AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Latvia’s bronze medal glitters like gold

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/06/2023 (709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last Sunday my psychologist brother told me about a study he had read that concluded winning a bronze medal is often more joyful than winning a silver medal. I suggested that is true in team sports (because a team wins a bronze medal but earns a silver by losing a game) but not so likely in individual sports like track or swimming (where you get your silver by virtue of your finish, not by losing).

Less than five minutes later we had a perfect example of the joy of winning a bronze medal, when Team Latvia shocked Team USA in the bronze medal game at the world championships in one of the most stunning upsets in the history of hockey.

For perspective it’s worth noting that with a population of 1.3 million, the country of Latvia has fewer people than the city of Phoenix, Arizona. But despite such a tiny population, the Latvians pulled off an astonishing Cinderella story at the worlds.

Team USA had gone undefeated through its first eight games in the tournament, only to lose in yet another overtime shocker to Germany. Team Latvia was in the bronze medal game after giving Canada everything it could handle in the other semi-final.

Latvia had never won a medal in international hockey. The best it ever finished was seventh place.

So when Latvia won the bronze in overtime the reaction was one of the most joyful scenes the sport of hockey had seen. It had all the passion and emotion of a team just that had just won a world championship or an Olympic gold medal. Such was the overflowing joy and pride of the Latvian players and fans.

If you didn’t know it was a bronze medal game, the sheer happiness shown by the Latvian players and fans looked exactly like they had just won the entire tournament. (And in an emotional sense, they did.)

The Latvian government decided a few hours later on Sunday to declare Monday a national holiday. They acknowledged doing so on such a short notice would result in “chaos” on Monday, but they wanted the nation to celebrate this amazing achievement “to strengthen the fact of significant success of Latvian athletes in the social memory of the society.”

When the team arrived at the airport the streets were lined with people in an impromptu parade. It looked like a parade you normally see when a team wins a championship.

All of this beautiful emotion for a bronze medal, for a third-place finish.

(There is a lesson here for the Winnipeg Jets in the hard work and sheer determination of Team Latvia, but we’re not going to sully Latvia’s incredible achievement by talking about the putrid and pathetic effort the Jets gave when their season was on the line.)

The scene on the ice after the tiny nation of Latvia defeated the mighty Americans was a joy to behold, and when the team sang their national anthem while standing on the blue line, watching their country’s flag being raised to the rafters, it was nothing short of spine-tingling.

Latvia’s massive upset was another reminder of why we love sports. If you see a production of Romeo and Juliet, no matter how well it is performed you know how it ends before the curtain even opens.

In sport, you just don’t know how the game will turn out. There is always the possibility – no matter how unlikely – that the underdog could do the unthinkable, the unimaginable and defeat the heavy favourite.

All hail Team Latvia. Apsveicu!