First day of the Olympics ....

Today is the day that we targeted 18 months ago as we applied to be volunteers. For 18 months now it has been way out there in the future but suddenly it is here and real. It is the first day of the Olympics and before the opening ceremony there were two major events that have marked the start of the Olympics.

The first event was the first games event which was Ski Jumping at the Whistler Olympic Park. We had four tickets for the event and set out by bus from Pemberton at 8 am to ensure that we got to Callaghan Valley for the event at 10 am. We caught our bus as planned and arrived in Whistler about 45 minutes later. We then walked for 15 minutes to get to the bus that transports folks to the venue. We were boarded into the bus immediately and we left shortly thereafter. The 45 minute ride got us to the venue at 9:45 and that allowed us to get up the hill to the Ski Jump venue in the next 15 minutes. It is a one km walk to the venue through the woods and up a hill. Freddi was suffering from Asthma so we took the Accessibility Bus to the Inuksuk which helped her for sure. We then walked through the venue to watch the jumping from the spectators standing area. The event had started before we got there but there was lots of room to move around and get a vantage point that allowed a clear view of the jumpers. There are two courses and today they were using what they call the “normal course” and the expectation is that jumpers will jump from 95 to 105 metres. Think about that .... I am. The other course is longer and expectations are jumps that go from 120 to 145 metres. I would that the “abnormal course” but I am sure they use the “larger course” to describe that one. I will not try to relate the results as the media have and will do a way better job than I can as they have more information to work with and they are paid to do that. However, I will comment on that fact that the Europeans killed the course and the Germans and Czechs own this course.

The spectators were boisterous and load as they cheered for the huge jumps and cheered for those who jumped lesser distances. The folks there appreciated the effort of all athletes and there were many cow bells clanging with enthusiasm. It was a very electric environment. My sister-in-law, Mary Ellen, was working as a host at the venue and she found us but my brother-in-law, Paul, who was to be there as a spectator was nowhere to be found. The sun broke through for part of the event and it was beautiful to feel the sun, see some of the valley and soak up the electric atmosphere of this first event of the Olympics. Elapsed time of the competition was 1 hour and 5 minutes. Our return journey to Whistler was fairly quick (45 minutes) as we used the Accessibility bus to get to the Whistler buses and managed to catch one of the earliest to leave. There were throngs of people pouring out of the event and there were lots of folks (volunteers) doing crowd control. This is the venue that I will be working in starting at 5:15 am tomorrow morning.

The second event so far today was the very unfortunate death of the Georgian Luge slider – Nodar – who at the age of 21 crashed during a training run at 144.3 kph. His effort and passion guided him to this day and we all are saddened by his passing. The Luge committee will be evaluating their options as a result of this accident. Once again, the media will cover this in detail and if you are interested have a look at the CTV coverage as it is fairly complete. This will be a shadow over this Olympics but the overall program will still produce many, many good stories as these athletes give it their all. Let us move forward and enjoy the games for what they are supposed to be – the culmination of training (physically and mentally) by be the best in the world at their chosen sport. We respect their decisions to participate and will enjoy their efforts and enthusiasm.

Once in Whistler the ladies went to Pemberton and I took the opportunity to walk about the Village Stroll to suck up the atmosphere and feel the excitement of the folks in the village. It was raining but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the gathered people as they watched entertainment and news coverage on the large screens that are strategically placed throughout the village. I checked out the food offerings at the Swiss Pavilion and at some of the various restaurants and decided I was just too hungry to really enjoy a sit down meal. (Does that make any sense – only if you understand the issue of grocery shopping when you are hungry – it means you end up with too much of things you would not normally eat). In the end I did not eat and returned to Pemberton hungry!

The trip back to Pemberton was filled with discussions with an off-duty RCMP who was excited about his iPod and the 2010 application that he found as well as many other “neat” tech things he uses it for. Some snowboarders discussed each of their turns in detail and shared their experiences with the folks at the back of the bus. The bus trip of 35 – 45 minutes is always quite entertaining. Once home Bree produced some fresh meat pies from the local bakery that were just the right amount of delicious food for our lunch. Now I am getting ready to sit my butt in a chair and watch some coverage of the last few hours of the pre-Olympic Opening ceremonies. Vancouver is deep into the buzz as the flames gets closer and closer to BC Place. That will happen about 8:30 pst tonight. I hope everyone enjoys the opening ceremony and raise your glass to the athletes and organizers of this amazing event. GO CANADA GO!