Many more medals to come

There have been some mild surprises — Ted-Jan Bloemen’s dismantling of Sven Kramer in the 10,000 metres at the speed skating oval, and those luge medals that were the first in Canadian Olympic history — and there have been Canadians that came in with all the pressure of goldmedal hopes, and still managed to deliver. Look at the elation in Mikael Kingsbury’s face when he realizes he will be an Olympic champion, and you will see the sweet release of four years of building expectations.

In an event this big, there of course have also been moments of sadness. Cross-country skier Alex Harvey hasn’t had the Games he had planned, Rachel Homan’s curling rink started a baffling 0-3, and moguls skier Andi Naude had the final spot of the Olympics, with a medal there for the taking, and lost her line. Hers is the strongest case against the alleged benefit of momentum. Her teammate Justine Dufour-Lapointe had already secured a podium spot, and Naude rode that success right off the course. If success is so infectious, it was hard to see through Naude’s tears.

But on balance, there’s no disputing the results so far. There are many more medal contenders competing over the next week and a half and, barring a shocking turn, the Canadians will win more medals at this Olympics than ever before. That, in turn, will be a validation of the way high-performance sport in Canada has been run for the past decade. The disciplines that have been well funded through programs like Own the Podium — freestyle skiing, snowboard, long- and short-track speed skating, figure skating — have already delivered medal results, and there remains potential for more with several of them. The long shots, the sports that weren’t deemed worthy of extra financial support, haven’t come out of nowhere to win surprise medals.

There are arguments against the rich-get-richer approach. But right now, the results say it all. A Canadian bronze has become just that: a bronze.

LEE JIN-MAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Alla Tsuper won gold in women’s aerials for Belarus at the 2014 Sochi Games, but the 38-year-old mother-of-two had a more difficult time in Pyeongchang on Friday. She attempted the most difficult jump of the night, a triple-twisting back flip, but...