Vancouver is golden!

Winning at home is always sweetest. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

It finally happened!

Canada didn’t win gold in 1976 in Montreal. We didn’t win gold in Calgary in 1988, either.

But tonight, in Vancouver, it happened.

Alexandre Bilodeau of Quebec – a toddler when Canada last hosted the Winter Games – is the nation’s newest Olympic hero as he captured gold in the Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Moguls competition. He also made a little history, becoming the first Canadian Olympian to win gold on home soil. Bilodeau beat the heavily favoured Dale Beggs-Smith (a Canuck, incidentally, competing for Australia) with a score of 26.75.  Team USA’s Bryon Wilson captured bronze in an impressive effort.

Bilodeau’s inspiration? His brother Fredric, who lives with cerebral palsy, and who was cheering for Alexandre harder than anyone else in the red-and-white clad crowd at Cypress Mountain. You can read about Alexandre and his brother here and watch their story “Source of strength” here.

I don’t think freestyle skiing has ever moved me to tears. Bravo Alexandre!