Canada's Best Chance for the First Olympic Gold Medal on Canadian Soil

Canada has hosted the Olympics twice, and is hoping the third time is a charm, having failed to procure a Gold medal in both the Summer Olympics in Montreal in 1976 nor the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988.

The first day of full competition is on Saturday, and Canada is hoping to end this drought with three favored hopefuls vying for that historic first Gold Medal on Canadian soil.

There are six medal events scheduled for Saturday: men’s Ski Jumping—NH Individual Final Round—1:45 pm EST; Alpine Skiing—Men’s Downhill—2:45pm EST; Speed Skating—Men’s 5000m—3:00 pm EST; Biathlon—Women’s 7500km sprint—6pm EST; Short Track—Men’s 1500m Finals—10:13 pm EST; and, last but not least, Freestyle Skiing—Ladies Moguls Final—10:30 pm EST.

Canadians are enter in each of these events, but the first true hopeful for a gold medal will be in the Alpine Skiing Men’s Downhill. The guy who will have the opportunity to have his name written in the history books will be Manny Osborne-Paradis.

Osborne-Paradis has been skiing this hill in Whistler since he strapped on a pair of skis as a young kid. He is a native of Vancouver and should feel right at home. He recently had a World Cup win in Val Gardena, Italy.

This sport has been dominated by the Europeans in the past, but Osborne-Paradis is hoping to make his mark and be the first to bring home a gold medal on Canadian soil. With his recent success, he certainly has a shot!

The next best shot on the first day’s events to bring home the gold will be in the Short Track—Men’s 1500m Finals.

Charles Hamelin is a Quebec native and has competed in all of the speed skating events during his junior career and continued to compete in all of the events once making his World Cup debut.

Hamelin won silver in the relay at the 2006 Winter Olympics, his first medal. He won gold at the 2006 World Championships in the 3000m, won the World Championships in the 500m in both 2007 and 2009, and won silver in 2008 and 2009. He won a gold in the 1500m in 2010 at the World Cup in Canada and can be a threat in any and all of the short track events.

The third event where Canada has its best hopes for gold, and the last event of the first da,y will be the Freestyle Skiing—Ladies' Moguls Finals.

Jennifer Heil, a Spruce Grove, Alberta native, if all before her fail will have it on her shoulders and the unique opportunity in her lap to take home the first gold.

She competed in her first Olympics at the tender age of 18 in 2002 in Salt Lake City and finished fourth one-hundredth of a point out of third and a bronze medal. She won the World Cup three years in a row, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, and at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, took home the first gold medal for Canada at the Games.

After healing her injured knees in the 2008 season, she came back strong winning gold at Cypress Mountain, the setting for the 2010 Olympic Moguls. She has won the last four events she entered leading up to the Olympics and could likely be Canada’s best hope for the first gold medal on Canadian soil in the history of the country.

All in all, Canadians will be cheering on all of their athletes everyday, but these three may get the biggest frenzied applause at the start, as all in attendance hope to be witness to the first gold acquired during the Olympics in Canada and a historical moment in Canadian history.