NOW THAT ‘VANCOUVER 2010’ is history, it’s pretty clear that as host country we didn’t really “Own the Podium,” by seeing our athletes win the most medals. But they did get a record 14 golds, and the Games themselves were a success.

Never before, surely, did the Winter Olympics occur in a city that could have simultaneously hosted the Summer Olympics, thanks to weather most of us would see as almost summerlike. And the spectre of trucks hauling snow to Cypress Mountain must have been puzzling to Americans who see Canada as a place of year-round ice and snow.

Although it will be months or years before it’s known whether the Games paid their way or resulted, as usual, in huge cost overruns that will cost taxpayers dearly, some of the dire predictions didn’t prove true.

In particular, the heavy rains didn’t bring a recurrence of the massive rock slides that closed the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler in February 2007 and June 2008. And one thing for sure is that the Games put Vancouver on the world map. Another is that the costly security precautions seem to have worked flawlessly, whether or not they were really needed. (Perhaps all the advance publicity may have dissuaded terrorists from attempting anything.)

Interestingly, most of the journalistic criticism concerning the Games came from Britain, where London, will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

An interesting critique appeared last week in the Times of London, by sports writer Simon Barnes, who wrote, in part:

“It is hard to say whether Canada’s Own The Podium programme has been a bigger disaster in terms of sport or public relations. Gold medal in both categories, I think.

“The idea was for Canada to emerge as gracious hosts of the Winter Olympics and glorious winners as well. Alas, the Canadians have come across as a bunch of mean-spirited, chippy, unsporting losers.

“Things have come to a pretty pass when you find yourself rooting for the United States. But I really have been cheering for stars and stripes rather than maple leaves. The Canadian shenanigans in Vancouver have alienated the entire world. . . .

“For a start, it hasn’t delivered. The stated aim was to put Canada on top of the table in terms of total medals won. As I write, they have just struggled into third. The secondary aim, not stated, was to show those arrogant bastards the other side of the border how much they don’t know. The United States are way ahead, disputing the lead with Germany. . .

“There have been successes, but not enough to put Canada on top. Ashleigh McIvor was stunning in the women’s ski cross and the ice-dance pair, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, put together a skate of real beauty. The women bobbers were brilliant. No one with sporting blood could resent these gold medals: just reward for sumptuous performances.

“But Own The Podium, a campaign put together with C$117 million (about £72 million) from federal, provincial, territorial and corporate money, has been a failure in terms of medals. In short, it got what it deserved. It deserved to fail because it was conceived in bad sportsmanship and simple envy.

“The title has always been the biggest problem, for the athletes it funded and for the message it gave to the world. It told us: we are holding the world’s biggest party. Please come. But we intend to eat all the jelly. . . .

“It’s not a Canadianism. It’s an Americanism. It’s a reasonably modern bit of jargon and expresses a highly American mixture of positive thinking and borderline arrogance. By using this phrase, Canada was unambiguously taking on the big neighbour.

“America is not a subject Canadians are wholly rational about. Just as you can have a splendid and thoughtful conversation with a certain type of Scot until you mention England, the same is true with certain Canadians and the U.S. . . .

“Own The Podium didn’t stop at helping Canadians. It also tried to hinder everyone else. Access to practice sites was strictly limited. These Games are for Canadians, not the world. . . .

“The ultimate aim of these Games, any Games, is global excellence and global joy, not provincial victory and local bragging rights.”

Interestingly, as the Games ended, Owen Slot, the Times’ Chief Sports Reporter, wrote a blog that was far more complimentary to both Canadians and Vancouver 2010. Although asserting that some of the earlier criticism was valid, he headed the blog, “Golden Canadians are too nice for their own good,” and suggested we deserved a “gold medal for nicest bunch of people.”

“When did you ever find a place where people say. “Have a nice day,” and actually mean it? Stop on a downtown pavement and pull out a street map and you’ll have an instant crowd around you offering you help.”

Whatever the case, we wish that, at future Olympics, much more attention will be paid to the athletes’ individual feats and far less to the nations’ medal standings.