Repeating as Olympic champ proves to be no easy task for Canadians at Beijing Games

There's an adage that says its difficult to get to the top, but even harder to stay there.

That might be particularly so for Olympic champions.

The four years between Games provides lots of time for things to happen, and lots of new competition to come along. , Add in the simple fact of aging and it's no easy task to win a gold medal twice.

There were seven Canadians who came into Beijing holding gold in individual events from Pyeongchang four years ago. So far, only moguls skier Mikaël Kingsbury has come close to defending his Olympic championship, winning silver on the first day of competition.

In its Olympic history, Canada has just three athletes who have repeated as Olympic champions in individual events: speed skater Catriona Le May Doan (500m in 1998 and 2002); moguls skier Alex Bilodeau (2010 and 2014); and trampolinist Rosie MacLennan (2012 and 2016).

Le May Doan, Canada's chef de mission at these Games, acknowledged just how difficult a task it is to repeat.

"Going into Salt Lake City, all I kept hearing was no individual Canadian has ever defended a gold medal. Summer, winter, male, female. You start to wonder if it could even happen," she said. "There's pressure [but] the ultimate pressure is the pressure you put on yourself. My family had never put pressure on me. You feel pressure from your country, sport — you feel pressure from everyone even if they're not putting it on you because you want to do it.

"It was difficult emotionally, it was difficult physically, mentally. What I did was much more difficult than I realized."

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The 29-year-old Sharpe, of Comox, B.C., won silver in the 2019 world championships but was