On Saturday, Mark McMorris won Canada’s first medal at the 2014 Olympics–a bronze in snowboarding.
That was quickly followed up by two more medals for Canada: Justine Dufour-Lapointe won Canada’s first gold and her sister, Chloe, earned Canada’s first silver medal.
McMorris is a native from Regina, Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is known for having very flat terrain, yet McMorris was determined to be a world-class snowboarder.
Perhaps it is that determination that allowed him to even compete in the 2014 Olympics. Two weeks ago, he broke one of his ribs during another competition.
Performing at the Olympics is challenging because of the world-wide attention on the athletes. Competing with an injury makes it that much harder. McMorris wasn’t sure if he was even going to be able to snowboard. It turns out, he could; in fact, he performed well enough to capture the bronze medal in Snowboarding Slopestyle.
After McMorris’s run on the slopes, even more striking performances emerged for Canada. Freestyle skiers Audrey Robichaud from Quebec City and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters, Justine, Chloe and Maxine, from Montreal, all competed in women’s moguls.
In the end it was two of the Dufour-Lapointe sisters, Justine and Chloe, who dominated the event. Justine, the youngest sibling at 19, edged out her 22-year-old sister to win the gold medal. Chloe took home the silver medal. Finishing third was the defending champion from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Hannah Kearney, from the United States. Maxime, the third and eldest Dufour-Lapointe sister, finished in a respectable 12th place.
This is the the fifth Olympics during which three siblings have competed in the same event. Never has there been a podium sweep (in other words, winning gold, silver and bronze) by three family members.
Canada is currently in first place in the medal standings, having won three gold, three silver and one bronze medal so far. The Netherlands, also with seven medals, is in second place and Norway (also with seven) is in third.
Medal standings (online chart)
Stay up-to-date on the medals Canada, the U.S. and the other teams are winning. The CBC’s Sochi website has up-to-the-minute medal standings for all countries on their website.
Official broadcasters
There are many ways to watch the Olympic Games on television or online. Remember that the teams and athletes that are highlighted will be the ones from the broadcaster’s country. For instance, if you are watching an American broadcast, you will likely see highlights of American athletes.
For Canadian coverage of the games, the CBC Sochi 2014 website is a good place for current information.
For American coverage, check out the NBC Olympics website.
For British coverage, check out the BBC’s Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics website.
To find out which network is covering the 2014 Olympics for your favourite country’s team, check out this Wikipedia list of Olympic broadcasters.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Mark McMorris was able to overcome his injury in order to compete–and win bronze– in his event. What is the biggest obstacle you have ever had to overcome? How did you overcome it?
Reading Prompt: Variety of Texts
Today’s article provides a list of several different news sources. Visit these different sites and compare the different ways that the news is being presented. How are they similar? How are they different? Why do you think they share their similarities and why do you think they have their differences?
Junior
Read a variety of texts from diverse cul- tures, including literary texts (OME, Reading: 1.1).
Intermediate
Read a wide variety of increasingly com- plex or difficult texts from diverse cul- tures, including literary texts (OME, Reading: 1.1).
Grammar Feature: Hyphen ( – )
A hyphen is a punctuation mark that can be used in many different ways. One way that a hyphen can be used is to make a compound noun. A compound noun is made when two words together form a new and complete noun. For example, “world-class” and “world-wide” are compound nouns because each set is comprised of two words that join to form a new thing.
Create five compound nouns of your own using “world-…”
