I just read a somewhat petulant article by Postmedia's Matthew Fisher, who argues that Canada didn't perform very well at the Olympics.

Using International Olympic Committee medal standings, he shows that Canada ranked 36th, mainly because of the high number of bronze medals and only one gold. Using this metric, he claimed that it was the "worst Summer Olympics ever" for this country.

Fisher includes a broadside at the Canadian Olympic Committee.

He also gripes that the $34 million spent on the Own the Podium program is insufficient when compared to whopping expenditures by other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom.

I thought Canadian athletes, including many from B.C., performed remarkably well in London. I'm not going to lose any sleep over Canada being disqualified from a bronze medal in the four-by-100-metre men's relay after seeing how well sprinter Jared Connaughton conducted himself immediately afterward.

B.C.'s medal winners include the best female soccer player in the world, Christine Sinclair. Her B.C. teammates—Sophie Schmidt, Brittany Timko, and Karina LeBlanc—also climbed the podium, as did B.C. wrestler Carol Huynh, swimmers Brent Hayden, Ryan Cochrane, and Richard Weinberger, weightlifter Christine Girard, cyclists Jasmin Glaesser and Gillian Carleton, and rowers Gabe Bergen, Malcolm Howard, Lauren Wilkinson, Darcy Marquardt, and Krista Guloein.

It certainly wasn't B.C.'s "worst Summer Olympics ever".

Think back to 1976 when Canada didn't win any gold medals while hosting the Games. There were fewer sports back then when our athletes collected five silvers and six bronze. This year, Canada captured 18 medals.

It's too bad that Victoria's star triathlete Simon Whitfield couldn't complete his race because of a bicycle accident. But he already has gold and silver Olympic medals, which should set him up for a long coaching career and lots of paid public-speaking engagements should he choose to do this.

Right-wing newspaper columnists are usually bent on the country achieving reflected glory. That's why they often favour busting open the treasury for elite athletes and the military even as they oppose taxpayer-financed investments to lift people out of poverty or to protect the environment.

This year, the Conservative government has forecast a $21.1-billion deficit. That's more than one percent of the country's gross domestic product.

If politicians and newspaper columnists want to spend more on preparing athletes for the next Olympics, let's have a public discussion about this. But don't make the decision based on a claim that Canada just had its worst Olympics ever.