2026 is the new 2006: Remembering the Turin Games

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A big internet trend at the moment is expressing nostalgia for the year 2016. Under the banner of “2026 is the new 2016,” people are sharing old photos and remembering songs, TV shows, food trends and other pop-culture stuff from a decade ago.

Well, friends, no one has ever accused the Buzzer of being on trend. And, as you know, our main focus here is Olympic sports. So I thought I’d tweak this one a little and ask: what if 2026 is actually the new 2006?

Like our current year, 2006 featured a Winter Olympics in northern Italy. And, on a personal level, those Games in Turin happened to be my first assignment for CBC Sports. So here’s a look back at some of the stuff I remember:

Canada owned it. 2006 was the first big test for the Own the Podium program, created a couple of years earlier with the goal of lifting Canada to the top of the medal table when it hosted the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The plan worked: Canada won a world-leading 14 golds in Vancouver — four more than any other country — and 26 medals overall. But the seeds were planted in Turin, where Canada’s total medal count rocketed from 17 in 2002 to a then-national-record 24.

Cindy Klassen ruled the oval. Canada’s top long track speed skater won a medal in five of the six women’s events, including gold in the 1,500m. Two decades later, she still holds the record for the most medals by a Canadian at a single Olympics, winter or summer. Another marvellous Canadian speed skater in 2006 was Clara Hughes, who won gold in the women’s 5,000m and silver in the team pursuit after earning a pair of bronze medals in track cycling at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

WATCH | Klassen reflects on 2006 Olympics in Turin:

Brad Gushue and Russ Howard joined forces. Today, Gushue is something like the dean of Canadian curling, having skipped his teams to a record six Brier championships as he plays out his final pro season. Back then, though, he was considered a talented but still somewhat raw 25-year-old who could make all the shots but needed some help with strategy. So he recruited Howard, a two-time Brier and world champ who turned 50 during the Olympics, to throw second stones and call the shots (as a skip would) while Gushue threw the crucial fourth rocks. This Skywalker/Yoda-esque relationship paid off as the team captured Canada’s first Olympic men’s curling title and Howard became the country’s oldest-ever gold medallist — surpassing 39-year-old Duff Gibson, who’d won the men’s skeleton title just a few days earlier.

Lindsey Vonn was already an Olympic vet. As the 41-year-old American ski racing star continues her incredible comeback from a five-year retirement (she’s won a medal in seven of her eight races so far this season) consider this mind-blowing fact: 20 years ago, she was already appearing in her second Olympics. Vonn, who skied under her maiden name of Lindsey Kildow until 2007, debuted as a 17-year-old in 2002 in Salt Lake City. By 2006, she was a top medal contender in the downhill, super-G and combined events, but her hopes were derailed by a nasty crash during a downhill practice run that left her with a severely bruised hip. She gritted her way through four events but finished no higher than seventh.

Sid the Kid got snubbed. Last month, the Canadian men’s hockey team decided to name 19-year-old star Macklin Celebrini to its Olympic roster but left out Connor Bedard, 20, and Matthew Schaefer, 18, despite their impressive play in the NHL this season. An aversion to youth may have helped cause Canada’s downfall in 2006 as they were shut out 2-0 in the quarterfinals by Russia after leaving Sidney Crosby off the team in the midst of a 102-point NHL rookie season. The Russians didn’t make the same mistake: rookie Alex Ovechkin scored one of their goals against Canada. But they ultimately met the same fate, going home empty-handed after being blanked by Finland in the semis and Czechia in the bronze-medal game. Sweden, backstopped by Henrik Lundqvist, defeated Finland 3-2 for the gold.

Sweden pulled off a massive women’s hockey upset. Everybody loves Hank, but the best Swedish goalie at the 2006 Olympics was Kim Martin. In the semifinals against the heavily favoured United States she made 37 saves — including eight in sudden-death overtime — before holding the Americans scoreless in the shootout to give her country a shocking 3-2 victory over the reigning world champs. Sweden went on to lose the gold-medal game to Canada by a score of 4-1, but this remains the only time in the seven Olympic women’s hockey tournaments that Canada and the U.S. did not meet in the final.

Lindsey Jacobellis hot-dogged her way out of a gold. Speaking of embarrassing American moments, the 20-year-old reigning snowboard cross world champ was cruising to the new Olympic sport’s first-ever women’s gold medal when she attempted a celebratory grab move on the second-last jump. She fell, and a Swiss athlete passed her for the win, leaving Jacobellis with a dubious silver (Canada’s Dominique Maltais got the bronze). The story has a happy ending, though: Sixteen years later in Beijing, Jacobellis finally captured her elusive Olympic gold.

For more on the memorable Canadian moments from the 2006 Olympics, including Jenn Heil’s moguls victory, cross-country skier Chandra Crawford’s surprise gold, and some of the stuff mentioned above, watch this video from the CBC Sports YouTube channel.