Olympics 2006: Canada in 7th after first week

Canada is currently ranked seventh in the world medal standings at the Olympic Games, earning one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in the first week of competition.

Capturing the first medal of the Olympics for Canada was Jennifer Heil who won gold in the women's freestyle moguls competition. Heil, who is from Spruce Grove Alberta, had added motivation in the 2006 Torino Games as she missed out on a medal by 1/100th of a point in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Heil said on CBC.com that her performance was the greatest of her career during this Olympics.

“The big thing is I've never been able to ski so quick and with such turns, I had the best turns of my life both in semis and in the finals and just skied very light,” Heil said.

Bringing home a silver medal for Canada was Vermilion Alberta native Beckie Scott and Canmore Alberta native Sara Renner who won a silver medal in the cross-country-skiing team-sprint event.
Renner said the medal makes up for some past disappointments.

“We have taken the school of hard-knocks for a while,” Renner said on CBC.com.

Also earning medals for Canada were Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg Manitoba, who won a bronze medal in the women's 3000-metre long-track speedskating event, and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Prevost, Quebec, who avoided an illegal move by a Chinese skater to capture a bronze medal in the women's 500-metre short-track speedskating event.

The men's hockey team are 1-0 in round robin play as of February 15th, after a 7-2 victory over the host Italian team.