Canada At The 2008 Summer Olympics
Canada, which is represented by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 8 to 24, 2008. Canadian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except the 1980 Summer Olympics which they boycotted. Canada sent 332 athletes in 25 sports, the seventh largest team at the games and Canada's largest since 1988. Canada did not send a team in handball, volleyball or basketball. Kayaker and 2004 Summer Olympics gold medalist Adam van Koeverden was the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies; Karen Cockburn bore the flag at the closing.
The COC had set a goal of finishing in the top 16 in total medals; at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Canada finished 19th. Despite failing to win a single medal in the first week of the Games, Canada would rebound, winning a combined 18 medals in the next 9 days. This 9-day medal haul exceeded the 12 medals Canada won in Athens four years earlier. The country would wind up finishing 19th in gold medals and 14th in total medals in Beijing. Equestrian show jumper Ian Millar competed at his ninth Summer Olympics, tying the record set by Hubert Raudaschl. He has been named to ten straight Olympic teams, but did not compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics due to the Canadian boycott. For the first time, Canadian athletes were paid for medals earned. Gold medalists earned $20,000; silver medalists were paid $15,000; and bronze medalists $10,000. A total of $515,000 from the Athlete Excellence Fund was given to the medal winning athletes.
Canada was the next host country of an Olympics, with Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Read more about Canada At The 2008 Summer Olympics: Medalists, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Boxing, Diving, Fencing, Field Hockey, Football, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Official Outfitter
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“Though the words Canada East on the map stretch over many rivers and lakes and unexplored wildernesses, the actual Canada, which might be the colored portion of the map, is but a little clearing on the banks of the river, which one of those syllables would more than cover.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“That God has laid His fingers on the sky,
That from those fingers glittering summer runs
Upon the dancer by the dreamless wave.
Why should those lovers that no lovers miss
Dream, until God burn Nature with a kiss?
The man has found no comfort in the grave.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)