What happened to Canada? Country shutout in golds, makes headlines for wrong reasons

The halfway point of these Milan Cortina Games finds Canada in a rather unusual position.

America’s neighbors to the north have historically proven to be a formidable force at the Winter Olympics, peaking when Vancouver hosted the Games back in 2010. The 2010s were banner years for the country — 14 golds in 2010, 10 golds in 2014 and 11 golds in 2018.

Half of the medals have been handed out in Italy and so far, Canada holds eight medals — none of them gold.

Instead, Kazakhstan and Brazil marked the halfway point of these Games making headlines for earning their first-ever gold medals at the Winter Olympics. In fact, neither nation had even received silver or bronze yet in Milan Cortina.

Of course, gold isn’t everything.

But as Canada’s medal count remains unusually low, the country is repeatedly in the headlines for other reasons.

The U.S. women handed Canada two historic loses. For the first time in Olympic history, the U.S. women’s curling team defeated the Canadians. Also on the ice, the U.S. hockey team shutout the Canadians for the first time, ever.

A growing curling controversy which started with the men’s curling team has now spread to the women as well. Competitors have accused both teams of touching the stone a second time after its release, also known as double-touching.

The accusations went flying in Friday’s round-robin match between Canada and Sweden, ultimately reaching a fiery height when players yelled expletives at one another.

Canada’s Marc Kennedy was issued a verbal warning by World Curling, which responded to the explosive match by moving officials to monitor how players are releasing their stones.

Despite these narratives, Canada’s story at these Olympics is still being written.

Canada’s Mikael Kinsburg has a shot at gold Sunday morning in the men’s dual moguls finals. Plus, the country’s hockey teams remain in strong contention during play.

With half of the medals still on the line, anything could happen.

Hear from Abbey Murphy and Tessa Janecke as they celebrate Team USA’s win against Canada.