Germany Shined In 2010 Winter Olympics In Vancouver

The closing ceremonies are freshly over, but the memory of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will last for a long time in Germany. Though many predicted a strong showing for German athletes, few anticipated just how well the Canadian team would do in the Winter Olympics this time (Congratulations, Canadian friends!).

For me, it has certainly been enjoyable to see Germany’s shining performance in the Winter Olympic games again. True, Germany has traditionally done well at winter sports, thanks to our honorable attitude, many mountain ranges, excellent skiing opportunities, and the exemplary national support, but we were not always a medals leader.

During these games, however, German athletes certainly seemed to be going for the win again. You can see from our final standings just how well we did in the overall medals count. In both team and individual sports, Germany’s Olympic champions gave their all to earn recognition for their event and their country.

Besides, in the all time Winter Olympics medals count we are, with 358 medals thereunder 128 gold medals, a convincing number one. :-)

Germany’s strong showing at the 2010 games has broader implications than just enhancing our national pride. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we have an upcoming bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Munich has put in an official bid for the games, with the theme Die Spiele im Herzen, meaning “The Games in the Heart.”

If Munich wins the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, it would become the first location in the world to have hosted both the Summer and the Winter Games. It would also be the first Olympic Games hosted in Germany since the reunification, which would be meaningful for many Germans.

The bid has an environmentally conscious bent, promoting the use of existing winter sports facilities near Munich, like the ski jump courses at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the bobsled, luge, and skeleton tracks at Schönau am Königssee in the kingly Berchtesgadener Land. It is also being promoted by Katarina Witt, one of Germany’s most famous (and gorgeous ;-) Winter Olympic champions.

By doing so well in the 2010 Winter Games, Germany enhances its chances of getting the bid for the 2018 Olympics. Our strong performance testifies to the high quality of our training sites and competition grounds as well as exemplifying our commitment to sports excellence.

Keep your fingers crossed that we win the bid, and I’ll save you a seat next to me at the 2018 Winter Olympic games! :-)

—Marcus