A Long Stride Toward London

We've heard all about the raft of Canadian records, the number of swimmers making finals, the reasons why Beijing has been so much better than the misery of Athens.
With Ryan Cochrane's bronze medal in the gruelling 1,500-metre freestyle at the Water Cube tonight now in the books, is it time finally to believe that Canada's swimming team is back on the road to Olympic respectability?
Canadians watching back home surely have reason to think so now. They didn't want to hear about national records and personal bests. Everyone, you see, has been swimming faster in the Beijing Olympics pool.
A medal, though? That's pretty much impossible to overlook. And who knew, coming into these Games, that Canada's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years would come from Cochrane, a 19-year-old from Victoria who was targeted for such a feat at London 2012.
Apparently, the kid just didn't want to wait. He lowered his personal-best time by 10 seconds in the heats two days ago and kept it going tonight, becoming the first Canadian in 88 years to win a medal in the marathon of the Olympic swim competition (George Vernot grabbed a silver back in 1920 in Antwerp, if you're wondering).
"A lot of people said 2012 would be my big Olympics," Cochrane told CBC after the race. "But the time is now and I did what I could to get a medal."
CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald predicted Canadians should get used to hearing Cochrane's name over the next four years.
"Ryan Cochrane will definitely be around for the next quadrennial as a favourite for the podium in every race he goes to," said MacDonald.
He might have company from a group of young swimmers poised to enter their primes.
"We've come a long way (since Athens) and we've got a long way to go," Julia Wilkinson told CBC's Elliotte Friedman after the women's 4x100-metre medley relay. "But we're going."
All the way to jolly old London, they'll tell you. It should be a fun ride until then.
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Cochrane's medal gives Canada a total of four (one gold, one silver, two bronze) in Beijing.
Don't be surprised if that total doubles before you wake up Sunday morning, with our gang in position for another hardware haul at the rowing and wrestling venues.
Maybe we really are a second-week team at the Summer Olympics after all.