By Lori Ewing
MILAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) – With Canada–U.S. tensions bubbling from sport into geopolitics, Team Canada held their opening press conference of the Milano Cortina Olympics on Thursday facing a pointed question: will their athletes compete with ‘elbows up’ against the Americans?
The message from the Canadian Olympic Committee was clear. The approach on the field of play remains unchanged, but the rivalry is real – and the stakes are definitely higher.
“Our Canadian athletes are focused on the matter at hand, which is doing everything they can to compete in their best at these Games,” said COC Chief Executive David Shoemaker.
“Their rivalry with the United States is one that is decades old in sport and yet I think there’s a little bit more riding on it.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s musings about Canada becoming the “51st state” have helped fuel a defiant rallying cry north of the border of “elbows up” – an ice hockey term that has become shorthand for Canadians pushing back.
The political climate has added an unmistakable edge to North America’s sporting showdown in Italy.
“Our women’s hockey team, for example, they (already) know what’s at stake when they compete against the U.S.,” Shoemaker said. “That’s the best rivalry in women’s hockey and we’re looking forward to seeing it.”
Canada are the defending champions and have won five of the Olympic titles since women’s ice hockey made its debut at the Games in 1998 in Nagano, with the U.S. claiming the other two.
The rivals were drawn in the same group in Milan, and will clash in the preliminary round on Tuesday.
The Canadian men have won nine Olympic gold medals in ice hockey while the Americans have won two. Both countries were kept off the podium at the 2022 Games, with Finland capturing gold followed by the Russian Olympic Committee and Slovakia.
“What’s great about sport is that they’re going to compete like heck, and then, whatever the outcome, shake hands after it’s done,” Shoemaker said.
FANS URGED TO CHANNEL PASSION POSITIVELY
Asked what message he had for Canadians who may feel tempted to boo the American anthem – which happened recently at a New York Islanders’ NHL game in Montreal and an NBA game between the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies in London – Shoemaker urged fans to channel their passion positively.
“My message is to cheer for Canadians and sing ‘O Canada’ as loudly and proudly as they possibly can,” he said. “Ever since I was a young child I wanted Team Canada to beat the U.S. in everything we ever did and I continue to want to see that happen.
“So I think we should find ways to focus that energy on things that are supportive of Canada, rather than the other way around.”
COC President Tricia Smith, an Olympic silver medallist in rowing, emphasised that sport can still transcend politics.
“We often speak about the power of sport. There’s no question that in today’s fractured world, coming together through sport is needed more than ever,” she said.
“Sport provides opportunities for genuine people‑to‑people connections. It’s all about building a better person, a better country and a better world through sport – or, if nothing else, just providing incredible moments of joy and unity for individual Canadians and for our country as well.”
Canada’s team have 206 athletes competing, 107 women and 99 men, with 47 Olympic medallists.
COC have not revealed a medal target, although Shoemaker said setting a best-ever is the goal at every Olympics.
Their highest total was the 29 medals won in 2018 in Pyeongchang, third behind Norway (39) and Germany (31). The U.S. was fourth with 23.
Canada topped the gold-medal table with 14 at their home Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 followed by Germany (10) and the U.S. (nine). The Americans clobbered Canada in total medals, however, with a table-topping 37. Germany finished with 30 for second, four better than the third-placed Canadians.
With Canada and the U.S. set to meet in multiple marquee events — none bigger than men’s and women’s hockey — the familiar rivalry is poised to take centre stage again.
No one expects elbows to literally come up outside the ice hockey arena but the emotional stakes have rarely felt higher.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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