With Canadian winters what they are, Canada's athletes excel in the sports that make up the Winter Olympics. They have achieved impressive standings, and their stories are inspiring: * Speed skater Cindy Klassen was the first Canadian to win five medals at one Winter Games in 2006 at Turin * In 1964, Peter Kirby, Doug Anakin, John Emery and Vic Emery won Canada's first bobsleigh gold in the four-man event; Pierre Lueders and teammate David MacEachern won gold at the 1998 Nagano Games in the two-man event * Catriona Le May Doan was the first Canadian to defend an Olympic gold medal in an individual sport -- she won her second gold medal in the 500-metre speed-skating event at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games * Barbara Ann Scott won Canada's first and only gold medal in singles figure skating, female or male, at the 1948 Olympic Games * And much more...

Arpon Basu had said since the age of eight that he would one day make the National Hockey League. Any chance of that happening, came to a crashing halt when, at 15 when he realized he was completely devoid of any talent. He earned a graduate journalism degree from Concordia University and went straight to a sports-writing job with the Canadian Press. The first time he walked into the Montréal Canadiens dressing room as a giddy cub reporter, Basu nearly fell over as it dawned on him that, despite his ineptitude on the ice, he had in fact been telling the truth as a dreamy-eyed eight-year-old.Basu covers sports for the Canadian Press in Montréal and writes a weekly sports column for the Montréal Gazette. He is also editor of Montréal’s South Shore, The St-Lambert Journal.

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