During the recent Olympic Games, it was hard not to notice the difference between the reaction of many of the American athletes who won gold medals and the athletes from the rest of the world who won gold, particularly in athletics.

The lone exception was Tara Davis-Woodhall who won gold and celebrated with her husband, paralympian Hunter Woodhall, who was watching from the stands. Their adorable interaction immediately went viral.

But even more heart-warming was Tara Davis-Woodhall’s reaction at the welcome she received when she returned home to a hero’s welcome in Arkansas.

The American gymnasts, led by Simone Biles, were also extremely gracious in both victory and defeat. I especially loved it when Biles and fellow American Jordan Chiles bowed to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade after she upset Biles to win the floor exercise.

Unfortunately, not all the American gold-medalists were so gracious in victory. Most of them acted like they expected to win gold all along, screaming “I’m the greatest,” or “America’s number one,” into the camera after each win.

By contrast, our own gold medalists like Summer McIntosh in swimming, Christa Deguchi in judo, Katie Vincent in the C-1 canoe sprint, Ethan Katzburg and Camryn Rogers in the men’s and women’s hammer throw, Philip Kim in breakdancing and even the men’s 4x100 relay team were the epitome of graciousness in all their wins.

Even more endearing is how our athletes accepted their silver medals in defeat, including the women’s eights in rowing, the women’s sevens rugby team, Maude Charron in weightlifting, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson in beach volleyball, Alysha Newman in pole vault and Marco Arop in the 800-metres who went into the Olympics as the world champion.

Perhaps one of my favourite moments was the medal presentation ceremony for mixed doubles tennis. Teammates Félix Auger Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski looked like they had just won gold instead of bronze they were smiling and laughing so much.

Meanwhile some of the Americans who won silver or bronze, couldn’t wait to take it off from around their necks after their respective ceremonies. There’s a lot to be said about being able to win graciously as well as being gracious in defeat. In that competition, Canada’s athletes win gold every time.