Day 4: Randomness

After we were bumped from SBX, ended up having a fairly random day.

The day started off with an interview request from the CBC over our cancelled tickets. We ended up deciding against it, just to avoid becoming caught up in a negative story.

So...we decided to start bar hopping in order to watch the afternoon events. We headed to the Steamworks Brewry to watch the SBX event that we were supposed to be at. At it turned out Mike 'From Canmore' Robertson took the Silver Medal! Good on you!

The biggest news that arrived from the Steamworks however was that Andrea would be going to the Bilodeau Victory Ceremony!! Her Aunt had an extra ticket, and offered it up to her. I was totally jealous, but at the same time happy that at least one of us got into that amazing ceremony! I lent her my camera so she could grab some HD videos....so the overall results from the day are posted below!

My Camera (Scott/Andrea's Pics)



Pam's Pics

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Day 4: Mid-Day Update

Couple of quick hits:

• Mike Robertson has won a Silver Medal for Canada in the Men's SBX....where we were supposed to be. Happy for the silver, dissapointed we were forced to miss it.
  
• Long delay at the Richmond Oval for the Men's 500m is just another in a long line of screw-ups on VANOC. Olympic Cauldron at OC, Security fence for Caldron at IBC, Olympic Bus Network delays last night, ticket cancellations today....and now this. I realize that some things are beyond people's control, but these seem like such basic, basic things.
  
• I'm super jealous of Andrea, who is on her way to the Victory Ceremony for Alex Bilodeau tonight. I've given her my camera, so hopefully some good pictures come back.

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Day 3: No Words, Just a Gold Medal

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.

Fireworks over Vancouver

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VANOC Frustrations and Canadian Glory

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... 

-bc

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The Excellent Olympic Adventure: Day 3

So, maybe a little surprisingly, Canada got through Day 2 without picking up a Gold Medal. The Men's Downhill was rescheduled to tomorrow, Charles Hamelin fell out in the Semi-Finals...and Jenn Heil picked up a Silver! Can't be too dissapointed though, getting on the board with a medal on the first day is still not too shabby.

For us, today marks our first trek out of the city...up the hills of Cypress Mountain to take in the Men's Moguls. I'm really super excited for this. Not only do we get to see an awesome event, but I'm really just looking forward to the simplier things like taking the seabus across the inlet, and getting a cool view of downtown.

Of course, with Canada still searching for that first Gold....is it possible that I might actually see it in person? Alexandre Bilodeau isn't the favorite, but he's a legit medal threat. Don't want to jinx it...but we can hope!

Only really two events on Canada's radar today...the Women's 3000m Speed Skating and of course, the aforementioned Men's Moguls. No Guarentee we will...but we have good medal hopes in both!

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FIRST MEDAL FOR CANADA - SILVER - JENNIFER HEIL!!

She had a fantastic run but was beat by Hannah Kearney.

1	KEARNEY Hannah	26.63
2	HEIL Jenn	25.69
3	BAHRKE Shannon	25.43

Congratulations Jennifer, you have made us proud!

The other Canadians, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was 4th and sadly, after a fall, Kristi Richards was 20th.

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All Eyes On Cypress

I suppose it’s the risk your run, holding the Games in a maritime climate like Vancouver, but mother nature has not been cooperating so far at Cypress Mountain.

Last time I checked...8 degress wasn't good for snow...

Temperatures for the last few weeks have been significantly above freezing (err…see above for today), causing the majority of snow at Cypress to melt off. Officials have been drawing from snow reserves that were built up, and thankfully for the freestyle events there isn’t much ground to cover, but conditions are currently less than ideal. It hasn’t gotten to the point where there is serious discussion of cancellation, but everyone is watching this very very closely.

Troubling Brown Patches....

For our part, I really hope that the weather cooperates. I’m looking forward to both the Men’s Moguls and Men’s Snowboard cross…and I’d hate to miss out!

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Who Will Win Canada's First Gold?

So unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you've been reminded that during Canada's previous two home Olympics (Montreal '76, Calgary '88), Canada was unable to secure a gold medal. Aside from Yugoslavia (Sarajevo '84) we are the only host nation to carry this dubious distinction, and we are the only nation to have accomplished this feat twice.

Its not like Canada has been shutout of the medals at home. Montreal saw us win a fairly respectable 11 medals, 5 silver and 6 bronze. Calgary gave us 5 official medals...2 silver and 3 bronze...and three 1st place finishes in demonstration events. There just hasn't been any official gold.

Thankfully, that is almost a certainty to change in Vancouver. It would be nothing less than shocking for Canada to leave Vancouver without a gold medal, and in all probability we should win somewhere between 5-10 of them.

This certainty has then given the question of not "if Canada will win a Gold", but "who will be the first". So with that in mind, lets have a look at Day 2 of the Games, and the chances that Canada might see a Gold Medal on the first day. It might just come down to a matter of what event ends before the other:

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Men’s NH Ski Jump – End Time: 11:25

No offence to the Ski Jumping crew, but with nobody currently ranked even in the Top 30 on the World Cup, it will take a miracle for this to be our first Gold.

Men’s Downhill – End Time: 1:15 PM

The Canadian Alpine team has taken a number of huge injury-related hits over the past month. Perhaps none are bigger than the loss of John Kucera to broken leg earlier this year. Prior to his injury, Kucera was a serious medal threat after winning the 2009 World Championship in Val d'Isère, France. Throw in the fact that this would have been on a home-mountain, and Kucera could have been the one to register the first gold.

However, even with the loss of Kucera, Canada’s relatively deep Alpine team provides two more medal hopefuls. Manuel Osborne-Paradis has two world cup Downhill victories to his name, including one in December (Val Gardena, Italy)...and finished 5th on the Downhill World Cup Circuit in 2009. Erik Guay is probably a long-shot, but with a World Cup Win from 2007, you can’t count him out.

Overall, Osborne-Paradis and Guay are medal threats, but it would probably still be a surprise to see either of them take gold. A medal out of either of them would be a success, so let’s not get picky on colour.

Long-Track Speed Skating (Men’s 5000m) – End Time: 2:20 PM

Although Canada’s Long-Track Speed Skating team should be very strong in Vancouver, the Men’s 5000m is not really one of the events we should be expecting a medal from. Lucas Makowsky has been the top Canadian at this distance for the past few seasons, and aside from a two 5th Place finishes in Salt Lake City in ’08 and ‘09 , he’s really more of a 15th-25th kind of result. A Top 10 would probably be considered a very successful outing.

Short-Track Speed Skating (Men’s 1500m) – End Time: 7:30 PM

Although there are three short-track speed skating events taking place on Day 2, there is only one that is a medal session…the Men’s 1500m. Canada has enjoyed a very good run of success at this distance over the past two years, having put 4 different athletes on the podium on the World Cup (Charles Hamelin, Olivier Jean, Remi Tinker, Francois-Louis Trembley). Of the four, Charles Hamelin is the best shot for Canada, having finished on the podium in the last two World-Cup events…including a win in Montreal.

At this point, I’m not completely sure who Canada will enter in this event, but given the depth of our team here, I’ll go out on a limb and say that getting shut out of the medals here will be a disappointment. This is even a potential multiple-medal event for Canada…and as such, is a very good chance for Canada to pick up our first Gold.

Women’s Moguls – End Time: 8:30 PM

If the Men are unsuccessful in getting a Gold in the Short-Track 1500m, then we have quite the weapons in reserve – Jenn Heil and Kristi Richards. Heil is of course the reigning 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist, and has recovered successfully from knee issues that forced her to take a year off. On five World Cup events this year, Jenn has three gold, a Bronze and a 5th. That impressive showing has been followed up by Kristi Richards, who has a Gold and Silver to her name this year. And if that’s not enough for you, Chloé Dufour-Lapointe has three Top-10 finishes.

Considering Jenn Heil’s Olympic record, and the fact that Canadian Women have won 4 of 5 World Cup Events this year, I think you would have to say that there is a very good chance we will take this one. Nothing is a certainty of course, but if I were a betting man, I’d look for Gold from one of Heil or Richards.

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I gotta say, reading through that list, I like Canada's chances to take home Gold on Day 2!

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Utah Olympic Park

So this past week, I had to haul off to Idaho again for another magical adventure placing HAR stations. This time however, rather than flying into Boise and driving to the eastern edge of the state, I flew into Salt Lake City and drove north.

This change in entry point allowed me the chance to do a bit of Olympic related sight-seeing on the days of my flights. As a result, I was able to drop by the 'E Center' on Tuesday night, and the Utah Olympic Park on Friday morning.

The 'E Center'

The 'E Center' was of course the main hockey rink for the 2002 Games, and the location where Canada won its Men's & Women's Gold Medal Games. Short of maybe the Luzhniki Ice Palace, I'd say that its one of the most important foriegn hockey facilities in terms of Canadian Hockey History.

That being said, despite the hallowed ground, the facility itself was actually less than impressive. Its now home to the ECHL Utah Grizzlies, and it looks and feels exactly like you'd expect an ECHL Rink to look and feel. It's really in the middle of a power-centre, and at only 10,100 seats, its hardly a large rink. Something like the John Labatt Centre in London is way way more impressive....

Utah Olympic Park

If the 'E Center' was perhaps a bit of a dissapointment, then the Utah Olympic Park certainly made up for it. Home to the Ski Jumping and Sliding Sports during 2002, it has the Summer Splashpool for the Aerial Skiing/Moguls teams, as well as a couple of Olympic Museums on site.

One of the coolest bits about the park was that I found out upon my arrival at 9 AM was that the US Freestyle Team would be coming to the splashpool to train, starting at 11 AM. It was almost perfect timing, giving me enough time to poke around the facilities, tour the museums....then finish it all off with a little live action from the Freestyle Team!!

Ski Jump

I started off by heading over to the Ski Jumping area. The first thing that struck me was the incline of the landing ramp....its very very steep...to the point that I bet that jumpers are really never more than 10 m or so off the actual ground. Its probably more like 'Ski-Falling' rather than 'Ski Jumping'.

The other thing I noticed was how intimate the venue was. One thing I've been worried about regarding the venues is that we'll be sat so far back that we won't actually have a chance to really 'see' anything. This was pretty much dissuaded by my time at the ski-jumping facility, where you could picture where the stands were during the games. They were pretty much right on top of the action.

Sliding Sports

After I spent some time at the Ski-Jump hills, I headed over for the Bobsled track....

Once I got into the track, the first thing that hit me was how increadibly steep and narrow the track is. When you see it on TV, you basically assume that the track is more or less level, even though you know that its a gravity sport, and hence thats not totally true. However, I never imagined that it would be on the kind of slope that it really is. In fact, the average grade of the entire track is 7.8%, so I'd estimate that in steep sections you're looking at a 15% grade or so at least. Throw in the fact that you're on ice when you're going down that, and its not hard to see how you reach speeds of +140 km/h.

The second thing that I noticed about the bobsled track is, again, how on top of the action the spectators really are. It was even more drastic at the bobsled track than it was at the ski-jumping, as for the sliding sports, you could probably reach out and high-five someone going by....should you be so inclined. I can't wait to see a bobsled go past me only 5 feet away!

However, as I was a little pressed for time, I was only able to make it about half-way up the bobsled track before I had to turn around and head on back.

Olympic Museum

After the bobsled track, I headed back to the main HQ and went through the Olympic Museum they had on site. It was pretty much standard fare in terms of a museum...some things that we really cool...and alot of stuff that you're really not intersted in.

The two coolest 'items' were probably the picture board highlighting Canada's hockey wins, and one of the curling stones from the Ogden Ice Sheet. You could reach in and try to pick it up, so I was able to get a little 'hands-on experience'....

Splashpool

The last, and by far coolest, thing I saw at the Utah Olympic Park was the US Freestyle Team's practice session in the Splashpool. As you can see from the picture below, they have a practice facility that they use in the summer, where all the normaly mogul and aerial ramps land into a 10 ft pool. It was a really amazing set up, and I was lucky enough to actually see it in use:

The ramps themselves are treated with a special kind of plastic, which is then wetted down by small sprinklers to reduce friction. Or...in other words...its basically an overgrown Slip-'N-Slide!!

One other thing that might not be evident, from the pictures at least, is the bubbling of the water. As jumpers leave the ramp, there are a series of pipes on the bottom of the pool that release a blast of air. The resultant bubbles reach the surface of the water roughly the same time the skiier lands....breaking the surface tension of the water and reducing the impact. Very high-tech....

Overall, I was able to stay and watch about a half-hour of the practice session before I had to take off for the airport. It was a very cool thing to see in person however, and again...just got me more pumped for the Olympics. Unfortuneatly during the games, I'm only going to have a chance to see the Moguls competition...missing out on the Aerials. Ben and Andrea are of course going to the Men's Finals....but I'll be at Curling during that time. I suppose you can't do it all!

Pictures

The slideshow below has all the pics from my little adventure. Having now had a chance to actually see Olympic Facilities, I'm even more pumped for Vancouver. I could picture what it must have been like at these places when the games were actually on, and know that it will only be more amazing when its on Canadian Soil!!

On a final note, as of today there are 150 Days To Go...

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What I Think I'm Most Excited About

So put aside the obvious awesomeness of getting things like the Gold Medal Women's Hockey game.

I think one of the things I'm most excited about now is the opportunity to see Canada win a medal, and maybe even sweep a podium.

As you probably don't recall, way back in December 2008 I talked about how I'd like to see the Team-Pursuit Long-Track Speed Skating. I think it'll be awesome to get a chance to go to the Richmond Oval, as it looks amazing, but the biggest reason I'm pumped for it is because I think that both the Canadian Men and Women have to be pretty much locks for medals.

Bitchin' Building!

Before Phase II, we had a few pretty cool events like Women's Canada Hockey and Short Track Speed skating. However, with the Phase II stuff added...I think we're almost guaranteed to see a Canadian Gold. We have the chance with the Curling Medal Games, the Women's Medal Game, Long-Track Speed Skating, Short-Track Speed Skating or the Men's Moguls.

One of those has to hit!

Perhaps the most likely to generate a Canadian Gold is the Men's Moguls, where twice last World Cup season Canada swept the medals. I think aside from a Canadian Men's Hockey Gold, a podium sweep would be the most amazing thing that could happen during these games...and to actually have been there for it...well...would be incredible.

Its probably a long shot, but it's totally a possibility.

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