All focus for the next few weeks will be on Italy for the Winter Olympics. (Source: Torino2006.com)

Flag Bearer Controversy: I’m completely with Don Cherry’s view on this one. It’s a downright embarrassment that four athletes turned down the honour before Danielle Goyette finally ended this debacle and accepted the flag bearer responsibilities. Beckie Scott, Cindy Klassen, Clara Hughes and Pierre Lueders all turned down the Canadian Olympic committee citing that the carrying of the flag would inversely affect their performance in their events. Take a guy like Lueders for example, how does carrying a flag adversely affect someone who sits down for nearly their entire athletic event? I’ll be interested to see how the disgraced four do in their events. They better win gold!

You have to wonder if other nations had the same issues Canada had with finding a flag bearer.  Certainly there was no debate for nations with only one athlete like the U.S. Virgin Islands who sent 52-year old luge competitor Anne Abernathy as a lone representative and Bermuda who sent Patrick Singleton’s as the Island’s lone hope for Olympic glory for the men’s skeleton event. I imagine if there’s ever an Olympic style reality show in the same vein as ‘Skating with the Stars” Scott Weiland and Nicole Ritchie would be automatic choices for the skeleton event.

Aside from the U.S. Virgin Islands and Bermuda, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Venezuela and Nepal were just some of the other nations content in sending a lone representative to compete at the games. But not every nation agreed with the concept of sending a one-athlete team. Mexico made the controversial decision to not send a team despite one of their athletes qualifying for the alpine skiing event. Forty-seven year old Hubertus von Hohenlohe who had previously competed in 4 Olympics for Mexico was declined the opportunity to make the Turin games his Olympic swan song.

The Gold Medal: Seeing people argue and debate over who should be on the men’s Olympic hockey team when Canada could have easily fielded two competitive teams is like being the casting director for The GodFather and getting flack from the public for casting Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. The way the media and public were going on about Wayne Gretzky’s selection you would have sworn he selected the hockey equivalent of Sofia Coppola.  Can you imagine how the other nations felt when they watched our selection process? While we’re debating the merits of Sidney Crosby, Jason Spezza and Roberto Luongo, other countries were simply looking for players who knew how to skate.  

Canada is absolutely stacked for this tournament. I’m willing to place a Janet Gretzky bet that Canada will win gold once again. Brodeur is back to his usual form after a slow start this season. The defense is still the best in the tournament by a wide margin despite the injuries, and the forwards are so good that Eric Staal, arguably the most impressive Canadian forward this season, is on the taxi squad or otherwise known as the carry the bags squad.  Expect Rick Nash and Joe Thornton to have monster tournaments – these two lit up the World Championships a few years ago and thrived playing together in Davos of the Swiss Elite League. 

Besides Canada here’s a look at the rest of the major contenders:

 U.S. – In a transition phase from the old guard to the future of U.S. hockey. The U.S. looks primed for a strong showing in Vancouver 2010 when the graduates of the 2004-2006 WJC squads (Parise, Kessel, O’ Sullivan, Jack and Aaron Johnson) will be 22-24 years old and on the verge of superstardom. 

Slovakia – Darkhorse candidate. Impressive offense with the likes of Gaborik, Hossa and Demitra and solid d-core with a few defensive studs in the form of Chara, Visnovsky and rookie blueliner Andrej Meszaros.

Russia – Dysfunctional and talented as always. General Manager Pavel Bure is actually the perfect choice for this club because he displays both qualities. Seriously, naming Pavel Bure as your GM is like naming Ron Artest your director of player personnel.  It’s hard to discount a team that can roll out Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

Sweden – Realistically with all the talent that has come out of Sweden over the years the Swedish hockey program should be winning or at least competing for the gold in every hockey championship they enter. Sadly the program is going on its 10^th year without a major hockey trophy – with Canada’s superiority over the rest of the field that trend will likely continue. On paper Sweden has a great team. They have plenty of offense with Alfredsson, Sundin, Lidstrom and Zetterberg. They have stable goaltending in the form of Rangers rookie Henrik Lundqvist (a problem in SLC thanks to Tommy Salo). Losing Naslund for the games hurts and Peter Forsberg is still a question mark, although you gotta think, even at 50% he’ll be a force.

Czech Republic – Strong contender for the Silver medal. Have a 1A and 1B goaltending situation with Tomas Vokoun and Dominik Hasek in nets. The rest of the team is essentially the transplanted New York Rangers squad led by none other than the rejuvenated one: Jaromir Jagr. As evidenced by Jagr’s stunning turnaround of the Rangers he can take a team on his back and make them successful.

Finland – Not always the most talented but perennially the hardest working team in every tournament they compete in.  The biggest controversy surrounding the Fins is the absence of Miikka Kiprusoff who opted for rest rather than compete for his country. Fellow countrymen Teemu Selanne wasn’t pleased with the Flames goalie’s decision and recently called him out in the media over the issue. Still I can see the team competing for the bronze medal purely on grit and pride.

Athletes to Watch 

Herman Maier, Men’s Alpine Skiing, Austria – One of the all-time downhill skiing greats suffered a near-fgtal motorcycle accident in 2001 which forced him to miss the 2002 Salt Lake City games. In fact at one point the doctors considered amputating his leg before finally deciding on a 14-inch titanium rod to keep the leg stabilized. He has since recovered from the accident and won a World Cup crown.

 Meghan Agosto, Women’s Hockey, Canada – Recently turned 19-year old Agosto has been called the Sidney Crosby of women’s hockey. During the qualification games leading up to the Olympics she led the Canadian team in goals with 19 and tied with Hayley Wickenheiser for the points lead with 29. She’s being called the “future of women’s hockey”.  

Evegni Malkin, Men’s Hockey, Russia – The Pittsburgh Penguins draft choice has been called the best player outside of the NHL. He has thus far lived up to that billing with a MVP performance at the WJC tournament, a spot amongst the scoring leaders of the Russian Super League and now a place on the Russian Olympic team. All this before he even plays his first NHL game. 

Tanith Belbin, Pairs Figure Skating, U.S. – Originally born in Kingston, Ontario this 20-year old who has trained and lived in the U.S since 1998 was afforded an “extraordinary ability” U.S. citizenship allowing her to compete in these 2006 games. Aside from her Canadian connection another reason to watch Tanith compete is that she’s drop dead gorgeous. She may reach Jamie Sale’s profile from four years ago without the controversy.  

Irina Slutskaya, Women’s Figure Skating, Russia – The silver medalist in SLC in 2002, seven-time European champion, the favourite to capture the gold medal in Turin and the owner of one the most ridiculed last names in sports. I’m sure she’s heard every joke in the book but just in case she hasn’t – her name would be an ideal fit if Paris Hilton ever decided to start-up her own airline. Fly Slutskya – It’s Hot! 

Enjoy the next few weeks of coverage and good luck to all the Canadians – except those that refused to carry the flag. If you watch “My Name is Earl” you know that karma’s a bitch.