Vancouver Blogger Sriseth

When all of Canada watched Alex Bilodeau step into the top of the podium to accept the gold medal and listened to O Canada been played for the first time at home, the man next to him who accepted the silver medal managed to get much attention just due to his grumpiness. He not only didn't celebrate his medal, didn't show any emotion, didn't greet the 22,000 fans present at the stadium, didn't talk to other two athletes on the podium and even hesitated to get on the top of the podium with the other two for the customary photo shoot moment at he end. It was the weirdest performance I ever saw by an athlete on a medal podium. And if someone thought he was grumpy on the podium today, he was ten times grumpier yesterday after the end of moguls event. This made me curious to find out more about this person.
End of the second day of the games approached with Canadian fans still anxiously waiting for the first gold. Several gold medal hopefuls had already ended up in failure further continuing Canadian home gold jinx. But there was a Canadian native, reigning Olympic champion, World champion and clear favourite to win the final event of the day - Freestyle Skiing Mens' Moguls. He was getting ready to ski at his native hometown West Vancouver at all too familiar Cypress mountain. Still it would not have cheered up Canadian fans, rather it was going to be a great embarrassment. The first Canadian native to win a gold on home soil was going an Australian. But the host nation with great sporting spirits deserved better. The rest is history.

Dale Begg-Smith was born in Vancouver in 1985 and grew up in West Vancouver few kms away from Cypress Mountain. He skied for Canada as a teenager while also building a business of his own. This made his ski training clash with his business interests creating tension with coaches who accused him for not spending enough time on training. In 2001 he decided to leave Canada and settle down in Australia, where he could pursue both skiing and business interests. With the success of his online marketing business making him a multimillionaire, he also improved himself into a world class skier. 2006 Turin Olympics made him only the third Australian to win a Winter Olympic gold. He had achieved everything he expected by leaving his native land. Only one ambition left. He wanted to show off his success in front of home crowd when Olympics come to his birthplace and thereby becoming the first Australian to win two Winter Olympic golds (and first Olympian to defend Olympic Moguls title). It seemed he didn't want to hide his disappointment after failing to achieve it.

It's also interesting to find out the odd personality of the man. After the gold medal achievement at Turin, he came under media scrutiny as Australian media went after his business affairs. His business was accused of producing internet malware and distributing malicious software. Dale said the reason for starting a business (at age 13)  was that his parents couldn't afford his skiing expenses. For his credit, we should applause his remarkable achievement in both business and sports at the same time. As a person who highly regarded his privacy, he always tried to downplay his business success and wanted to keep his personal matters to himself. But the media came after him hard. Aussie media nicknamed him Ice Man or Mr. Mysterious. After realizing he is going be a major threat to Canadian skiers at the Olympics, Canadian media joined in the bandwagon with hostile remarks. This intensified after Dale shunned Canadian media upon arrival at Vancouver for the Olympics. I believe Canadian fans should not be carried away with the vilifying image created by media. Dale being a quit man, we don't know what exactly went through his mind when he was standing emotionless on the podium. If you look at his win at Torino, you'll see that he's not the kind of person who would go into wild celebration. What we know for sure is that he has achieved enormous success as both a businessman and an athlete - a rare feat. To win an Olympic medal just an year after a major knee surgery is a proof of his dedication to the sport.  For these achievements alone he should be respected and applauded. Those few fans who booed Dale at today's medal ceremony did not do any good to Canada`s  reputation has as truly spirited sports loving nation.

Quite celebration may not the Australian way, but Aussie media calling their first Olympic medalist 'Mr.Miserable' should be denounced. Media should not be unfair to an athlete based on his off-field dealings.

''I never really come into competitions worrying about placings and so forth. I just try to ski my best. That's what I did. I can't control how anybody else skies or anything like that.'' - Dale Begg-Smith