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!

Our Olympic Vacation

In California (and one place in Hawaii that I know of) many people talk about surfing in the morning and skiing in the afternoon. In winter, in the Whistler area, people talk about skiing in the morning and playing golf in the afternoon. Maybe it's because there are no places to surf close by. Joe and I contemplated skiing in the morning and personally, I think that was close enough to qualify (it would have been easy enough to strap on the skis and do a few runs on the learners hill). We decided to drive down to Squamish to play golf and take a vacation from the Olympics.

Our life in Whistler has been totally concentrated on this athlete's village and the Olympics. We, more so than the average public (outside of smurfdom) have been watching Olympic coverage almost non-stop since before the Opening Ceremonies, especially since we have the direct feeds from the different venues. The "I Believe" tune, with or without lyrics has been etched into all of our brains. I catch myself humming it when I'm bored or when I'm sleeping, standing up. I also generally have an irresistible urge to hum the theme for the "Smurfs" but that's another story.


We borrowed a vehicle from Dave and his media centre crew. It was something we didn't know we could do! We grabbed the van (and the Sea to Sky permit) and just drove south in the bright sunshine watching the outside temperature rise. It was conveniently displayed on the dash. The snow became a memory just after we passed the "WOP" (Whistler Olympic Park) and we arrived in Squamish to calm winds and 12 C temperatures. Perfect day for golf. Scores didn't matter, especially because they were poor and we couldn't blame them on our rentals (Nike Sasquatch--We thought it would be funny if we scratched in Quatchi, but we were on an Olympic holiday and Squamish Valley Golf and Country Club might not have thought it was that funny). I would have loved to have had my spikes (and my own clubs) but let's face it, we were playing golf in Canada on the 22nd of February. It was a good antidote to Olympicitis.

Beer Belly Gold Medal

As usual, Joe and I came down off our mountain and went for our morning "stroll." We got to visit "Celebration Square" today. Let me remind everybody that we had to work the 2:30-23:00 shift and the real medal ceremonies start in the evening. Our visit was a little more special because somebody (name withheld in case we get unnamed person in trouble) just gave us an all access pass. I, of course, was the entertainment and at the time of this writing, the only recipient of the Beer Belly gold medal. Actual medal to follow, once I can find a gold coloured metal can to crush and bend into a weird shape.

We also managed to find a real gold medalist today. We found Jon Montgomery showing off his crushed gold can, bent into a weird shape. He is such a ham:)!
If he stops exercising and stops launching himself head first down a ribbon of ice on a food tray, I will personally invite him to become the second recipient of the Beer Belly gold medal (BBGM). I watched him on TV training for the BBGM and I must say that he needs work. A true BBG medalist would have finished that jug of beer in a single swig and not allow the beer to get warm as he walked down the "stroll" being interviewed and in general, hamming it up.


We also found the memorial for Nodar. I'm not sure how it got there but many people visit and some leave things but most just pay their respects. An artist from Calgary decided to paint a memorial painting over one of his own canvas paintings. He drove in all the way from Calgary with no idea how he was going to get it to Nodar's father. He did find a "smurf" that could help him and I expect this painting will make it to the closing ceremonies. (Handy, those "smurfs" in a tight situation! Just don't expect to get in through the out door of the welcome tent.)

Not Tea, Just Burnt Toast

We were just getting ready to go to bed on Tuesday night (since we had the early morning shift on Wednesday) when the fire alarm went off. Realizing that my best buddy Jeff might not be able to hear this (since he was in the shower and listening to music at about 125 dB), I decided to knock on his bedroom door. He has complained to me before about my "courtesy rap" on the bedroom door to get him up in the morning and now I might know why. Through the sound of the fire alarm, the loud music and the shower, he was able to hear my life saving "courtesy rap!" Maybe I should use an open hand to execute the "courtesy rap" from here on in.

Now back to the fire alarm. We have a variety of guests at our "chalet" these days. We have several people wearing Russian uniforms that appeared coincidentally at about the same time the press announced eight athletes were caught on doping. I think they might just be reporters because we also have a large contingent of reporters, all from different countries. Of note for this story, is that once the fire truck arrived (basically to turn the alarms off), the reporters from Germany came rushing out to get to the bottom of this fire alarm story. If they put the camera any closer into the faces of the firemen, they would have come away with their DNA sequencing! Courtesy of their in-depth probing (one reporter asked, "What happened?"), we found out that a Russian from the sixth floor burnt some toast. I guess those Russians don't know toasters! Thank God they didn't try to turn the oven on!

Joe and I have been trying to spend alot of our spare time on "the stroll." We typically start from the IGA (or iga as Laura and I say when we're in Quebec) and walk over to the bus loop. Along the way we will try to "vogue" for the CTV, TSN cameras (and even the "beauty cams") that are planted along the way. Joe is getting pretty good at picking a spot over Kelly Vanderbeek's shoulder to have his moment on air. We have found that the "scalpers" stand around Celebration Square (just behind IGA) to buy and sell Olympic tickets but we aren't too interested in their wares. We happened to be near the Polish cross-country athlete Justyna Kowalczyk talking to reporters about her silver medal win. She was totally surrounded! (We also saw Alexander Panzhinskiy, Russia-silver and Nikita Krivkov, Russia-gold) Joe turns to me and says "Hey, there's Trevor Linden!" Trevor like us, was trying to figure out what the fuss was all about! It's funny that he is just another face in the crowd when it comes to the Winter Games.

Apart from Mike Lansberg, Kelly Vanderbeek and the CTV/TSN crews, we also found the "Access Hollywood" crew (as well as a huge assortment of European crews). It's funny watching the different filming styles as the 'AH' set was like filming a movie. We had Billy Bush doing a couple of lines and then Maria Menounos taking over the set and doing her lines. (FYI; I had to Google their names because although they look familiar, I wouldn't know them from Adam). There were cuts and retakes with Maria asking where her hot tea was in between takes! The CTV set went live, on air with just a "heads up" from Mike to Kelly to let her know what they were going to talk about.

A Good Gold Day

I had the early shift Sunday and to make it worse, it was raining. It was monsoon raining! We normally get a lift from Maurizio on these early morning shifts but since things are slow now, he has changed management shifts to more decent hours (8am-9pm).

Joe and I made our way to work and I convinced him that if we stayed on the no. 6 to the bus loop and then picked up the no. 98 to Squamish (this bus also turns into our Athlete's village), we would get to work sooner, but more importantly drier. One of our team was also on the no. 6 bus and she decided to stick with the no. 10. Well, I was right on one count but I think it was the most important one. Joe and I arrived, just minutes before 6:00am, fresh and dry. Our team mate did beat us by a few minutes but she also looked like a drowned rat!

We hunkered down into our trailer and hoped that we wouldn't have to go out on the "Gator" in all that rain! Then things started looking up! The rain subsided and out of boredom we jumped onto the wet "Gator" and went for a ride. We found about a half dozen black cars in a section of the Village called "Plaza Entry." We figured these were for Nodar, our fallen Georgian luge athlete and suddenly felt uncomfortable being in this section of the village. Back to the trailer, just in time to avoid another downpour! As it turned out, all those cars were for our Governor-General, Michaelle Jean. Back out in the rain and the wet "gator" to get as close as we dared and with all the security we felt uncomfortable reaching into our pocket to grab our cameras but we did manage to take a few pictures. The entrance to the "plaza entry" has a checkpoint and while standing out of the rain there, none other than Steve Podborsky walked through. He was shorter than I had imagined!

Since Joe and I had not done much sight seeing at Whistler during the Games, we decided to go to the walking village to celebrate Jennifer Heil's silver medal. We were told to visit our Bell Store because they were handing out branded cow bells. Sure enough we got them! We found our GLC (where Much Music sets up shop) was brimming to the rafters so we turned around and went to Merlins. We did happen to get a table on the upper level and set up with a plate of their famous cheese nachos and beer. Men's Freestyle was on the tube and the place erupted when Marquis and Rousseau were leading in first and second. Right about then the band that was playing started the Canadian national anthem. Everybody stood up and started singing. Our Bell "cow bells" were coming in handy. There was booing when the American Bryon Wilson took first and then more loud cheers from the Australians when Dale Begg-Smith took over first. I can't describe how loud it was, not only in that bar but throughout Vancouver, Whistler and Canada when Bilodeau placed first when all was said and done! His victory speech at the bottom of the hill, extolling his older brothers drive was icing on the cake.

We decided to go back to the walking village to celebrate and see if we could get on camera someplace and maybe get some pins. Again, those branded cow bells came in handy as the race results and Alexandre Bilodeau's run was played over and over on all the TV screens throughout. The walking village was packed! In typical Canadian fashion, a hockey game broke out in the middle of the walking village. I loved the look on the little guys face when "Luonglegs" got a penalty for high sticking! We also got a picture of our Bell team on the Omega 4-man bobsleigh but I liked to call it the Canada 1 bobsleigh. I got a picture of our mens luge team in front of the CTV studio. Sam Edney (Canadian men's Luge) placed seventh in an event that is measured in the thousandths of a second. They were signing autographs and hopefully inspiring another batch of future Olympians. It just turned out to be a good day!

Ceremony Parade

A terrible accident happened today involving the Georgian competitor, Nodar Kumaritashvili, at the finish line of the Sliding Centre. I had taken a few pictures near that spot with Joe and Mike a few days ago. My new camera takes four pictures every second. The slider was in only two of them. It just illustrates how fast the slider was going. My heart goes out to his friends and family.

There was alot of pageantry today as the athletes dressed in their parade uniforms gathered together and made their way to the buses under the direction of Christian. It made me smile (and proud) to see our beloved "smurfs" line the pathway that the athletes used to get to the buses which took them down to Vancouver. They clapped and cheered as each country, big or small walked past. It looked impromptu, so I hope it's something the athletes remember. I know I will.

I still can't talk about the Opening Ceremonies, but nobody said that I couldn't post some pictures of the uniforms the athletes wear to them!

Eve of Games

We have all looked at our schedules and we realize that the beginning of the end of our time in B.C. is marked with the start of the Winter Games. We have taken stock of all the "stuff" we have accumulated and wonder how we will get it all back home. Joe has looked in his freezer and found that his search for bargains at the butcher shop has put him in peril of not being able to consume his stock before his trip home. Joe figures he should have just enough as long as he becomes a "meatatarian." The rest of us have volunteered to help him with that noble quest.


We are all looking at the number of days left on our "Edge Ski Pass" and counting up how many days off we have left on our schedules. We are also looking at doing some of the things we wanted to do at the outset. Bill, Jeff P. and Maurizio drove down to the ferry and went to Tofino (on Vancouver Island). Neil and my best buddy Jeff went snowmobiling on the Pemberton Ice fields. They were able to look down from their mountain top to the mountains of Whistler and Blackcomb. They were sledding at an altitude of 8,300 ft. Their pictures were incredible! At some point you will be able to see some of his pictures on www.totallyawesomeadventures.com. Even if you can't find Jeff on this web site, I think you will get the point!


On our day off, Joe and I met up with Bill and Jeff P. who were skiing down the "Learners Run" for a few hours before they had to go to work. This slope is at the base of Blackcomb and is totally free! It is serviced by a couple of "magic carpet lifts" and by one triple chair. The runs are green and are about as long as any runs you have to pay for in the Toronto area! More free stuff the guys have found in Whistler!

Apres ski consisted of a visit to the nearby Whistler Sliding Centre. We were lucky enough to watch some training runs in the Men's Luge event. It was amazing to walk down the course and see how high the sleds etc. climbed up the vertical walls of the banked turns. These guys hit speeds of 150 kms/hr when they reach the bottom (turn 16--Thunderbird). Turns 14 and 15 are chicane-type turns and are nicknamed the 50/50 turns for obvious reasons (you have a 50/50 chance of making it). I was lucky enough to have an excellent camera with me (which was supplied and transported to me--even with all my objections, by my lovely wife Laura).