Video: Player on Canada's Olympic Hockey Team Furious USA Takes Gold, Rips Off Medal
The Olympic games are an exciting time of both triumph and disappointment, as people from all across the globe root for their home country.
Most of us cheer for the good old USA and watch in awe as incredible athletes compete against one another for the gold.
The Olympic games also revolve around good sportsmanship. They are a way to bring unity to the world through friendly competition.
The women’s hockey finals were definitely a nail biter. The USA pulled out a 3-2 victory against Canada in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with an exciting end of game shoot out. The win came from hard determination and skill.
As the USA team wrapped themselves in red, white, and blue, though, not everyone was thrilled with the win.
With USA earning the gold, Canada was left with the silver medal. Still, silver’s a great accomplishment, right?
Apparently not to everyone. In a terrible show of poor sportsmanship, one member of the Canadian team did something so disrespectful that it created a flood of negative attention around the world.
The ceremony began and medals were being handed out with pride. This was the first time in 20 years that the USA had won gold, breaking Canada’s record in the field.
As the Canadian team had their silver medals placed around their necks, one player, Jocelyne Lamoureux, immediately removed her medal. Her face was covered in disappointment and frustration.
“Just hard,” she said. “We were going for gold.” Her comments and actions sparked retorts from those following on social media.
Comments from other Canadians, disgraced by her actions, also flooded in. One post read, “So not Canadian!”
Other comments talked about poor sportsmanship and that her actions took away some of the thunder from the USA win.
Many believed that she should have put her own feelings aside for the folks at home. But there were a few supporters of her actions who understood the sadness of the moment.
Disappointment was not a good enough excuse to act so completely ungrateful. After Lamoureux removed the medal, she was approached by an International Ice Hockey Federation official who told her that she had to wear it.
Lamoureux later said that she understood her teams accomplishments but that it was just difficult to be happy in the moment of their loss.
It might be good for her to remember the honor it is to be a part of an Olympic team, win or lose.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
