Marie-Philip Poulin was denied the right to speak French on the podium yesterday.

Marc-Olivier Cook
Marie-Philip Poulin was denied the right to speak French on the podium yesterday.
Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The Canadian women's hockey team lost their final match against the Americans yesterday.

The game went into overtime, and even though the team led by Marie-Philip Poulin managed to win a medal, the result is still disappointing.

Losing in the final hurts. Especially in this way… and especially against the United States.

After the game, Marie-Philip Poulin was invited onto the podium to receive Canada's medal. And you know what?

She was denied the right to speak French by the Olympic staff in charge of the podium. No, this is not a joke: Luc Gélinas talked about it this morning on the radio (CIHO-FM) and explained it well, saying that this was the ultimate insult to Poulin.

After all, these may be her last Olympic Games. And she didn't even get the chance to say a few words in French for the occasion.

It's really absurd.

French has always been important at the Olympic Games. The first games were presented in French, and the events are presented in French too…

My point is this: French is important for the Olympic Games, but not for Canada… which is a bilingual country?

Many Quebecers have won medals in the history of the Olympic Games. Many Canadians speak French even though they don't live in Quebec. So let's be clear: seeing how this was handled is nothing short of insulting.

It should never have happened… and Marie-Philip Poulin was certainly (very) frustrated to have experienced a situation like that. I agree with Luc Gélinas when he says this:

I would have liked to see her put her foot down and say, you know what? I don't care about your rules! – Luc Gélinas

But anyway. We know how classy Poulin is and how much she always wants to do things the right way. Except that this time… I feel like everyone would have forgiven her if she had decided to do things her way.

Because, once again, being denied the right to speak your own language at an event like the Olympics is… stupid.


In brief

Reminder: the Canadiens will be practicing outside this morning.

— I like that.

— To be continued.

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