As Canada played through controversy at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, its most beloved and iconic sports star grabbed a microphone and stood up for the nation. The Canadian men’s national team had just come from behind to tie the Czech Republic 3-3 in a heated round-robin match.
Wayne Gretzky, the executive director of Canada’s team, called media reports of unrest in the Canadian locker room “American propaganda.”
“I don’t think we dislike those countries as much as they dislike us,” he said. “They want to see us fail. They love beating us. … We’ve got to get that same feeling toward them.