By Diane Hart, ACSM Alliance Member
Wish you were here! Vancouver and the entire world has welcomed me to the Olympic events. What a beautiful city, and the Olympic Committee has done an outstanding job of organizing the travel to and from the venues. Movement of the crowds through the SkyTrain (subway system) is remarkable. This is the first time I have ever attended an Olympics and the spirit in the venues and even on the street is palpable….it is so heartening to know that no matter where you are from that we all laugh the same!
When people travel and say “Wow, the people are really friendly,” that would definitely be an understatement for the people of Vancouver. From the Red Cap at the airport to the taxi driver who performed his own Olympic event in getting us to our rented condo through back streets to avoid the crowds heading to Opening Ceremonies. Amazing fireworks every night – not just on opening night – beautiful view from the 10th floor of our Mainland Street condo and FREE hot chocolate distributed by the many volunteers.
I watched last evening at the Pacific Coliseum venue as Apollo Anton Ohno won a silver medal and went down in history as the most decorated male Olympian of the Winter Olympics. The strength and endurance on the ice demonstrated by all the athletes can be felt in your heart and the agony of defeat of the fallen skaters is certainly more agonizing when seen in person rather than on a TV screen – no matter how high-def the TV! I decorated myself in red, white and blue, including a U.S. flag decal on my face, and it is amazing how many people from other countries want to talk to you just because you are from the United States. I sat next to a beef rancher from Alberta, Canada, and it turned out he is a retired physical education teacher. We had so much in common about physical activity, training regimes for athletes, etc. Out of 14,200 spectators, my enjoyment of speed skating was enhanced by being near another human whose career focuses on physical activity. Waving my huge American flag following our silver and bronze medals brought a pride that escapes describing in words.
Visiting the Coca-Cola celebration site was amazing and the entire focus of the exhibit was on recycling of plastic bottles and preserving our environment. They even offered a free professional photo with a replica of the Olympic torch which they would download directly to your computer. What fun.
The weather is definitely not what I expected. I purchased every piece of puffy, down-filled clothing that I could find and I don’t even need to wear gloves because the temperature is pretty constant at 50 degrees with off-and-on rain. It is definitely spectator weather and unfortunately not athlete’s weather, because many events have had to be postponed. Today I was supposed to be at Whistler Mountain for the women’s combined (downhill and slalom) events, but they have been pushed to next Thursday due to weather. As many Canadians have said, “We can’t control the weather.” I am not disheartened – there are so many free events and sponsor pavilions to visit that one could never see all that is offered during the Olympics. After I hit “send” on this postcard, I plan on going to the U.S. House to purchase USA Olympic souvenirs and enjoy meeting other people from around the U.S. who are here. The souvenir that is most visible is the pair of red Canadian mittens with the maple leaf logo.
“Enjoy the moment” is one of the slogans of the Vancouver Olympics and I am doing just that and it is truly remarkable. More to come...
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