By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 12, 2014
Quebec carrying the Olympic ball for Canada in Sochi
SOCHI, RUSSIA – Every Winter Olympics, some Quebec journalists keep track of the medals won by athletes from La Belle Province compared to the rest of Canada. Usually it’s just for fun, but the truth of the matter is Quebec usually kicks ass at Winter Games, and is doing so again. Of the nine medals won by Canadians as of Tuesday, six were won by athletes from Quebec, compared to three from TROC — and that’s giving the team figure skating medal to The Rest Of Canada.
There are certain teams within the Canadian team that are dominated by French Canadians — especially the short-track speed skating team and moguls. Tradition and geography come into play. Moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury, who won a silver medal behind another Quebecois, Alex Bilodeau, on Monday, grew up idolizing moguls skiers in his native province. For the 21-year-old Kingsbury, his hero was 1994 Olympic freestyle champion Jean-Luc Brassard.
“For me it was an inspiration, wanting to be like him,” said Kingsbury.
As for the geography, Kingsbury said: “We’re not from the west of Canada. We don’t have the big mountains, the nice powder snow. We have smaller mountains, ice-snow, so it’s harder conditions, so we work harder, the bumps are harder, and we learn faster.” (Source: Toronto Sun) http://www.torontosun.com/2014/02/11/quebec-carrying-the-olympic-ball-for-canada-in-sochi