Higher, faster, stronger . . . better

It’s easy to roll your eyes. In some cases, it’s appropriate. When the Canadian Olympic Committee unveiled its new branding campaign on Tuesday, there were several such moments. When the laudable recovery of snowboarder Mark McMorris from a devastating crash was framed as something uniquely Canadian, for instance. When a marketing man said these were the Canadian Olympic stories that would not be found in newspapers. (This column may be confusing, for some.) When the ad that looked like a gritty X-Men reboot aired. Yeah.

“Virtue or victory isn’t a decision to be made,” intoned a different, less surreal ad. “Virtue is victory. When you’re Cana- dian, they go hand-in-hand, just like we do.”

Less than two weeks before the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the COC unveiled its new core message. Virtue Is Winning. Be Virtuous. Be Victorious. Be Canadian. Be Olympic. Essentially, they are unrolling an ambitious and controlled marketing campaign tying Canadian Olympic sport to a higher moral standard, in addition to a competitive one.

And at times, it hurtled a little over the top. The campaign was designed, said Derek Kent, the COC’s executive director of corporate and brand communications, “To remind the world, and help remind them, what it meant to be Olympic. We can do this because of who we are as Canadians.

After a crash and a stroke, speed skater Denny Morrison’s incredible story inspires hope

Because these values are ingrained in our own DNA, in the fabric of our nation.”

Of all the things Canadians love, telling ourselves that we are naturally good is high on the list. We are all the songs we sing ourselves, and Canada has a long history of overlooking our mistakes, our evils, our systemic failures. And this campaign — this idea, coming from the most popular purveyor of truly national identity — is, on first glance, of a piece of that.

It is also easier to sing because the idea of clean sport, virtuous sport, is perennially under assault. That Russia is allowed to participate in the 2018 Olympics after systemic state-sponsored doping — after extensive negotiations, it was determined the Russian athlete would wear red and white, but a different red and white — is a predictable failure by the International Olympic Committee. Russia, of course, is far from the only nation that has been clouded with suspicion. Global sports can be a dirty game.

So Canada risks looking naive, a little Pollyanna of the North. We have our own skeletons, of course. They may still be living, for all we truly know. The COC knows that, and hedged a little in the presentation.

“This is aspirational,” said Kent. “This is not, We Were Olympic, or We Are Olympic. This is, Be Olympic.”

Then there was the one ad, the X-Men one: Long-track speed skater Denny Morrison solemnly ascending through a dilapidated factory in a cone of light as a villainous Cronus-like giant in a security guard’s uniform menaces nearby; the three Dufour-Lapointe sisters, two of whom will compete in moguls, dancing hand-in-hand through artificial snow like nymph figures; figure skater Eric Radford throwing Meagan Duhamel in front of a Tom Waits’ Last Supper panel; snowboarder Mark McMorris lying as a Jesus figure in a Pietà pose, cradled by a nurse, wounds on his bare chest, delicately opening his eyes.

There was more, and it ends with a little girl in front of statues, in the same abandoned factory, of Canadian women’s hockey legends Hayley Wickenheiser, Vicky Sunohara and Caroline Ouellette.

It was surreal, and a little silly. So yes, this idea was wrapped in a little too much branding talk, too much communications strategy, too much gooey Canadian gauze.

But just as the Olympics are powered by something incredible, it sprang from something. The idea came after talks with about 40 athletes, coaches, officials and athletes’ agents, and the COC came away with the idea that we want to be more than just a steadily rising Olympic power, which we are. It came away with virtue.

And if you talk to athletes, there is something there. Morrison will compete in his fourth Olympics in Korea at age 32. He crashed a motorcycle in 2015 and had a stroke in 2016 and was only saved by his thengirlfriend, now wife, Josie, who had lifeguard training and noted the drool at the corner of his drooping mouth. They had just completed a 1,300-kilometre bike trip, and had it happened over those previous 20 days . . . well, Morrison almost shudders when he is asked about that. He is an incredible story of perseverance, and more. And Josie will compete in these Olympics, too.

Morrison talks about Simon Whitfield’s triathlon gold in 2000 as his favourite Olympic moment. Whitfield screamed to himself Sing Like Kreek on the way to his silver in 2008, after the Canadian anthem sung by rower Adam Kreek. Kayaker Adam van Koeverden wrote Whitfield’s name on his boat in 2012 in London and thought of Clara Hughes, at their final Olympics.

Count the little Canadian girls who look up to Wickenheiser, to Sunohara, to Ouellette. There is inspiration that passes through the Canadian Olympic family tree. And one common thread between so many of our athletes — Clara Hughes, Beckie Scott, go on — is the drive to compete with integrity. That’s not unique to Canada, any more than perseverance is, than courage is. We are not the only clean snow.

But maybe it’s worth trying to sing a song like this. Van Koeverden was not consulted for the campaign but loves the idea, noting that the Olympics can be about all kinds of goals beyond gold. He adds, “maybe that’s a good cause for celebrating the things that other countries share, because those are the things that bring us together. There’s a lot of divisiveness in the world right now, and it would be nice to celebrate what we share, and the Olympic values are something that everybody shares. Finding the maple syrup of Olympic sport every single time can get tedious: What makes us uniquely Canadian? Maybe the more interesting question is: What brings us together as Olympians?”

It would be nice if this idea, this virtue, was that, wouldn’t it? Canada is trying to sell itself, and it will surely fall short of those ideals, because of course it will. But the attempt seems genuine, and the stories are real. It can all seem silly, when sold by the marketers. But then, trying always can.