In no particular order, here are my top 5 Vancouver 2010 moments!
1. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir winning gold, and then seeing the rings change to gold!
2. Being in Whistler and being able to take this amazing picture:
3. The Peak to Peak Gondola between Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains.
4. Sitting in Pacific Coliseum before the Figure Skating Gala and getting really emotional because I know the Olympics are coming to an end and it's been an amazing trip!
5. Team Canada Men's Hockey winning Gold and seeing how happy Scott is!!!
Great few days for Canada! Yesterday 4 medals, today, 2!!!
We went to the Women's Gold Medal Hockey game, Canada vs. USA. Canada won 2-0!!!
Scott's Hockey Pics:
Beth's Hockey Pics:
After the game, Pam, Jen, Scott and I went to a gay bar called The Score to meet up with Scott Dumas and Damonde Tschritter (Yuk's comedians) to watch the women's long program!! I was very nervous for Joannie, but she rose above everything and had an amazing skate!! I'm so proud of her, as is Canada!! And now I will get to see her skate at the Gala on Saturday!
Rochette
Cynthia Phaneuf placed 13th overall.
Scott's Post-Game Pics:
Tomorrow, Scott and Pam are at the women's gold medal curling, Jen and I have the day off, we will probably wander the city aimlessly :)
I would like to apologize for not updating the blog as regularly as we should, it's very hard when we are really only in the room to sleep!! Speaking of sleep...
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Wow, what a day. I feel so lucky to have been there when Canadian History was made. Alex Bilodeau, in a bit of an upset, took the Men's Moguls Gold Medal!!
It was a very very long day, we headed out at about 10 AM, and didn't get home until 11 PM or so, but wow...was it ever worth it.
We were down in the 'pit' for the whole day, crushed in with 4000 other fans. It was a great day weather wise though, bright and sunny, a couple of degrees above zero. My pics and a couple video's from the training runs are below:
My Pics:
Most of my pics are from the training and qualification runs, where Biladeau was 2nd. Once the final's hit I wanted to watch the action, rather than focus on snapping pictures. Pam's pics and a couple more random vids below:
Pam's Pics:
Once the final 11 hit, things really got exciting. 4 Canandians were in the Top 11, so we at least knew we would have a good shot at a medal. Marquis and Rousseau both had great runs, and sat 1-2 for a long time. It really pumped the crowd up, knowing that we were sitting in medal positions.
Ben and Andrea's Pics:
After Dale Begg-Smith's run, we kinda all felt like there might be trouble. He had a really good run, and looked like it would be tough to beat.
However, Bilodeau would just not be outdone, flying down the mountain. Having now seen the replay on TV, he looks so much more controlled on the cable-cab than he did coming down the mountain. He was going so fast, I don't know that anyone was sure he'd be able to hold on.
Once the run was over, the crowd went nuts. We all knew that it would be good enough for a Top 2 spot, but we weren't sure if it would Top Begg-Smith. Of course, when the '1st' went on the board, we all went nuts. There was still one more to go, but we knew we were getting at least a silver.
As Colas came down the hill, we all held our breath! You hate to 'cheer against' someone, but man was I hoping he would fall.
When Colas crossed the finish line, and we saw the sub-23.00 second time, we thought that he had the Gold. His jumps looked good, his turns looked good, and the time was the fastest of the day. What we missed from the crowd was that he'd missed the grab on his 2nd Air, and would be taking a big hit.
I said to Ben, I didn't think we had it...
But then the scores came up...it wasn't even close...Colas was 6th...and we had the GOLD!
The crowd went absolutly crazy. There are no words to describe what its like to be there for history.
We were a ways back, so seeing the post-event celebrations were tough...but I was able to snag this video. Its a little shaky, but not too bad:
Bilodeau Flower Ceremony
The party of course didn't stop after leaving the stadium. On the way back to the buses, everyone was your best friend. Ben and I were interviewed for a Japanese newspaper, and O Canada! was sung by all
On The Way Back to the Buses
Of course what we didn't know is that VANOC totally screwed up the buses. I don't even want to talk about the two-plus hour wait for a bus to Lonsdale, watching empty bus after empty bus head down the hill. It never happened.
After we made it back to Lonsdale Quay, we headed over to the Boston Pizza for a post-Gold meal. We then caught the Seabus back downtown....fireworks exploding over the city.
Tonight should be one to celebrate, but I don't have the energy... after being at Cypress to watch Alexandre Bilodeau win gold in Men's Freestyle (moguls), the first ever gold on Canadian soil, we were treated to several punches from the VANOC police-state that has allegedly plagued the games since day 1 of planning. During my short time living in Vancouver, I was always uncomfortable with the use of hard authority - bans on this, that or the other thing (like bar closing time at 11PM), no walking in public parks after certain ridiculous times (like 8PM.. seriously.. I'd understand midnight)... I always felt like I needed a permit to do anything. Here's how things unfolded after the gold medal exhilaration...
1 - we waited 2 hours, in the cold, for a bus after the event. For some reason there was a major lack of service to Lonsdale Quay likely due to poor planning - there were half a dozen buses waiting empty for the other 2 dropoff sites, none of which were redirected to the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people waiting to get to Lonsdale. Nobody had the authority to send some of these empty buses to where they were needed. Some kid got separated from his parents halfway through the night, and they tried to scapegoat this as the reason for the overall disruption, but it was still really slow after they found him (Note to parents: please hang onto your children, our sanity depends on it). Somehow the entire team of Cypress volunteers, who left the hill well after we did, managed to beat us to the restaurant for dinner... although apparently they parked at one of the less used bus stops, and knew they'd be able to get on one of the empty buses no problem... good on them for figuring out the system quickly... this whole situation might have turned into an angry mob (and almost did at one point) if we weren't riding high on the gold medal.
2 - our snowboard cross tickets ($50 standing room only) are cancelled tomorrow. apparently for the reason of "safety"... don't worry, if you bought the expensive tickets, you can still go. we'll get a refund and have to watch it on TV. I didn't come to vancouver to watch TV.
3 - Olympic flame is in jail. Seriously, it's behind a chain link fence with a no trespassing sign, and nobody can get near it within 50m. Paranoia, Vanoc, paranoia. You're embarrassing all of us normal Canadians, get your iron fist out of Rogge's ass, and cut the "security theatre". Let the flame stand in public so we can all see it, get close to it, and enjoy it.
4 - Security Theatre - BC's tax dollars hard at work. Last night I could have brought anything (a gun, knife, bomb, drugs...) into Canada Pavilion. I placed my jacket, full of my phone, wallet, keys and water bottle into a bin, the security guard promptly moved it across the table into the 'secure' area as I walked through the metal detector. He didn't question for a second what was in my jacket. Should have brought a flask... oh and when we got into the Canada Pavilion venue, one of the in-uniform, on duty security guards was having too much fun dancing with a possibly underage girl. Some 'security'... oh yeah we caught this one on video too :) Talking to an 'unnamed source' - if there is an attack of any sort, heads will roll for lack of preparedness on the part of the Vancouver Police, RCMP etc. There is only the illusion of security at Vancouver 2010.
I'm beginning to see the other side of the Olympics... as much as I love the celebration of Canadian athletes, culture, etc., the organizing committee deserves a solid smack upside the head for how they've handled all of this. Maybe (some of) the protesters do have a point, when they're not breaking glass or smashing things downtown... although I've yet to see it. Vanoc, you've failed me hard tonight, and watching SBX on TV tomorrow will be a bitter pill to swallow. You better hope Canada doesn't win gold...
This blog is the online chronicle of our adventures leading up to, and including, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. We hope to give you a little insight into what went into planning our trip and a first hand look at the Games from the ground in Vancouver.
AMAZING TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're considering Sochi 2014 :)
