After the Canadian women’s hockey team won the gold medal on Thursday, they were given their medals which they waved proudly in front of their home crowd. They took a team picture on the ice to remember the moment and then headed into the locker room where the real celebration began.
The women stayed in the changing room just long enough for all of the fans to leave the arena then headed back out onto the ice to take more pictures. Many of the girls brought out the beer and cigars that they had been enjoying in the privacy of the locker room. Pictures of the team smoking and drinking were leaked to the press shortly after.
The Olympics are supposed to stand for the purity of the competition and the sport providing a strong example for young people. Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored both the goals for Canada in the win, was seen drinking at the age of only 18. This display by the Canadians lacked all the traits of what it means to be an Olympian.
Team Canada released a statement saying, "The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone. In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have. The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment. Our players and team vow to uphold the values of the Olympics moving forward and view this situation as a learning experience."
They probably could have used better discretion, but everyone knew they were going to be celebrating somehow. The fact that they chose to do it on the ice is disappointing, but under the circumstances of such an exciting event, I think that they could be given a little bit of slack here.
