athletes have gotten more funding and attention since we found out Vancouver would be hosting the 2010 winter games. 

Without the pressure of having the world on your home turf, I think Canadians are generally content to hang out around the middle of the pack. We know we can't compete with the likes of Team USA or China. Each country had 19 medals on day 3 with China leading in the gold medal count (10). And, to be honest, we're not pushing our athletes to challenge those superhuman automatons. We cheer on our athletes to "do their best." We're genuinely pleased when they come home with a silver (Gasp! That's almost gold!! ) or bronze medal. We are also guilty of salivating at what might have been in an alternative reality. Missy Franklin has Canadian parents, dual citizenship, and loves Nova Scotia. She's basically on Team Canada. right?

I wonder what it must be like to be an athlete from Team Great Britain at these games. Surely, the crushing pressure to perform must be unbearable. How does a much-hyped athlete like Victoria Pendleton, for example, cope with disqualification?! And amid: confusion (from viewers in the New World mostly) about what went on during the Opening Ceremony as well as the organizational debacle of empty seats, the Brits don't need something else to grip over. This is how the Brits historically and currently sit: 

GREAT BRITAIN

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
92 - Barcelona	5	3	12	20
98 – Atlanta	1	8	6	15
00 – Sydney	11	10	7	28
04 – Athens	9	9	12	30
08 – Beijing	19	13	15	47
12 – London*	0	2	2	4

*On day 3 (when I started this post), Team GB has medalled in the pool (Rebecca Addlinton, bronze in the 200 m freestyle), in the road race( Lizzie Armitstead, silver), men's team gymnastics (bronze), and equestrian (silver, team that included Zara Phillips). Now day 6, the medal count has erupted to 16 with FIVE gold medals!! Sir Chris Hoy claimed in FIFTH gold medal in the velodrome and road cyclist Mr. Sideburns (Bradley Wiggins) won the individual time trials on day 5!

There's no panic for Team GB ... yet. Though, sports commentators have noticed that the disparity in performance as compared to Beijing. The team still doesn't have a gold medal! And if we have learned anything about the British tendency/ nature to whinge about things, we should be able to see the wave of criticism about to crash into the shore. I can only this item of British pop culture (which is really how Canadians approach sport competition .... in every case except for the Stanley Cup finals between Vancouver and Boston...) at a moment like this:

You know which Brit is winning big at London 2012? Boris Johnson


@SloaneScholar1

I've been slow off the mark (sports pun there, har har) compared to my colleague, so the lack of gold medals for Team GB (previously alluded to) has been wiped away in 2-3 days of competition, standing at this moment at a glorious five. The first came from the Dickensian-named national hero Bradley Wiggins, who celebrated his victory by pursuing that other British national sport: "getting wasted."

Team GB boosters have scaled back their predictions of 70 medals somewhat, but on the whole the Brits seem on track for a great showing at the Games. The British media and public have since breathed an almost audible sigh of relief and can now get back to the usual hand-wringing about all manner of other issues. Will the weather hold up? The transport? Is London running too smoothly? Did Bumbling Boris scare the tourists all away with his talk of metropolitan chaos and thus utterly ruin businesses?

Canadians, meanwhile, as SloaneScholar1 noted, are pretty much content with a "respectable showing." Hey - Prince Harry visited Canada House ("everyone swoons")! What else does a nation need??

I believe that we still are basking in the reflected glory of Vancouver 2010 during which we *ahem* won more gold medals than ANY previous nation at a Winter Olympics (un-Canadian moment of boasting there). Not only that, but the final competition of the Games saw the famous men's ice hockey "golden goal" against the USA - the one moment that will live in the memory of Canadians of my generation. I was in the streets of Vancouver that day and it was, in a word, incredible.


To put it in perspective for the Brits: It would be like scoring a winning goal in extra time. On the last day of competition. To win a football gold medal. In Wembley Stadium. Against the Germans.


One truly wishes Team GB something approaching this ecstasy and a great remainder of the Games.


@idlehistorian

On berets, red felt poor boy caps, and mittens

Ryan Lochte (Swimmer) in Ralph Lauren 

Last week, American sports wear giant Ralph Lauren was raked though the mud (most hilariously by Fox news ... I mean, Gretchen Carlson is right, "beret" sounds way too "French") for outsourcing the production of  their Olympic wear. That's right, even though Ryan Lochte looks preppy and All-American in the ads, the items were all "Made in China." A slap in the face to American industry? Absolutely. But Harry Ried's (very reasonable?) call to burn everything and start from scratch was perhaps a tad impractical given that the games are literally around the corner. Though the furor that emerged does bring up some interesting questions about the commercialization of nationhood as well as the branding involved in patriotism and the Olympics. 


The choice of Ralph Lauren is an interesting one because its aesthetic has always been "preppy" (NB: American Prep is synonymous with the "Sloane Ranger" in UK") and its clothes out of the price range of most people. By donning these uniforms, Team USA is projecting an image of America that only a select privileged cadre of people actually experience. I know everyone summers in the Hamptons now but really? What message does this send to the plethora of other groups in the United States that count themselves proudly as Americans? Is this all about style and no substance?


Canadian athletes were first dressed by Roots Canada Limited for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Roots, founded in 1973, began making leather footwear in Toronto. The brand has since widened its reach to luggage, fashion accessories and active wear that all evoke a specific image of life in the Canadian wilderness. It is an image that the founders created based on their own camping adventures in Algonquin Park. So, think beavers, canoes, log cabins, and plaids worn by burly lumberjacks. Think cozy. Think rustic. In 1998, the company gained international exposure with those red felt poor boy caps. Remember those?!  I remember being on a 4 week wait-list to buy our hats! Those red hats and patch-covered letterman jackets were a phenomenon and skyrocketed a moderate sized Canadian retailer to global stardom overnight. They were even making Olympic kits for Team USA (2002 & 2004) and Britain (2002). Scandalous! Do all Canadians camp? No. But, the symbols Roots collected in their vision of "Canada" were relatively benign. And it's hallmark items are all made here. More importantly, Roots' overall style is much more low-key, which is something with which Canadians can relate. Roots has been unabashed about the "I love Canada" ethos behind their brand and consumers have happily bought into that.

The ubiquitous red felt cap Image from roots.com

And what about the Brits in 2012? Stella McCartney, in partnership with Adidas, is responsible for the home team's uniforms. Is Stella McCartney the most natural choice? She does have impeccable pedigree. And, she is definitely a shining example of a great generation in British fashion design. But, why not Burberry, Barbour, or (the Duchess' favourite) Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen? What makes Stella McCartney's designs uniquely representative of modern Britain at these games? Shouldn't the athletes be wearing a lot of Scottish wool, deerstalker cap, and Hunter wellies? Crude stereotypes, I know. I wonder whether this McCartney gear is all "Made in Britain." I'm sure Boris is on top of all of that ... right IdleHistorian? Would Britons be up in arms if it were revealed that the items weren't produced in British factories ... or is that terribly un-British? 

Andy Murray, Tennis

What each team wears and the symbols used to represent a country at the Olympics is integral to creating national identity. Consumers are actually buying (into) tokens that represent national pride and patriotism. Some countries seem to understand this better than others.


@SloaneScholar1


I have always been a big fan of the Roots Olympic gear, and I will wear my 2002 Salt Lake City Games merch with pride at the Olympics this year. (I mean, it's still the same country, right? It's not like they changed the name or anything. This whole buying new gear every Olympics thing is firmly overrated. I'm going retro and cheap. There's a recession on! End of aside.)


My big bugbear with the Canadian Olympic Committee is that they have disastrously given the official-clothing-maker contract to the Hudson's Bay Company, a company which couldn't possibly sound more Canadian, but is in fact owned by American Target.

Fits like a glove

So sign me up right there next to the congressmen making a fuss about Ralph Lauren's athletics wear being made in China. The Hudson's Bay Company doesn't come close to representing "Canadianity" in the same way that Roots does. Plus their lame red maple leaf mittens are no where as cool as the Roots beret in its heyday.


H.