The most dominant athlete in sports doesn’t wear red on Sunday’s. She doesn’t drive race cars around a track nor does she rock a headband with a swoosh on it. Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer – not a bad group, but their accomplishments pale in comparison to Esther Vergeer.

The placement of the Paralympic games after the spectacle that is the Olympics has always been strange to me. Two weeks of international competition featuring sports previously unheard of is just about all Joe Sportsfan can take. Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps are exceptions to the rule – you won’t hear much about the performances of Mo Farrah and Rosie MacLennan in a couple months.

And while that is a shame it’s another thing to be ignored while actively competing. Outside of London, coverage of the Parlaympic games is almost non-existent. The fourteenth edition of the summer Olympiad ends on Sunday – how many people knew they were even going on is a question worth asking. The biggest story to emerge during the past two weeks centered on allegations of blade lengthening – a story picked up by many news outlets because it was Oscar – blade runner – Pistorius making the accusations.

So be it. I’d love to do my best crotchety old sportswriter impression and lambaste the viewing public for misplaced priorities, but I haven’t watched a second of the action myself. And though the internet was created so people could claim they were better than other people based on seemingly trivial things like who watches the most obscure sports, let’s move forward.

Fact is the Paralympic games are pretty damn awesome. Want inspiration? Check out Italy’s Annalisa Minetti bronze medal win in the 1500m race for the visually impaired. Want goosebumps? Observe Canadian swimmer Summer Mortimer’s double gold, record setting performance. Then there’s Alex Zanardi – eleven years after losing both legs in an horrific Champ Car accident – claiming gold in the 16km H4 class time trial handbike race.

Want unrivaled dominance – by anyone, in any sport? Vergeer’s your woman.

Watching wheelchair tennis for the first time was disorienting to say the least. The balls are allowed to bounce twice and the wheelchairs used by the players are modified. While these differences are impossible to miss, some things remain the same. The mannerisms of the player waiting to return serve are nearly identical. The timing of the serve remains a rhythmic masterpiece. To get a glimpse of how physically intense this sport is here are highlights from the Beijing semifinal between Vergeer and Jiske Griffioen:

At age eight Vergeer developed paraplegia after a successful surgery on her spinal cord. Soon after she began playing volleyball, basketball, and tennis in a wheelchair. In 1998 she won her first U.S Open title.

21 grand slams, 296 titles (singles and doubles) and most impressive of all – 469 consecutive match wins in singles. To put that in perspective, George W. Bush was a relatively popular figure the last time she lost and 50 Cent’s In Da Club topped the charts – dark days.

The great Roger Federer:

“I think what Esther has accomplished is absolutely amazing. She hasn’t lost a match since 2003 and has gone on an incredible streak, which is impossible to imagine me being able to do,” he said. “Obviously there is also an argument that she is one of the greatest athletes in the world at the moment.”

Yesterday the Dutch superstar reached the semifinals after a 6-1, 6-0 win against Thailand’s Sakhorn Khanthasit. Today Vergeer defeated Griffioen in a rematch of the Beijing semi. She’ll face countrywomen Aniek Van Koot in the final.

Athletes in the mold of Phelps, Bolt and Federer come along every so often – for that we are lucky. Esther Vergeer is a once in a lifetime talent. Cherish her while you can, there won’t be another.

Sports we loved, athletes we loathed and the moments that stomped on your heart: Jake Goldsbie, Chris Lund and I weighed in on all that and a bit more as the Games of the XXX Olympiad fade to black.

The sport we had no idea about

JG: Handball was legitimately and unapologetically awesome. I had no idea what it entailed and I, like many others I assume, was taken in by this bizarre hybrid of hockey, water polo and dodgeball (it’s exactly as weird as it sounds). However, it turned out to be one of the most legitimately exciting sports of the games. I want it to catch on outside of the Olympics. You mean to tell me you couldn’t get a bunch of people liquored up to go watch handball at Ricoh? In fact, I enjoyed it so much I’m currently writing up a proposal to make it the new obscure sport played by assholes in Trinity Bellwoods. I would totally join up with this. Handball. Tell your friends.

DD: Badminton was a sport I played with my Mom at family gatherings – these picnics consisted of a bunch of South Asian immigrants getting together to eat food from the homeland while playing Badminton and Volleyball at a public park somewhere in Markham. At no point during my adolescence did I say “Yo, Badminton is fantastic.” Thanks to Alex Bruce and Michelle Li I finally said it, some 15 years later. International intrigue, match fixing and a shady governing body? I imagine Ben Affleck is preparing the script for “BADminton: The game of games” as I type. They have their own version of Federer-Nadal, the rallies are comically insane and the post-point screeching, I shall miss you the most. I was able to tweet hashtag TeamBruceLi without feeling like a douchebag. What a sport.

CL: Water Polo is a sport I was absolutely familiar with prior to the games but it’s one that I have stuck in my head for the sheer athleticism it requires to play. Let’s think about this – you’re swimming the length of a pool on the attack or defence, you’re treading water when you’re not actively moving around, you have to tread yourself above water to get a shot off and even if you get sent to the ‘penalty box’ you’re in there, treading water. Let’s also not forget that part of the fun of Water Polo is that you’re trying to drown one another within the context of the game. It’s fatiguing to type.

Water Polo: For the person who loves marathon swimming, MMA and handball equally.

Canada didn’t have a horse in the Water Polo tournament, but if you can’t walk away from these Olympics — or any Olympics — with the utmost respect for these athletes and their ability to simultaneously do these things without dying of exhaustion, I don’t know if you can be redeemed.

Favourite performance

JG: I mean, I’d love to get jingoistic and talk about how much I loved Christine Sinclair’s performance in the semifinals of the women’s soccer tournament or Bruce Li pushing Japan to the limit in the badminton semifinals (actually a thing I just typed. My god.) but I really can’t give anyone the “favourite” title that isn’t named Usain Bolt. I know it’s kind of a typical answer and it’s not like he needs any more hype or recognition but, I mean, have you seen the guy run? At a certain point it just becomes funny. The crazy thing about Bolt’s performance in these Olympics is that his 100m run ended up being the least exciting to watch. The duel between him and Yohan Blake in the 200m was the stuff of legends and to watch Bolt turn it on and find that other gear that literally nobody else in the world has is just amazing to watch. And the 4x100m relay. Holy hell. Bolt’s anchor leg of that race was just phenomenal. With the running start, he must have ran that leg in about 9 seconds. Just stupid. Bolt’s Twitter bio reads “the most naturally gifted athlete the world has ever seen.” This is one of those rare times where the hubris is not only deserved but correct. It’s Bolt’s world, we’re just walking through it.

DD: Seems like nothing unites Canadians more than hating on America. Our brash, loudmouth brother to the south win everything while carrying themselves with the grace and humility of Geraldo Rivera. Is this a combination of stereotyping, generalizing and jealousy? – oh, most certainly yes. We sent our female footballers to do what many thought was impossible: beat the U.S juggernaut. For the opening twenty minutes Chris and I seemed to be the only ones watching the game in the Score newsroom – it was a holiday. That changed when Christine Sinclair opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.

1-0, is this really going to happen? 1-1, of course not. 2-1, Sinclair again!? Are you kidding me. 2-2, expletives, many expletives. 3-2, call 911. 3-3, fuck Norway. 3-4, I hate sports.

It was the defining moment of the games for me. Sheer jubilation coupled with soul crushing defeat – Canada’s claim to fame in London. From Milos losing 25-23 in the third set to our Canadian relay team crying into the flag after their disqualification – we did heartbreak pretty well. I’m not sure I’ll remember Rosie MacLennan winning Gold on the trampoline or Adam van Koeverden capturing Silver in the K1-1000 ten years from now. For at least one day Soccer – a sport I love – was IT in Canada. Tough to forget that.

CL: With Usain Bolt and Christine Sinclair off the board, I’m going to go the team route (How Canadian am I?) and select Canada’s 4x100m men’s relay team. I wrote about them yesterday after the disqualification and there are certainly still many strong feelings about the outcome of this race, but I can’t say enough about what these men accomplished on a national scale. Since the Bailey, Surin, Gilbert, Esmie team Canada has been on a steady slide in the world of track. We had our moment, our world record and our gold medals and it has been slim pickings ever since. When you’re deprived of success — or even hope — nostalgia can be a hell of a drug, and I’ve had that image of Donovan Bailey crossing the line in the 100m in 1996 burned into my memory ever since and no new memories to form around it.

During the London 4x100m a statement was made, regardless of whether or not we came away with a medal, that Canadian track is coming back. Sure, we had the hangover that usually comes after a moment of pure bliss but after many advils we are making our way back.

Let’s call a spade a spade here: sprinting is the prestige event of the summer games. If you don’t have memorable performances there, nobody will remember much of anything from your Olympics looking back beyond the list Wikipedia spits out. Canada’s glory brought with it a long drought, but that is coming to an end. The performance of Smellie, Smyth, Connaughton and Warner showed us that. We may never run down Usain Bolt, but we’ll be on that podium in the future.

Canadian track is back.

Biggest disappointment

JG: CTV. TSN and Sportsnet too but let’s pull them all under the CTV umbrella so I can hate them all at once. It’s not like we have a particularly high standard for sports broadcasting in this country to begin with (see: Tabler, Pat) but if this was the best we could do for the Olympics, we’re kind of in trouble (Christ, I sound like an episode of The Newsroom). I mean, the announcing of the events was fine but the talking head nonsense was just awful. The worst example of this being in the aftermath of Canada’s heartbreaking disqualification in the 4x100m relay. First, there was the brilliance that is Farhan Lalji asking Jared Connaughton how he felt after the race like he was expecting to say “being disqualified is awesome! We should do this all the time!” and just generally being the worst. I guess it wasn’t about the Canucks so who gives a fuck or something. Then there was the misery porn montages after the race because when you’re so upset you cry into the Canadian flag on national television what you really want is it to be replayed with sad music seventeen times. And the pure ball of hate that is the Bell Social Scene. Hey, Twitter exists, what a shock. I hope Monika Platek went to journalism school and dreamed of covering wars and elections and every time she says something about the “social Olympics” she dies inside. Just a little.

Oh, and let’s not forget about “I Believe”. Oh my God, this fucking song. It was bad enough when it was consistently played in 2010 but whoever came up with the idea to use it again this year should be fired. Every time an athlete did something fantastic (which, you know, is kind of what the Olympics are about), the moment would be cut short by Nikki Yanovski and her message for the world (the message is that she believes. In what, I don’t care). Nothing ruins the feeling of watching someone do something amazing like this song. Nikki Yanovski is the Pierre McGuire of music, a buzzkill of the worst kind. I hope her parents are disappointed in her. So, yeah, CTV was not my favourite thing ever. But, hey, at least they showed the events live.

DD: First I’d like to second Jake’s comments on “I Believe.” Hate is a strong word -  but I use it unreservedly in stressing how much I loathe this song. I spent five minutes searching for a more powerful word than hate – then the song began playing in my head and I had to stop. Health comes first.

The reaction to Ye Shiwen’s record breaking performance is my biggest disappointment. Here’s the top five all time in positive doping cases: Bulgaria (8), Germany (5), Hungary (5), the U.S (5) and Greece/Sweden (4). China’s had one. Her final split in the 400m IM was faster than Phelps and Lochte. She’s 16. Teenagers aren’t supposed to do this – except if their last names were suspiciously American. We watch the Olympics to see records broken, to see the impossible achieved, to suspend our disbelief. Ye was the first female  swimmer to break a world record after the ban of those futuristic body suits that made everyone faster. Though they haven’t been caught at the Olympics, China’s swimming program has had their fair share of scandals – including the removal of a female swimmer from the team in June due to a positive test.The Guardian, New York Times and other major international news organizations fed the rumors, publishing articles full of innuendo and speculation. The quotes from respected Swimming officials included words like “Superhuman”, “East German” and “impossible.” Justin Gatlin competed while serving year six of an eight year ban for cheating. Explain that one to me, please.

I get it. Cynicism wins the day. Ye was subject to tests before, during and after the games. She’s clear. Can we not appreciate her monumental accomplishment? What the hell happened to us.

CL: I’m going to be the third vote on the ‘I Believe’ song. If we could bring it behind the barn and put it down between now and 2014 that would be great. Nobody needs to hear it ever again and if we could all just forget it existed the world would be a magnificent place.

I’m also going to piggy back Devang’s sentiment on cynicism and roll with it for a moment. Why is it that we feel the urge to flog ourselves with self-loathing whenever the Olympics comes around? Seriously, it’s insufferable.

Where have you heard the following: A ‘Canadian medal favourite’ (who really wasn’t a medal favourite objectively, they just won the lottery of death and were the object of hype) comes fourth and it’s a travesty. We only win bronze, how pathetic. Canada gets screwed by everyone all the time and our lives are hard.

Seriously folks, it’s time to lighten up. The Olympics are a lot less fun when we spend as much time moping around about how certain names that sounded familiar aren’t leaving with a medal, or we’re complaining about coming third out of everyone on the planet, or we’re being martyrs about adjudication. It’s really not that bad. The Rosie MacLennans and Brent Haydens of the world are incredible stories of people who weren’t expected to leave with anything and did, yet we finished fourth a few times and the sky is falling.

I’d love to have the medal count of the USA or China as much as anyone if not more than anyone, but it’s not going to happen any time soon. You’re allowed to be mad when we lose, but try and give some credence to the people who have won against stacked odds too. An attitude adjustment is needed in the next two years so prepare yourselves accordingly.

Canadians crying into a flag isn’t the image to take away. Canadians belting out the anthem among the world’s best is. Run with that.

Fin

For Jake, Chris and myself – thanks for stopping by Going For Glory these last two weeks. What began as a journey into the unknown ends too soon. Till Sochi.

Looks like #Canada wasn’t only team to step on line in 4x100m @ewingsports @trackalerts @ctvolympics @lisette_stapley twitter.com/sprint_mgmt/st…

— Kris Mychasiw (@sprint_mgmt) August 12, 2012

Yep, that’s the foot of a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter touching the lane during last night’s heart crushing 4 x 100m men’s relay. T&T took the Bronze after Canada was DQ’d for a similar lane violation committed by captain Jared Connaughton.

Your move IOC. Double Bronze or bust.

Update: Confusion abounds as the T&T runner didn’t commit a lane infringement during the turn, which was the crime committed by Connaughton. Commenter Emmceegee directs us to IAAF rule 163.3a which states:

“In all races run in lanes, each athlete shall keep within his allocated lane from start to finish. This shall also apply to any portion of a race run in lanes.”

So technically, fifth place France should get the Bronze. Feign your outrage elsewhere, unfortunately. Yes, rules are rules, but discretion should be an option. Like the T&T runner, Connaughton didn’t impede any of his fellow competitors. A strict interpretation of the law is needed, but why is there zero flexibility? Convoluted, thy name is Olympics.

Update II: Via commenter Wayne Chow, rule 163.3b seems to exonerate T&T as they gained no advantage in stepping on the lane line. Thanks for the tips, folks. The IAAF rule book is a tricky one.

In 2008 Ricky Rubio kept the Spaniards in the game with stellar guard play. Out due to injury, Rubio was replaced by Sergio Rodriquez, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon. JC was atrocious, but the play of Navarro and Rodriguez – known in Spain as ‘Spanish Chocolate’ in commemoration of Jason Williams – was enough to match Deron Williams, Paul and Russ Westbrook on the other side. A Rodriguez three at 7:18 in the second quarter cut the American lead to two.

Somehow, Marc Gasol was hit with his fourth foul in the second quarter. Spanish Head Coach Sergio Scariolo’s awful bench management would effectively take Gasol out of the game until the latter portion of the fourth quarter. Gasol’s foul capped a run that featured 32 fouls in 19 minutes – ever think you’d miss NBA officials? The U.S lead was cut to one heading into half-time.

Big brother Pau Gasol spent his break building a time machine. The man at the center of Kobe’s barbs during the NBA playoffs dominated the third quarter, dropping 13 consecutive points while also managing to hurl taunts at Bryant. The U.S, 10-0 all time versus Spain in Olympic play – faced their most daunting task of the tournament, clinging to a one point lead after three quarters thanks to a Kevin Durant three – who, by the way, was lights out again and is now the official leader in points (156) at one Olympic tournament by an American Basketball player.

Scariolo managed to make Coach K look good – still believe Butch Carter could’ve coached this team with the same results – once again, leaving both Gasol brothers on the bench to open the final frame. Two crucial minutes passed before Pau checked back into the game. Marc followed one minute later. By then momentum had made its final turn. A Durant three at the 6:10 mark made it 93-86 for the Americans. Lebron sealed the game as only the king of basketball – regular season MVP, a title, the NBA Finals MVP, and a Gold Medal – can, throwing down a dunk and a deep three in succession to increase the lead to eight.

They did what was expected of them. Kobe’s comments about the 92 Dream Team took on a life of their own. In comparison, that 92 team defeated Croatia 85-32 in their Gold Medal final. While I have a tough time believing this current version of Team USA could compete with that unholy collection of all-time greats, the world has gotten a lot better since then. Argentina’s golden generation, a tiny nation like Lithuania becoming a global basketball force and the presence of at least one NBA player on almost every team is a positive sign for the game in a global sense.

Team USA continues their reign as the best ballers in the world, but the gap gets smaller every day.

Image via RPP

For whatever reason Jacques Rogge’s speech at the opening ceremonies two weeks ago has burrowed its way into my brain. Of course, Rogge said nothing controversial, but the idea that there is a ‘President’ of the International Olympic Committee at all is strange. Rogge is a de facto head of state, in the same vein as Sepp Blatter or Ban Ki Moon. The Olympics bring athletes of all colors from all corners together in the name of sport. So why then, do the Olympics implement totalitarian rules and regulations that would make some of your more contemptible world leaders blush?

There’s rule 40, an IOC regulation that forbids Olympians from shilling for their sponsors on social media during the games. On its face the rule makes sense – aiming to limit ambush marketing from the heavyweights of global business. It’s implementation however, was a disaster. Your non-Kobe’s and Lebron’s were heavily effected – 99% of athletes – because of their reliance on sponsor money to fund their dream. Lack of exposure equals fewer dollars.

Then there’s the IOC’s bizarre insistence on not holding a moment of silence for Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics. So bizarre that Bob Costas emerged as the voice of reason – Bob Costas!

This all smacks in the face of what I actually thought the Olympics were growing up. I can’t remember how many times we watched Jesse Owens provide the world’s greatest “fuck you” moment in class, but it was a lot. John Carlos and Tommie Smith – this Dave Zirin book is phenomenal – and the black power salute. The Olympics were the place to loudly proclaim whatever it was you believed in. The boycotts in 1980 and 84 – that was the Olympics.

That isn’t to say I miss the Cold War dick measuring contests that dominated the games years ago. Politicians and Government ministers patronizing us on twitter with their ‘good job, good effort’ like speech has grown tiresome. I’m OK with getting rid of things of this ilk – it’s for the best.

However, an incident involving frenemies Japan and South Korea yesterday was exactly the type of stuff that shouldn’t be suppressed by Rogge and the equally shady, FIFA.

The Skinny: On Friday South Korea beat Japan in the Men’s Football Bronze medal game. After the game Korean midfielder Park Jong-woo was handed a sign by a South Korean supporter – presumably, spies?! The sign, written in traditional Hangul, declared ‘Dokdo is our territory,” our meaning South Korea’s.

Dokdo to South Koreans or Takeshima, for the Japanese, is a set of disputed islands that are claimed by both countries. Reference a  book on world history and you’ll know time has yet to heal the many wounds created decades ago. South Korean Prime Minister Lee Myung Bak visited the islands hours  before Friday’s game. Talks planned between Lee and his Japanese counterpart were put in jeopardy because of the visit. The sign, coupled with the political machinations by officials back home combined to screw Park very badly.

As we know, the IOC and FIFA aren’t down with slogans of the political variety:

“The IOC and FIFA have statutes that prohibit political statements by athletes and players. Olympic officials had asked the South Korean Olympic Committee to take action against Park and that he not be present at the ceremony.”

And so he wasn’t. Park was barred from the Medal ceremony after the Gold Medal game yesterday. If the Korean Football Association had a problem with the actions of their player then so be it – suspend him. But this wasn’t them. The IOC (and their clownish step siblings FIFA) are so afraid, scared, of their games extending beyond the realm of sport they take on the role of an elementary school disciplinarian. Things aren’t ‘ok’ everywhere in this world of ours, no shit, we know this. This year was the first time at least one women was a part of each team – the first! We’ve got a long way to ago.

Let em say what they want, it’s for the best.

In an Olympic Games defined by valiant efforts that fell just short, Christine Sinclair has been chosen to carry the Canadian flag at this evening’s closing ceremonies.

Canada’s greatest female footballer has done this before, as she carried the Maple Leaf during the opening ceremonies at last year’s Pan Am Games in Mexico.

Canada’s lone gold-medalist, Rosie MacLennan and Men’s 4x100m Relay captain Jared Connaughton – more tears, argh – also deserved a fair look.

Hard to complain with the choice. Christine Sinclair for Prime Minister.

Here’s your rundown of the Olympics events you need to watch today. (All times Eastern)

Athletics

Three Canadians will look for a medal in the Men’s Marathon as Reid Coolsaet, Eric Gillis and Dylan Wykes will compete at 6 am.

Basketball

Argentina and Russia will duke it out for the bronze medal at 6 am, but the eyes will be on the gold medal game at 10 am. Will the United States continue to roll or can Spain pull off the upset? Stay tuned.

Boxing

Finals will be going in the Men’s Fly, Men’s Light, Men’s Welter, Men’s Light Heavy, Men’s Super Heavy all morning.

Cycling – Mountain Bike

The men’s cross-country final at 8:30 has two Canadians in the field as Max Plaxton and Geoff Kabush will take part in line up 3.

Handball

The men’s medal matches take place at 6 am with the bronze up for grabs between Croatia and Hungary, while Sweden and France will play for the gold at 10 am.

Volleyball

Bulgaria and Italy will be playing for the bronze medal at 4:30 am with Russia and Brazil playing for gold at 10 am.

Water Polo

Medal matches go at 9:30 am when Montenegro plays Serbia for bronze. Croatia will take on Italy at 10:50 am for gold.

Wrestling

Canada’s Haislan Veranes Garcia takes on Haitem Ben Alayech of Turkey at 3:30 am in the men’s 66kg freestyle qualifiers. In the men’s 96kg Canadian Khetav Pliev will take on Javier Cortina Lacerra of Cuba at 4:15 am.

For a full list of the events going on today, click here for the London 2012 Official Olympic Schedule

The closing ceremonies kick off at 4:00 pm. You should watch them, even though there are no medals handed out.

Why don’t we get the fun stuff out of the way first, shall we?

Jamaica is the owner of the greatest sprinting team in the history of time. One day that will change, but until then we have to be in awe of what they have put together.

In case you weren’t familiar with the cast of characters: Nesta Carter, the Jamaican lead runner, is one of five men in the history of time to run the 100m dash in under 9.8 seconds. You didn’t see him in the individual 100m race because he didn’t qualify, three Jamaicans ran three faster qualifying times before the games. Think about that.

Michael Frater is probably the least decorated of the four Jamaican relay sprinters. His personal best in the 100m is 9.88 seconds in 2011, despite suffering a ruptured knee ligament in 2010. Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinting legend, lost his spot on the 4×100 team to Frater. Powell is not an easy man to knock off, but Frater did.

Yohan Blake needs no introduction at this point. He is beastly; the second best runner in the world. Any country would love to have him as a runner. The only reason he is not the face of Jamaican sprinting is because there’s a pretty quick whippersnapper in front of him.

Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the history of the world. He is, in many ways, the face of the Olympic games and personally accounts for 35% of Jamaica’s gold medals at the Olympics. He is, by his own admission, a legend.

These four destroyed the world record today by three tenths of a second with a time of 36.85. They are monsters on the track, and you can’t take away from what they have done. They are the greatest ever and it’s officially not very close.

The United States, to their credit, ran well but, to bring in a useful American sporting analogy, they are the Utah Jazz to Jordan’s Bulls. Filled with greats, just not capable of winning the big one while the heavyweight Jamaicans are on top. It’s not easy, but you could do worse.

The Americans were second today by a fair margin and tied the previous world record of 37.04. Stockton and Malone understand how you feel.

If you can find somewhere to watch this race and you haven’t already, do it and let your jaw drop. These are fast men.

That’s the fun part.

***

Canada came into the relay final as a medal hope. They posted a good time in qualifying and were granted the good fortune of a Great Britain disqualification to earn their spot in the final. The best relay team since Atlanta 1996 had been assembled and it was conceivable, based on qualifying performance at least, that Canada would earn themselves a medal.

They didn’t disappoint. With Jamaica and the USA in a clear fight for first and second — a fight which turned into more of a beatdown when the anchor hand off occurred — Canada made their move. Justyn Warner ran an electric final leg, bringing the Canadians from fifth to third where they crossed the line. The board showed quite clearly for the world what happened.

Bronze. Canada. They did it. They had their moment.

The time, as we all know, did not stand. Team captain Jared Connaughton stepped on the inside line during his handoff which was recorded as a line violation. Canada was disqualified. Trinidad and Tobago have bronze medals now, and Canada is left with the memory of their name being lit up with disqualification lights.

Then the tone changed.

We, as a nation jumping up and down, went from exuberant to heartbroken in a matter of seconds. They were disqualified? Why? How? Answers weren’t readily apparent, but eventually came to light. Reality set in. No medal for the first track performance to bring us out of our seats in 16 years.

From admiring a spectacular performance to wallowing in pity. According to many, crying in a flag became the adopted symbol of our London 2012 campaign. That’s the memory we took away from this moment, from these games: Falling short for country. The reaction was an embarrassment only made worse by the decision to parade four sprinters — four sprinters who had just come up an executive decision short of their dream — in front of a camera and ask the deep questions: “How does it feel to win a medal and have it taken away?” while someone in a truck preps a montage of tears and muzak for the roll into commercials.

How does it feel? It feels terrible. If that’s all you can come up with, perhaps you shouldn’t be asking questions. “What’s your perfect Sunday?” would have more apt given that tomorrow is Sunday and the disqualification happened on Saturday night.

We don’t give a damn who stepped on that line. We don’t need to hear them try and verbalize how gutted they are. We sure as hell don’t need a half-witted montage cataloging tears in a vague effort to convey the cruelty of sport. We saw, we know, we felt it. Every single one of us did.

Canada not winning a medal changes absolutely nothing about that race. They ran the third fastest time in a final featuring the eight fastest countries in the world. They electrified us for 30 seconds. They had us overjoyed in an event where we hadn’t been an issue for nearly 20 years.

A foot on a line changes none of those things. It may result in a disqualification, but the moment is unchanged, only the memory is.

Jared Connaughton isn’t a hero because he went in front of a camera and apologized for stepping on a line. He’s a hero because he is the team captain of Canada’s 4x100m relay team who were, medal or no medal, the third fastest relay team in the final heat. He’s a hero because Gavin Smellie, Oluseyi Smith, and Justyn Warner are heroes. They’re heroes because they brought us out of our seats and made us even more proud — if that’s possible — to be Canadian.

They were at that moment and that’s how they should stand in our memory.

Canadian track is coming back, and when it does, you’ll have Smellie, Smyth, Connaughton and Warner to thank for getting the wheels in motion by getting us out of our seats.

They owe us nothing, let alone an apology.

The 2012 Olympics have been interesting in a way unique to the games as a whole. In essence, it has been the first games with widespread attention focused on the social media side of things. Athletes have regularly updated twitter accounts and Facebook pages, interact with fans and celebrate wins online. As such, tracking their influence has become an interesting side project for many Olympic viewers.

The above graph, per Darren Rovell of ESPN, tracks social media growth over the course of the games.

Chart of Olympians & their increase in % of Twitter followers throughout the Games (via @wsj) twitpic.com/ai76l2

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) August 11, 2012

It’s a bit funny to track this by percentiles as you’ll note that both Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps took on over 1,000,000 followers on twitter but had a relatively miniscule percentage of growth because their follower bases were so big to begin with. Conversely, it makes sense that Olympic darlings Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin would see the biggest rise in followers as their stars have risen dramatically.

No Canadians made the official Wall Street Journal list that Rovell tweeted, but there’s no doubt that they saw a distinct growth in followship as well.

They have the internet on computers now. Who knew?

Mexico captured their first ever soccer gold medal at the Olympics today as they knocked off Brazil in the finals. Prior to this gold medal, Mexico’s best finish was a fourth place in 1968. Brazil appeared in the final for the first time since 1988 and matched the country’s best finish at the Olympics with their third silver (1984, 1988).

Some may find Brazil’s Olympic record vs. their World Cup record to lack congruity, which is technically true, but Mexico is no slouch and actually has a winning record against the Brazilians in this millennium with six wins, four losses and two draws.

For a breakdown of all the action, Kristian Jack has you covered with one of his stellar match reports at The Footy Blog.