Olympics: Canada and U.S. rivalry heats up Beijing Winter Games
3 min read As sporting rivalries go the United States and Canada doesn’t attain the depth of Argentina and Brazil however relating to Winter Olympics the North American neighbours flip the warmth up. Canada could also be out-matched by the United States on the Summer Olympics however punches above its weight within the winter when medals are selected the snow and ice.
For Canada, which manufacturers itself as a winter sports activities nation, the 2022 Beijing Winter Games signify one other alternative to place it to their rivals to the south. Data evaluation Nielsen’s Gracenote are predicting a good tussle between Canada and the U.S. with each accumulating 22 whole medals on the Feb. 4-20 Games.
The Americans are tipped to edge the Canadians within the last rankings on seven gold to 6 to take the fourth spot on the desk behind Norway, Germany and the Russian Olympic Committee. At the earlier three Winter Games Canada has gained extra gold than the U.S., which is the best way the medals desk is tabulated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
With a little bit of artistic accounting the U.S. spin places it forward in 2010 and 2014 pointing to the overall medals rely, together with a then document 37 collected on the Vancouver Winter Games. So a line within the snow has been drawn for North American bragging rights in Beijing with most of the high medal prospects for each international locations displaying up in the identical occasions.
For Canada two medals are extra necessary than all others — males’s and ladies’s ice hockey. Since ladies’s hockey turned a part of the Olympic programme in 1998 Canada and the U.S. have claimed each gold. The U.S. took the primary in Nagano and the final on the Pyeongchang Winter Games. Canada swept the 4 in-between.
It can be thought of one of many Beijing Games main upsets if the 2 nemesis aren’t dealing with off within the Olympic last once more on Feb. 16.With the National Hockey League pulling out of the Beijing Games in December after COVID-19 pressured the postponement of over 100 video games, handicapping the lads’s medal contenders is tougher.
The U.S. and Canada, tipped as gold favourites earlier than the NHL pull out, are actually medal query marks. Canada may even be seeking to atone for crushing failure on the curling rink in Pyeongchang the place each the lads’s and ladies’s groups did not return house with a medal.
The Canadian males noticed their run of 4 consecutive Olympic titles finish in South Korea, whereas John Shuster’s rink gave the U.S. curling gold for the primary time and is again for a fifth Games to defend the title.
There might be some unhealthy blood on the bobsleigh observe the place Kaillie Humphries, after profitable gold for Canada on the 2010 and 2104 Winter Olympics, defected to the U.S. over a dispute with the nationwide federation and can compete in Beijing as an American.
Snowboard may even see some cross-border showdowns with Canada’s Mark McMorris and Max Parrott wanting good for gold in slopestyle and Big Air. The U.S might be as soon as once more seeking to dominate the halfpipe with Shaun White, competing in his fifth Olympics making an attempt to shut out his Olympic profession with a fourth gold and Chloe Kim bidding for a profitable defence of her Pyeongchang crown.
An enormous edge will go to the U.S. on the alpine ski slopes the place American all-rounder Mikaela Shiffrin is poised be a one-woman medal machine bidding to succeed in the rostrum in 5 occasions.
