When Canadian Sara Renner broke her ski pole during the Turin Olympics, a Norwegian skiing coach came to the rescue and helped her team win a silver medal. The Canadian people repaid the good deed with 7,400 cans of maple syrup – each with an individual thank-you note attached.
8/1/2006 ::
JUST IN: Håkensmoen and Renner to lead Calgary Stampede Parade on July 7
Now for the story.....
Put yourself in Canadian skier Sara Renner’s shoes for a minute: It’s the Torino Olympics. You’re skiing in the cross country team relay. You’re in first place, everything is going great, the crowd is cheering you on, the sun is shining, you’re exhausted but ecstatic: This is your moment, the moment you have been training for since you were a child, and in just a few more yards, you will have an Olympic medal...
...And SNAP! One of your ski poles breaks in half.
Well, if you ever find yourself in Renner's situation, you better hope that Norwegian skiing coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen is around. As Renner – helpless and desperate – found herself being passed by one, two, then three other skiers, Håkensmoen came to her rescue, handing her a new ski pole from the sideline. With a brand new pole and a serious morale boost, Renner raced towards the finish, eventually finishing the race to a silver medal, and the Norwegian skiers finishing in fourth place.
Håkensmoen didn’t think more of it, and commented that anyone would have done the same, since it is a general understanding among coaches that you help out if an athlete’s equipment fails, and that it's all based on a commitment to fair play. Little did he know what his act would result in, however.
During the course of the following days, the Norwegian Embassy in Canada received more than 700 letters, e-mails, and telephone calls from Canadians from all walks of life across all provinces and territories – among other from the new Minister of Sport, the Honorable Michael D. Chong, as well as from the New Democratic Party’s MPs – who offered their thanks. Håkensmoen was hailed a hero, and some even suggested he get a gold medal for his display of olympic spirit in a time when many are disillusioned with the commercialization of sport.
“It’s a little bit unusual for us to have journalists and camera crews showing up to interview us,” Norwegian Ambassador to Canada Tor Næss said. “News crews from several different channels, radios and newspapers, they all wanted a piece of the story.”
“We told the journalists that an act like this was completely normal for a Norwegian, and that all the attention it received in Canada really surprised us: Why is this such a big deal?”
However, in addition to all the e-mails and letters, a group of sports fans devised a uniquely Canadian way of saying thank you, with Canada’s national sweet treat, maple syrup. People from all over Canada bought cans of maple syrup, attached a personal thank you-note, and sent them to Håkensmoen in Norway.
The result? 7,400 cans of maple syrup were given to Håkensmoen by Jillian Stirk, Canadian Ambassador to Norway, in a ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Oslo this spring. The cans were eventually donated to the Norwegian Cancer Society, and were distributed to people around Norway during a tour along the coast on Hurtigruten, Norway’s scenic coastal voyage.
Then, when Ambassador Næss was doing a radio interview, he casually mentioned that Norwegians aren’t too used to eating maple syrup. This also created a surge of responses, with the embassy receiving almost 1,000 recipes for dishes that included maple syrup.
“This event just goes to show how a small, unexpected gesture can create a great reaction around the world,” Ambassador Næss said. “What happened in Turin meant unbelievably much for how Canadians look at Norway and Norwegians.”
“This warm response from Canadians has been greatly appreciated by us at the Embassy, and we were pleased to send Håkensmoen a package containing all the e-mails, letters, and newspaper clippings.”
Ambassador Tor B. Næss, Suzanne Tærud Day & Thor Englund