Canada miss out on historic Vancouver gold
Published:Monday | February 15, 2010 | 9:14 AM
Canada’s wait for a first Olympic gold on home soil continues as America’s Hannah Kearney pipped Jennifer Heil to gold in the freestyle skiing moguls on day two of the Winter Olympics.
Local favourite and reigning champion Heil looked set to create history when she held the provisional lead with only Kearney left to ski.
But Kearney’s scintillating final run pushed Heil into the silver medal spot.
The host nation missed out in the 1,500-metre short track skating as Charles Hamelin failed to reach the final.
Hamelin was Canada’s big hope for gold in the speed skating, but the crowd at the Pacific Coliseum watched him win only the ‘B’ final because he failed to qualify for the medal race.
Instead, Jung-Su Lee of South Korea won the gold and Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States took silver.
Canada have never won an Olympic gold medal on home soil, failing to capture any at the1976 Montreal Summer Games or the 1988 Calgary Winter Games.
There was better news for the host nation in ice hockey as the Canadian women’s team got their gold medal defence off to a rousing start with a record-breaking 18-nil demolition of Slovakia in their opening game.