What an uncomfortable situation. The whole Village ,added to Olympic family and friends, is excited as this is finally the day for Opening Ceremonies. Energy, thrill, anxiety, a mental "rush" grows in each individual here. It all comes crashing down when the news of a fallen friend is disseminated through the information highway. A young and energetic athlete succumbed to his injuries on the luge track. I was just there yesterday and described in my blog what a sensational place that was. I was in the corner, corner 16, the last ripping bend that takes the luge, bobsleigh and skeleton athlete a full 180 degrees around to end the run with an uphill finish. The runoff. The same we see on highways where large trucks can escape if their braking systems fail and they need to slow their speed down to eventually stop. Nodar Kumaritashvili died coming out of that corner as he lost control and left the track. I'm sure most of you have seen the scary videos as they were on Youtube within hours. Information dissemination travels faster than light. The Olympic Community tamed its energy to support the Georgian delegation in their moment of sorrow.
I was pleased to see the respect showed with the lowering of the Canadian and Olympic flags to half mast during opening ceremonies.
About those Ceremonies. Did you see me on TV? Did you see me march in with our Canadian team? I was right there, a little to the right.......sitting on the couch watching the Ceremonies from our lounge. I did not getr to march in. I cannot hide what a disappointment it was not to march. "The March". It's what was on everyone's tongue during the last few days as we all hoped we'd get a chance to march in. The march is officially for athletes. It's evident as they announce it: "The Olympic Athletes". Greece always start, as they were the original hosts of these Games. The host country always finishes it off and the rest is alphabetical as per the alphabet of the host country. That would be why Canada came in pretty late at the Athens Games in 2004 as Canada is spelled "Kanada" over there. So the deal is that each country gets "one pass per athlete plus 6". Not 6 extra passes per athletes but 6 for the whole delegation. That is to allow the Chef the Mission, Assistant Chef and a few more. If athletes decide not to show up, if they're competing the next day for example, then their passes are distributed to their team's coaches. This is where the wishing and crossing of fingers happens. We hope that enough passes are left over to be distributed to everyone else who wants to come in. Canada has such a large support team and many athletes marched. That did not leave much for the rest of the team. I therefore did not get a marching pass. I have marched with the Canadian team in Turkey, China, Korea, Brazil and Australia. It was an experience that is impossible to describe, even by the most skilled writer. You "have to be there". The deep, emotional rush grabs you and you are in a special place for a few minutes. Canadians are proud of their country and we are marching in unison representing our country with our flag at the front. Even in foreign lands we receive thunderous support. But nothing would have compared to marching in Vancouver. Home crowd. What an undescribable moment it would have been. Oh well, not much we can do about it.
Did you enjoy the show? Did you guess the torch bearer who would light the final flame in the "cauldron". Wasn't really a cauldron though. Wonder how the people responsible for the mechanics of those arms felt when the fourth did not rise. So much planning and......a long uncomfortable pause that seemed to last forever. Doesn't matter. The Flame is on and the Games are off.
At every Game, the opening Ceremony stuff starts early as we have to get our clothes organized, get together somewhere where we can load up on buses and get ourselves to another marshalling area near the stadium. There we wait and goof off until we are told to line up for the march. Depending on how far the stadium is, it can start at 11 am even if we have to march at 7 pm. Then the chaos of getting ourselves on buses is a nightmare that sometimes gets us back at the Village near midnight. That would be why athletes frequently decide to forget it if they are competing the next day. As we were hosts, we had our own private pep rally here in the Village instead of heading over to the hockey arena next to the stadium. Guests gave motivational speeches to our assembled group then buses were loaded ( ...for the ones going). Julie Payette, a highly recognized Canadian astronaut, shared a great story. Last year many Canadian Olympic athletes signed a t-shirt. Sadly, not one of the Canada ones from the Vancouver Games but one of the Canda shirt from the Olympic Games in Beijing. Doesn't matter. Julie took that shirt in the shuttle Endeavour during her last flight. She had a picture taken of her wearing it with a beautiful view of the Earth in the window. The shuttle flew 248 times around the Earth. As she said, no other country did this so "Canada has a head start" of a few millions miles! I managed to play "groupie" and have my picture taken with Julie and Mark Tewksbury. Why not, might as well enjoy the moment.
During the day, I went over to the site of competition for short track speed skating with our team. We expect medals from both the men and women teams. A few of them have already been medalled at previous games and the energy is high. A hour of training where, again, being at rink side makes one realize that televised sports cannot transcend the speed, power and energy of these sports. A look at these athletes when they are hanging out, eating in the cafeteria or on the bus makes one wonder:" Those are athletes, they don't look so powerful. 
They appear all small and calm. Until look at their legs! There's a "look" we assume athletes should have. The huge, powerful physique, the tough serious look on their face.... These guys look like the kid next door. They are quite young or maybe I'm getting old (likely the latter!). But make no mistakes, these are highly trained machines designed to rip the ice as they travel like runaway locomotives around turns that seem too tight. They trust their skates and care for them as if they have a life of their own. After all, when you skate so fast that you are almost horizontal in a turn and you trust your skate to bite and lead you in a perfect arc as if on rails, you better take care of them.
They appear all small and calm. Until look at their legs! There's a "look" we assume athletes should have. The huge, powerful physique, the tough serious look on their face.... These guys look like the kid next door. They are quite young or maybe I'm getting old (likely the latter!). But make no mistakes, these are highly trained machines designed to rip the ice as they travel like runaway locomotives around turns that seem too tight. They trust their skates and care for them as if they have a life of their own. After all, when you skate so fast that you are almost horizontal in a turn and you trust your skate to bite and lead you in a perfect arc as if on rails, you better take care of them.
Long blog today. Gotta go. Today: freestyle skiing, moguls for women. We're hoping that Jennifer Heil will repeat her gold medal performance from Torino. She's ranked number 1. She's on the hill today. Let the real Games begin!
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