Olympic Spirit

There has been a definite change in the mood of the Athlete's village.  When the athletes first arrived they were sticking close to their teams and allotted beds.  You would only see them training in the streets and basically just sticking to themselves.  We are now seeing them leave the village with us on the no. 10 or no. 98 bus and believe it or not, they too are shopping for the red torch mitts. Many of the athletes have competed and are starting to relax a little bit.  (On a related note, many of the dispensers for Durex condoms we see in all the Athlete's bathrooms and the Polyclinic have been emptied!  I don't think I have seen any balloon fights. Nudge! Nudge! Wink! Wink!)


Canada by far has decorated their lot 3 better than any other country but we did see that Australia has placed some wickets in the rear of lot 5 (the Lodge) for cricket practice. Many countries have also sent a good number of their athletes home.  We are now wondering if the cooks in the "Promised Land" (Athlete's side of the dining tent) will want volunteer tasters to cook for!

We had a visit from Justin who is our Bell "Chef du Mission."  He also ran the torch in North Vancouver and he decided to bring the torch for a visit.  I decided that I had to pose the torch in front of those Australian cricket wickets as if the torch was a cricket bat. 

Justin, for reasons only he knows, decided that he wanted to eat McDonalds in the dining tent of the Athlete's village.  (We only decide to go to Mickey D's when we feel the food is too revolting and I have to admit we are pretty close to being extras in the film "Super Size Me!") As we were waiting for Maurizio to supply enough meal tickets, I held the torch in front of all those dining "smurfs."  It didn't take long before people came up and asked to pose with the torch.  Some of them even asked if I could pose with them even after I explained "the torch is not mine! I'm holding it for a friend!"


It makes me so happy to finally find that the Olympic spirit has filled the nation but more specifically, British Columbia!  I can now honestly say to Fiona, Catherine and their friends that I predicted this would happen (Read my blog from November 15).  I'm not sure if that is their experience as well but I can't guesstimate how many cheers and tears I have witnessed being in Whistler and visiting Vancouver (for my Fin/Ger hockey game).  This is all in witnessing the pursuit of gold medals for our Canadian athletes.  I thought "the stroll" in Whistler was crazy after a Canadian medal but I witnessed "crazy" on Granville Street walking back and forth from Canada Hockey Place (known outside of the Olympics as GM Place)!  After that Friday night (Feb. 19th), police in Vancouver had the liquor stores close by 7:00 pm to try and maintain some peace.  I watched as a reveller needed to be subdued with a tazor.  I declined taking pictures since the police were taking video of their own.  (After all, I know that the police had a box of latex gloves and were not afraid to use them!  Imagine the fun now with tazors!) Closer to the chalet, fierce Canadian supporters were antagonizing American supporters on our no. 6 bus before the famous game on Super Sunday.  When have you heard Canadians doing that, especially in laid back Whistler!  Maybe it's a good thing these Games only last just over two weeks!