2010 Olympic Winter Games Comes to an End with Canada's Pride

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The closing ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, B.C.
Photo courtesy: http://www.vancouversun.com/

With Canada's 14th gold medal win in the ice hockey, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at Vancouver, B.C., came to an end yesterday, February 28. Canada defeated the US hockey team 3 to 2. Mirthful Canadians all over the country have been in Cloud 9 dancing, shouting, partying and enjoying the prideful win in their own way.

The official end of the Olympics came with the impressive and colourful closing ceremony in Vancouver. Canada was the first host country ever to win maximum number of gold medals in the Olympic history. The top ten medal winning countries are as follows:

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
United States	9	15	13	37
Germany	10	13	7	30
Canada	14	7	5	26
Norway	9	8	6	23
Austria	4	6	6	16
Russian Federation	3	5	7	15
Korea	6	6	2	14
China	5	2	4	11
Sweden	5	2	4	11
France	2	3	6	11

One Sad Episode: Death of a Georgian Luger

Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old luge slide player from Georgia, died in a deadly high-speed crash on February 12 in a pre-Olympic practice run at Whistler, B.C., just a few hours before the opening ceremony. The Olympic officials sadly remembered the departed Olympian and publicly paid a tribute to him.

Modern Olympic Games Have a Roman Catholic Connection

According to weekly The Catholic Register of Toronto, the modern Olympics have a Catholic connection. Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), was a French Catholic educationist and historian. He was the founder of modern Olympics. He strongly believed that an international sporting event could promote peace through fostering of brotherhood across cultures, races and religions. He studied under the Jesuit priests. He chose as the Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" from a phrase coined by a Dominican priest. He founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, and, in 1896 modern Olympic Games were established in Athens, Greece. Pope Pius X (1835-1914) was an early supporter of Pierre de Coubertin's Olympic idealism. For more than 100 years, Baron Coubertin's ideals are in practice throughout the world.