The Olympic flame has been doused for a week and a half, but there’s two local women who are still feeling its glow.
Rebecca Johnston and Tessa Bonhomme returned to Sudbury last week, proudly adorned in the weighty blue-ribboned, golden medallions of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games — the most coveted of achievements in the sporting world.
As members of Canada’s women’s hockey team, the pair helped the reigning champions capture gold for the third consecutive time.
Everywhere I go, I can’t help but smile. It’s everything I dreamt of.
Tessa Bonhomme,
Team Canada, defence
Bonhomme remains as awestruck as her teammate.
“Sometimes I wake up and I look at (the medal) and I’m still in awe,” she said. “I’ve tried to describe (what it feels like to be a gold-medallist) fairly often and I can’t really do it justice,” she added. “So far it’s been very overwhelming.
Everywhere I go, I can’t help but smile. It’s everything I dreamt of.”
While they are slowly coming to terms with what they accomplished, the supportive roar of the crowd in Vancouver is still ringing in both women’s ears. “The crowd was amazing,” Johnston said. “Some people didn’t even know the sport, but they were so supportive. It gave us momentum.”
“The fans were the best we’ve seen yet,” Bonhomme said. “Everybody was involved the whole game. Cheering was constantly going on. It was never dead quiet.
“Even when we won 18-0, everybody stayed until the end and celebrated our 18th goal. It was nice to see and it felt good to know people were enjoying women’s hockey that much.”
Following the gold-medal victory, the team returned to the ice, still in uniform, after the fans had cleared out, to celebrate their win. Media reports tarnished the golden moment by criticizing the team for drinking beer and champagne and smoking cigars in the Olympic venue. However, Bonhomme explained it wasn’t the “party” it was made out to be.
At 20, Rebecca Johnston was one of the youngest players on the national team. The forward cashed in one goal and five assists throughout the tournament. Photo by Laure Myers.
To add heartache to sorrow, there was talk of women’s hockey being removed from the Olympics, due to a lack of serious competition. In past years, the Canadian and American teams have dominated the event, typically losing only to each other. The United States won the first tournament in 1998, while Canada won in 2002, 2006 and now 2010.
But both Johnston and Bonhomme said they are noticing steady improvement in the level of competition.
“The sport has to grow, it can’t just be great out of nowhere,” Bonhomme said. “I think we’ve come a long way since 1998, if you just look at the quality of hockey.
Sometimes I can’t believe I was there and I actually went to the Olympics.
Rebecca Johnston,
Team Canada, forward
“The U.S. is always a great team to play against, the games are always close,” Johnston added. “But you can tell the other countries are starting to improve.”
Both women were in attendance for the Canadian men’s gold-medal game against the United States, and said they were sitting on the edges of their seats.
“It was so exciting, the crowd was just so into it,” Johnston said. “It was a pretty close game. I think I was more nervous then probably some of the guys on the team.”
“It was a little more stressful than I expected,” Bonhomme added. “But the guys pulled it off and they did a great job. I was happy to be a part of that experience.”
While the women are enjoying some well-deserved rest and relaxation at home with their families, it will be back to the grindstone for the young hockey stars soon.
“In hockey, you don’t really get an off-season,” Bonhomme said.
And while they say they’re taking their hockey careers from here on in one day at a time, they can’t help but look ahead four years to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
