Olympic Reflections

February 22, 1980. The United States and the world finally believed in Miracles. February 28, 2010. The belief was back. The last time a home country won gold in men's hockey was 1980 when the US men took gold at Lake Placid, a time nobody could forget. Although the singing of "God Bless America" was replaced with "O Canada" in 2010, the USA finally had a miracle to believe in again. The United States was not supposed to compete in the medal rounds in Vancouver. With the recent success of Russia and Sweden on the world stage, and Canada's all-star NHL roster competing on home ice, there was no way the USA was going to even take bronze. They couldn't. They had the youngest roster in the games, and even if they did make it out of their pool with Canada, they'd have to fight Russia, Sweden, or Finland to get into a medal round. There was so little confidence in them that most of the US hockey players were booked on flights leaving Vancouver for the respective NHL cities on Sunday morning, three hours before the gold medal game.

That's where the miracle started. The men's hockey team not only got out of their pool, they won the pool by defeating Canada and securing a bye and a spot in the semifinals. They fought hard and routed Finland to stamp their ticket to the finals with Canada. Everything was going right. In the final game they won a silver medal, but not without a hard battle. It may not have been Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, and Herb Brooks, but it was very much Zach Parise, Patrick Kane, and Ryan Miller. Good for Canada for winning the medal on home ice. It was a spectacular accomplishment for them. However, it was an even bigger accomplishment for the USA team to prove their doubters wrong. Many questions remain about 2014. Will the Canadians be able to repeat? Will the NHL allow its players to compete in the games? Will I have time to remember that the Olympics are on since it will be in my final year in medical school? Only time will tell.

We have come to the end of another Olympic season. The Olympics are a time when we can put our differences aside and recognize all we have accomplished. It's a time when we can look at friends and neighbors from other countries who may be very different from us and congratulate them on their achievements. It's a time when we can look past our anger towards one another and shake their hands, give them a high five, and rejoice in a common ground.

Pretty soon our lives will be back to normal. The NHL will resume tonight and the players we cheered for last week will once again become our rivals. The players we booed yesterday will be our team's heroes. We will look at Vancouver as just that Canadian west coast city that seems ever so far away on a map. Life will go on but we should remember to keep the Olympic spirit going as well. Congratulations to all the athletes who made us realize that we are all together in this world. Congratulations to the United States for setting a Winter Olympic record with 37 medals, including our first in Nordic Combined and Men's 4-man Bobsled. Farewell, Vancouver. We thank you.