By Diane Hart
Well, I thought I would need gloves at the women's half-pipe snowboard competition but instead found most of the women in the crowd wearing tank tops to take advantage of the bright sun and mid-50s temperatures when the competition began. Cypress Mountain was the venue and they had done an amazing job of grooming what snow they received to keep the pipe safe and snow-covered for the competitors.
It should be noted that one never knows when the fitness level we work so hard to attain and maintain will come in handy. I was very happy that I brought my "fitness" with me when I viewed the 29 flights of steep stairs (over 35 in. each flight) I needed to climb to arrive at the seats for the snowboard competition. Well worth the climb and challenging especially after walking over miles miles from the bus to the venue. VANOC (the Vancouver Olympic Committee) did a great job in communicating to spectators that getting to and from events would be an endurance test and every hour I have spent in my life doing cardio, strength training, Pilates and stretching really paid off!
During the competition, I was especially proud of our USA women – Hannah Teter from Vermont, who won the Silver Medal, and Kelly Clark, who won the bronze medal. Louie Vito, USA male snowboarder, was in the spectator section happily posing for photos and signing autographs.
On Friday my alarm went off at 2 a.m. so that I could take a cab to the Sky Ride at Grouse Mountain by 3 a.m. to be in line to obtain the first 100 free tickets to the top of Grouse Mountain to watch the Today Show, which began live at 4 a.m.. (I was number 91 in line.) Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark were guests and I got great photos with them as well as Meredith Viera and Ann Curry. How interesting to see how the Today Show is produced from behind the scenes – and when I thought it couldn't be more interesting around the outside fire pit where the show is broadcast, in walks Evan Lysacek fresh from winning the men's figure skating Gold Medal. He also graciously posed for photos with the crowd and even let people touch his medal. He had not even gone to bed after his performance in order to appear live on the Today Show. Former Olympic medalist Scott Hamilton was there to congratulate Evan. The Sky Ride was similar to trams in Switzerland and transports up to 100 people on sturdy cables thousands of feet in the air to the summit of Grouse Mountain. I held my breath...another reason to bring fitness along.
The hot souvenir item this week has gone from the red Olympic mittens with the maple leaf logo to the grey wool sweater with the moose on the front and "CANADA" on the back. When I arrived last week the price of this hand-made sweater was $100 and it is now $350 because of popularity. I was told that the indigenous people of Canada had the rights to the design of the sweater and would receive 50% of the profits, which is a great thing. "True North, Strong and Free" and "With Glowing Hearts" are lyrics from “O Canada!,” the Canadian national anthem and are the mottos of the week. Much has been made of the transportation glitches to and from venues; however, a little patience (which a New Yorker like myself has learned from the Canadians in the past 10 days) and a little planning (and the choice to walk instead of riding whenever possible) have been my solution to the 2-1/2 hr. wait for the SeaBus, which connects downtown Vancouver with north Vancouver and the mountains. I have found the wait for the SkyTrain (Vancouver's subway) has been extremely reasonable.
Men's long-hill ski jumping was on my agenda for Saturday and it was another amazingly warm day at the venue on Whistler Mountain – the highest elevation of the mountains surrounding Vancouver. The views on the way up and back were breathtaking and the best vistas in the Canadian northwest Cascade Mountains. They are clearly million-dollar views and another perfectly clear day to view the competition. The European countries dominated the day, but respectable jumps were presented by the two U.S. men competitors – one from Lake Placid, New York. I stood by a contingent of warm-hearted Swiss families who were in ecstasy when Switzerland won the competition. Clearly after watching over 120 jumps, Simon Ammann, the Gold Medal athlete, possessed a mastery of this sport that sent chills through the crowd. I counted more than 20 different flags (some so large they had to be supported by helium balloons to stay aloft) among the spectators and can now recognize most of them – certainly educational!
While walking two miles uphill from the bus to the Whistler Mountain venue, a brief respite to the spectator was given in the form of watching a native carver create a 40-foot totem pole, hand-carving each design with a small knife. The pole was about 30% complete and his goal was to have the work completed by the end of the Games. I marveled at the intricacy of the design which was drawn on the huge block of cedar wood.
An invitation to attend a dinner reception at the U.S. House brought not only excellent American cuisine but an opportunity to rub elbows with former Olympians Jeremy Bloom, Paul Naber, and Donna Weinbrecht. Paul Naber stated that "America doesn't send the athletes to the Olympics but Americans do" in the form of donations to the U.S. Olympic Committee and also corporate sponsors. Great night of photo ops followed by shopping at the USA Team Store.
Comments