After being shut out of Olympic medal celebrations in Beijing for an entire week, Canadian athletes have roared back with a vengeance, snatching 13 medals (two gold, six silver and five bronze) in slightly more than 72 hours of competition.

Five days ago, we opined in this space how the first week's pursuit of Olympic glory at the Games had been frustrating, leaving us pondering how long Canada would have to wait to win its first medal.

Well, wait no more!

As most Canadians were tucked in their beds early Saturday morning, our Olympians opened up the floodgates, snatching gold, silver and bronze medals over a one-hour period, adding four more before the end of the weekend and another six between Monday and yesterday.

Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C. gave our country something to really cheer about, by delivering Canada's first medal of these Games -- a gold in women's 48 kilogram freestyle wrestling.

Included in our medal haul to date are a gold, silver and two bronze medals in rowing, a gold and silver in women's wrestling freestyle, a pair of silvers on trampoline, three more silvers in equestrian jumping, diving and triathlon and bronze medal finishes in women's 100-metre hurdles and the men's 1,500-m freestyle swimming event.

At Oakville Beaver press time yesterday, Canada had moved into a tie with the Netherlands for 12th in overall medal count; quite an improvement from last Friday when our nation was not yet ranked.

With multiple medal opportunities still to come -- including top-three qualifying efforts by Burlington's Mark Oldershaw and Oakville's Adam Van Koeverden -- Canada may be on its way to a record medal haul (excluding the Soviet-boycotted Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984).