The Olympics are finally over, and other than a couple of bright spots, it was a fairly mundane Olympics from a Canadian perspective. Canada won its share of medals, but only one gold.
One of the medals that Canada lost out on was the 4x100 metre relay team. Initially it looked like they had won a bronze medal (which would have been an amazing feat), but they were disqualified when replays showed that sprinter Jared Connaughton had stepped on the lane line going around the turn of the track.
This left the sprint team of Connaughton, Justyn Warner, Gavin Smellie and Oluseyi Smith heartbroken. All that work and preparation gone in a flash.
A ten year old boy from Newfoundland, Elijah Porter decided that their performance was worthy of a medal and decided to do something about it, so he wrote the sprint team a letter and sent them a hard earned medal of his own, his Timbits soccer medal (Tim Hortons is a huge sponsor of youth soccer in Canada). He also sent them a very thoughtful letter as well. Justyn Warner put a link to the letter and medal on his Twitter account. The letter reads;
Dear Justyn, Gavin, Jarred and Oluseyi,
I'm Elijah Porter, I'm ten and I live in Newfoundland, Canada. when I heard what happened on August 11 I knew it was wrong. The rules were not right, but at least I realized how good you were. We're Canadians, we persevere. We create better lives for each other. The cold didn't stop us from living in the north. We didn't lose the war of 1812. We adapt and survive. We have earned our freedom. Someday, if I become a biologist, if I get rich, if I remember, I will donate money to the summer and winter Canadian Olympians. I hope you like the medal.
The Canadian relay team might not have come away from the Olympics with an Olympic medal, but they sure did inspire this young fellow. It might not be an Olympic medal, but they didn't come away empty handed.
Comments(11)