Hoser heroes: Canada's best on Day 3
Each night, Fourth-Place Medal will pick a gold, silver, and bronze medalist from among Canada's competitors.
Canuck gold: Alexandre Bilodeau (gold, men's moguls). Bilodeau's moguls triumph worked on every level. It truly hit home when he was being interviewed around midnight ET by CTV's Brian Williams with his parents and inspirational brother, Frederic, who has cerebral palsy.
The postage-stamp-worthy feat put the focus back on Canadian athletes. It also took focus off the many issues VANOC is dealing with.
Bilodeau was absolutely nails. It was on as soon as he hit that back somersault with a double twist. Dale Begg-Who?
Canuck silver: Kristina Groves (bronze, women's 3,000-meter long-track speedskating). In the grand scheme, Groves' medal was akin to a soft opposite-field single that starts a three-run rally. It was that minor play that served notice the home team was back in business.
Groves' bronze was a little unexpected, since her signature event is the 1,500. (Her next event is the women's 1,000 on Thursday.)
The 33-year-old, along with long-track vet Clara Hughes, who finished fifth, fed off the crowd noise, leading to the second medal for a Canadian woman. With Groves and Jennifer Heil's moguls silver, Canada is maintaining the same 2-1 female-to-male medal ratio it had in Turin, where 16 of its 24 medals were won by female athletes.
Canuck bronze: Samuel Edney (seventh, men's luge). Both Canadian medalists had teammates joining them in the top five of their events, but Edney's finish was the country's best ever in men's single luges. It seems best to spread this around.
It was tempting to go with the Marquis de Snow, Vincent Marquis, who was in the gold-medal position for much of the men's moguls, up until the last four skiers.
