Jon Montgomery’s “I Am Canadian” spoof is a great sendoff for Canada’s Olympic athletes

The man famous for chugging a pitcher of beer in celebration after winning the gold medal in skeleton in Whistler is now trying to inspire Canadian fans and athletes with a beer commercial parody in advance of the London Games. In a "Good Luck And Git'er Done" video perfectly reminiscent of Molson's classic "I Am Canadian" ad, Russell, Manitoba's Jon Montgomery uses some of the commercial's old standbys (the microphone setup, the audience's growing engagement, the identical music, a reference to "Jimmy, Sally or Susie from Canada"), improves on others (his plaid shirt is much more lumberjack-inspired than the one worn in the original commercial) and manages to make a brilliantly funny short that still gets across an excellent message. Here's Montgomery's video:

And here's the original commercial for reference:

It's great to see a prominent Winter Games athlete like Montgomery using his status to support Canada's Summer Olympics athletes; that really reinforces the growing sense of community between Canada's elite athletes. Montgomery's also out to pump up fans, and this is a clever way to do so. It works as a funny parody and a collection of completely sincere statements about Canada's athletes, and that's not an easy thing to pull off. Montgomery's far from done on the Olympic stage, as he and his wife Darla Deschamps (a fellow skeleton athlete) are training hard to try and be the first husband and wife to win individual medals at the same Games in 2014, but when he gets tired of riding his "really fast toboggan", he might have a future in TV. He certainly did a tremendous job with this video, referencing an old standby in a remarkable new way, and proved that he's much more than just an incredible skeleton athlete who enjoys the odd pitcher of beer; he also enjoys finding unique ways to reach out to Canadian fans. Now, for his next video, might we suggest "500 Miles"?