It’s good to be king

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Canadian Jon Montgomery. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

WHISTLER, B.C. — He chugged straight from a pitcher of lager handed to him in the street just after descending the mountain into the village. He high-fived fans who deliriously screamed at and for him.

And then he got up Saturday morning and began to soak it all up all over again.

Yes, life is good for Jon Montgomery.

But trying to capture all of the euphoric moments in the aftermath of winning gold at the Whistler Sliding Centre late Friday night might be perfectly summed up by this email to the Free Press, courtesy his mom Joan:

‘It is 4:40 a.m. and we just got to bed so we’ll call you in the morning when we get up. A very exciting night!!!!’

Actually, Mrs. Montgomery, four exclamation marks probably doesn’t do the evening justice.

And it only got better Saturday night when the 30-year-old was presented with his gold medal in Whistler Village — just a few hours after a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He’s been on CTV, trying to show Michael Landsberg the finer points of skeleton all the while leading fans behind him like a sporting Pied Piper.

A whole nation, it would seem, is now getting a glimpse of the dynamo that is Jon Montgomery.

"All of Canada has a bit of this medal, from Own the Podium to my sponsors to the COC (Canadian Olympic Committee)... everybody," said Montgomery. "Without them, without their support, without the coaching that I’ve been given this wouldn’t be a reality. I owe a world of thanks to them. My folks, my family for their support, my hometown of Russell. My girlfriend... all these things play a factor in achieving success."

Montgomery said his long-term plans include the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia where he and his girlfriend — fellow skeleton athlete Darla Deschamps — both hope to compete for Canada.

Asked about what was in front of him in the post-race press conference, Montgomery offered up this gem:

"I’ve got doping and then I hope beer. And then (Saturday) is a blank slate although I’m sure somebody’s got a lot of things planned for me. Right now I haven’t got a sniff but it’s a good unknown, for sure, I’ll take it any day of the week."

Finally, he was asked if he was going to going to get another tattoo — he had the Maple Leaf drawn above his heart in Grade 11 — Montgomery said there might be some ‘ink’ in his future. Explaining the first tattoo, he gave one more glimpse as to why he is a sportswriter’s dream.

"Growing up, my father was a Canadian history teacher," Montgomery said. "He was definitely a very patriotic Canadian and that rubbed off on me. I was always a very proud Canadian and wanted to emblazon it on my chest to let everybody know that.

"And, certainly, if I was ever found dead in a ditch, they’d know which country to send me home to."
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca