The Antwerp connection

Canada celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first Olympic hockey gold medal

- STEPHEN SMITH

THE KING OF THE BELGIANS hoped Antwerp’s shell-pocked roads would be repaired in time for the summer Games of the VII Olympiad. In place of an athlete or a Greek god, the statue at the stadium when the main event launched in July 1920 depicted a Belgian infantry soldier hurling a grenade. In a city that had been under siege in 1914, then occupied by German troops through to the Armistice in 1918, it’s no surprise that the First World War shadowed every aspect of the 1920 Olympics.

For Canada, the Games got underway prior to the opening ceremony, in April, with the first-ever hockey tournament in Olympic history held at Antwerp’s Palais de Glace. Winning gold 100 years ago, Canada’s team set a standard for Olympic hockey dominance that would last for three more successive Games.