How a text message won Canada a silver medal

Canadian speed skater Denny Morrison, the silver medalist in the men's 1000m event, who failed to qualify for the race in Canadian trials, received a strange text message on Monday from a Russian number, writes the National Post's Sean Fitz-Gerald. 

"Hey, you ready for the 1,000? You can have my spot if you want." 

Morrison thought it was a joke - a cruel one - at first. He didn't know the sender, and while he was hoping someone would offer him their spot in the 1000m event, he figured it wouldn't happen once he'd arrived in Sochi along with his teammates. 

Morrison was wrong. The message, it turned out, was from his countryman and fellow speed skater Gilmore Junio, who was forfeiting his spot in the event to his teammate. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Morrison accepted his teammate's selfless gesture and skated the race of his life. He won a silver medal for Canada, finishing only four-hundredths of a second behind the gold-medal winner Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands (of course). 

Junio didn't think twice.

"It's just an easy decision," he said. "All the credit to Denny."

Morrison still can't believe it. 

"I was in disbelief, I still basically am," he said. "It’s a dream. A fairytale story. And it’s hard to believe that it’s happening."

Even American legend Shani Davis, who was looking to win the event for the third straight time in the Winter Olympics, and who finished eighth, was happy for Morrison and the Canadians.

"He’s a good friend of mine. If I couldn’t do it, or if one of my teammates couldn’t do it, I’m very happy to see a neighbour from the north be able to do it."