As Canada performed by means of controversy on the 2002 Salt Lake Metropolis Olympics, its most beloved and iconic sports activities star grabbed a microphone and stood up for the nation. The Canadian males’s nationwide group had simply come from behind to tie the Czech Republic 3-3 in a heated round-robin match.
Wayne Gretzky, the manager director of Canada’s group, referred to as media reviews of unrest within the Canadian locker room “American propaganda.”
“I don’t suppose we dislike these nations as a lot as they dislike us,” he mentioned. “They need to see us fail. They love beating us. … We’ve received to get that very same feeling towards them.”
It was as fiery as hockey followers had seen the sport’s biggest participant since he’d retired a couple of years earlier. Canada was in pursuit of its first Olympic gold medal in males’s hockey in half a century.
“Am I scorching? Yeah, I’m scorching,” Gretzky mentioned. “As a result of I’m uninterested in individuals taking photographs at Canadian hockey. … It virtually sickens my abdomen to show the TV on as a result of I’m such a proud Canadian and such a fan of our recreation and really pleased with all the blokes within the locker room, and it makes me sick to listen to a few of the issues which can be being mentioned about us.”
Gretzky’s emotional protection of Canada was an inspirational turning level for the star-packed Canadian group, which went on to win the gold medal on American soil.
Since Gretzky rose to fame as a teenage phenom within the Seventies and went on to rewrite virtually each scoring report within the recreation, Canadians have seen the Nice One as an emblem of nationwide satisfaction.
Now, all of the satisfaction that Canadians have felt within the nation’s biggest sporting export is being questioned. North of the border, that sentence was as soon as unfathomable. However Gretzky’s allegiance to U.S. President Donald Trump — and his silence after Trump’s repeated calls to make Canada the 51st state whereas hammering the northern neighbor with crippling tariffs — has left many Canadians feeling deeply betrayed.
Gretzky has made headlines and newscasts throughout Canada. A petition to rename Gretzky Drive in Edmonton has greater than 12,000 signatures.
A few of Gretzky’s defenders have referred to as the criticisms unfair and politically motivated. However in Canada, the sentiment reaches past the political spectrum, right into a deep, rising nationalism because the nation feels backed right into a nook.
For many years, Gretzky — pretty or not — has embodied a way of patriotism that transcends sports activities.
Sure, Gretzky is the satisfaction of Brantford, Ontario — the tiny boy who realized the sport on a yard rink. He got here from a working-class household, which arrived in Canada by the use of Ukraine. His journey towards excellence, with laborious work and blue-collar spirit, felt consultant of a nation.
Over the many years, Walter Gretzky, his father, was so incessantly seen at small-town rinks that he grew to become affectionately generally known as Canada’s hockey dad. He lived in the identical home in Brantford till he died. Individuals visited. The place felt frequent and acquainted, an anywhere-in-Canada that grew to become a portal to greatness.
And regardless of his fame, Gretzky himself at all times appeared to retain these small-town Canadian beliefs. He was form to followers, humble in interviews, however unapologetic in his pursuit of success and the desire it took to realize. Due to that folksy familiarity, it appeared like Gretzky’s connection to residence by no means wavered, even on the top of his fame.
That’s the way it felt, anyway.
When you grew up in Canada by means of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, Gretzky was on the pinnacle of nationwide esteem. He set untouchable information in Edmonton, and battled for Canadian glory on the ice — after which he wept after studying he was being exported to California.
In his greatness, the Canadian with the flowing blonde hockey hair made individuals speak about Canada. We watched him on Saturday morning cartoons, alongside Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson. We noticed him in Coke and Nike commercials and referenced in Hollywood motion pictures. He grew to become internationally acknowledged in a manner that no hockey participant had earlier than. Rising by means of a transformative period of worldwide related media, Gretzky grew to become the primary Canadian to take a seat within the pantheon of the world’s sports activities legends.
So it’s tough to overstate the satisfaction that many Canadians carry for Gretzky. However satisfaction isn’t the one phrase right here. There was additionally a way of possession: that Gretzky belonged to Canada.
This, after all, was by no means true.
Gretzky has lived within the U.S. since being traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. He married an American and so they raised their tightly knit, loyal and loving household south of the Canadian border. He grew to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. The Gretzkys have had properties in California, Wyoming, Missouri and Florida.
In 2009, Gretzky was awarded with the nation’s highest civilian honor, companion of the Order of Canada. The award acknowledges excellent achievement, dedication to neighborhood and repair to the nation. However to this point, Gretzky has not taken half in an investiture ceremony to obtain the award from Canada’s Governor Basic at Rideau Corridor in Ottawa.
Someplace alongside the way in which, the thought of Gretzky as Canada’s fixed ambassador grew to become mythology.
A easy actuality underscores a lot of the damage and resentment Canadians really feel in regards to the mockery and threats and financial assaults coming from the U.S. president. There’s a sense of understanding that this northern nation orbits its bigger neighbor. There’s an unmentioned understanding that our biggest factors of satisfaction — certainly, or personal sovereignty — may be swallowed by the behemoth.
Gretzky was Canada’s, till America inevitably claimed him.
Over the previous decade, I’ve had a number of in-depth conversations with Gretzky. He was considerate, keen to mirror on all the enjoyment and ache in his life. He spoke of Canada fondly, with a honest sense of gratitude.
Gretzky didn’t reply to a textual content requesting to talk for this story.
Prior to now, we’ve chatted in regards to the ardour he confirmed at 2002 Olympics, and later in regards to the dying of his shut pal and mentor Ace Bailey within the 9/11 terror assaults. We spoke about his late father, his household and his legacy within the recreation — for which Gretzky principally deferred to the greatness of different gamers. I adopted him as he crossed the sector at Fenway Park in the course of the NHL’s out of doors basic, as followers of all generations referred to as out to him — “Wayne! Wayne! Gretzky! Gretzky!”
That aura follows Gretzky wherever he goes. For years, it appeared like that may at all times be the case. However now in Canada, for many individuals, the picture of Gretzky as a revered image of nationwide satisfaction has light. And that’s not due to his politics or the place he chooses to reside. It’s not even due to something Gretzky has carried out himself. It’s as a result of we all know the parable was by no means actual and that perhaps it was by no means a good customary to carry him to.
There was politicized criticism when photographs of Gretzky first emerged celebrating Trump’s election victory at Mar-a-Lago, and later when he attended the president’s inauguration. However that wasn’t what Canadians had been actually upset about. It was what got here later, when Trump turned his focus to Canada — and Gretzky, the nationwide hero, stayed silent.
Wayne Gretzky and his spouse, Janet, attended U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. (Kevin Lamarque / Pool / Getty Photographs)
Launched as ambassador of the Canadian group inside TD Backyard forward of the 4 Nations Face-Off Last a couple of weeks in the past — a best-on-best match between Canada and the U.S. — Gretzky walked out from the American facet of the benches sporting a swimsuit whereas acknowledging gamers from each groups. He was greeted with tepid applause and a smattering of boos. From the stands, it was laborious to decipher whether or not the lukewarm response was directed at Gretzky or his function representing Canada. The group closely favored the People, however a couple of third of the constructing supported the northern rivals. In calmer occasions, Gretzky’s entrance would have confronted a passing diploma of scrutiny after which would have been forgotten.
However these aren’t calm occasions north of the border. And when criticism swelled, pretty or not, Gretzky’s silence was interpreted as a press release.
Bobby Orr — one other Canadian-born hockey icon — defended Gretzky in a letter printed by the Toronto Solar, calling his Corridor of Fame counterpart “one of many biggest Canadians ever.”
Gretzky has represented Canada as a participant and an govt for many years, Orr wrote, criticizing “fickle” individuals who have turned on him for his private beliefs.
“Wayne respects your rights and beliefs,” Orr wrote. “Why can’t you respect his?”
Janet Gretzky shared a message on Instagram thanking Orr for coming to her husband’s protection.
“I’ve by no means met anybody who’s extra proud to be Canadian and it has damaged his coronary heart to learn and see imply feedback. … He would do something to make Canadians proud, along with his love for hockey and his nation.”
There hasn’t been an uproar in regards to the silence of so many different Canadian-born celebrities who discovered their fame and fortune in the US. However then, there aren’t any photographs of them in a MAGA hat supporting the president who has referred to as for the nation to be annexed.
President Trump additionally chimed in, posting on social media that he doesn’t need Canadians to activate Gretzky.
“He’s the Best Canadian of all of them, and I’m due to this fact making him a ‘free agent,’ as a result of I don’t need anybody in Canada to say something unhealthy about him,” Trump wrote.
“He helps Canada the way in which it’s, as he ought to, despite the fact that it’s not practically pretty much as good because it could possibly be as a part of the Best and Most Highly effective Nation within the World, the Good Ole’ U.S.A.!”
These taunts had been met with extra silence from Gretzky and a stinging realization that hurts Canadians much more. On this second of nationwide upheaval, the Nice One is on the alternative bench.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic. Photograph: Saul Loeb-Pool through Imagn Photographs)