Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games

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2014 Olympic Winter Games at Sochi, Russia

The 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi will be remembered by many for its controversies. The Russian government spent about $22 billion on sports-related costs for the Olympic Winter Games, more than the cost of all previous Olympic Winter Games combined (this figure does not include infrastructure costs). More controversial was the Russia government’s anti-gay propaganda law, which came under criticism leading up to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The Sochi Olympics also suffered from a doping controversy following the Games. In 2016, Richard McLaren, a Canadian sports law professor at the University of Western Ontario, published a study alleging that 1,000 Russian athletes in winter and summer sports had either been involved in or benefited from a doping program between 2011 and 2015. The following year, the International Olympic Committee determined that Russian athletes had participated in a state-sponsored doping scheme during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Russia lost 13 medals from the 2014 Games in Sochi and was not allowed to participate as a country at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang (individual Russian athletes could still participate as “Olympic Athletes from Russia”). However, on 1 February 2018, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reinstated nine of the medals won by Russian athletes at the 2014 Games, stating that there was insufficient evidence of doping. The CAS decision affected the Canadian luge team, which returned to a fourth-place finish in the mixed team relay luge event after temporarily winning Olympic bronze.

Skiing

Canada had outstanding success in freestyle skiing, winning nine medals. Alexandre Bilodeau defended his gold medal in men’s moguls, while teammate Mikaël Kingsbury took silver. Bilodeau became the first two-time Olympic gold medalist in the history of men’s moguls.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe won gold in women’s moguls, with sister Chloé winning silver. It was the first time that two Canadian sisters were on the same podium during the Olympic Winter Games. It was also the fourth time in the history of the Olympic Winter Games that two sisters won Olympic gold and silver in the same event. (Christine and Marielle Goitschel of France won gold and silver in the women’s slalom and giant slalom at the 1964 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, while Doris and Angelika Neuner of Austria won gold and silver in women’s luge at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville.)

Canadians dominated the Olympic podium in two other freestyle skiing events. Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa took gold and silver in women’s ski cross, and Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre took gold and bronze in women’s slopestyle skiing. Meanwhile, Mike Riddle won silver in men’s halfpipe skiing.

In alpine skiing, Jan Hudec won bronze in the men’s super giant slalom, tying with American Bode Miller. Hudec was the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing since Edi Podivinsky’s bronze medal in the men’s downhill competition at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer.

Snowboarding

Heading into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, there was a lot of interest in snowboarder Mark McMorris due to his success at the Winter X Games and the FIS World Snowboarding Championships. Although the 20-year-old from Regina had broken his rib at the 2014 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, he still won Olympic bronze in the slopestyle snowboarding competition.

Dominique Maltais won silver in women’s snowboard cross, becoming the first woman to win two career Olympic medals in the event. She had previously won bronze at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin.

Speed Skating (Short and Long Track)

For the second consecutive Olympic Winter Games, Charles Hamelin won an individual gold medal in short track speed skating. Hamelin won the men’s 1500m in Sochi after winning the men’s 500m at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. His teammate, 22-year-old Charle Cournoyer, won a surprise bronze in the men’s 500m. Cournoyer had won only two individual World Cup medals to that point and had not won an individual medal on the 2013 World Cup circuit leading up to the Games. In women’s short track speed skating, Canada won a medal for the seventh straight time in the women’s 3000m relay.

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DID YOU KNOW?
At 12:58 p.m. ET on 21 February 2014, short track speed skater Charle Cournoyer crossed the finish line at the Iceberg Skating Palace in the men’s 500m to win bronze. At the exact same time, Jamie Benn scored the game-winning goal in Canada’s 1–0 win over the United States in the semifinals of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.

In long track speed skating, Denny Morrison won silver in the men’s 1000m and bronze in the men’s 1500m, becoming the fourth Canadian man to win multiple medals in long track speed skating at a single Olympic Winter Games. (Alex Hurd won silver in the men’s 1500m and bronze in the men’s 500m at the 1932 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid; William Logan won bronze in the men’s 1500m and 5000m at the 1932 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid; and Gaétan Boucher won gold in the men’s 1000m and 1500m and bronze in the men’s 500m at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo.)

Figure Skating

Team figure skating was contested at the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in 2014. Team Canada won silver with 65 points, 10 points behind Russia and five points ahead of the United States.

Three-time world champion Patrick Chan won the Olympic silver medal behind Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, while reigning Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir had to settle for silver behind Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Bobsled

Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse successfully defended their Olympic gold medal in women’s bobsled at the 2014 Games. After the first two runs, Humphries and Moyse trailed Americans Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams by 0.23 seconds. However, they closed the gap to 0.11 seconds in the third run. They then beat the Americans on the fourth run by 0.21 seconds to win Olympic gold by a tenth of a second. The best result for the Canadian men’s bobsled team was a sixth-place finish by Justin Kripps and Bryan Barnett in the two-man competition.

Hockey

For the second consecutive Olympic Winter Games, Team Canada finished on top of the podium in men’s and women’s hockey. For the women, it was their fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.

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In men’s hockey, the Canadian team was known for its stellar defense. In six games, Canada gave up a total of only three goals. Goaltender Carey Price had an impressive goals-against average of 0.59 in five games. In the final, Canada beat Sweden 3–0 to take the gold medal.

In women’s hockey, Canada trailed the United States 2–0 in the gold medal game with less than four minutes left in the third period. In a dramatic finish, Brianne Jenner and Marie-Philip Poulin each scored for Canada to tie the game. Poulin the scored the winning goal in overtime on a power play from Laura Fortino. The final score was 3–2.

Curling

In curling, Team Canada defeated Sweden 6–3 in the gold medal final in women’s curling and Great Britain 9–3 in the gold medal game in men’s curling. The Canadian women’s team, skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, won all eleven of their games. They were the first Olympic women’s curling team to go undefeated at an Olympic Winter Games.

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On the men’s side, the team was skipped by Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The team got off to a slow start with two close losses to Switzerland and Sweden in their first three games. However, the team bounced back with six consecutive round robin victories and a 10–6 semifinal win over China before becoming the third consecutive Canadian men’s curling team to win Olympic gold.

Team Canada Statistics

Team: 222 athletes (123 men, 99 women)
Medals: 25 medals: 10 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze
Rank: 4th (overall medal count)

Medal Table