The Adventure Lives On

I arrived back home about a week ago, and am starting to return to regular day to day life.  The Olympics were one of those times in my life that will live on in my memory forever.  I had such a good time, met great people and packed in so many adventures in such a short amount of time.  The spirit at the Olympics was something that you experience very few times in your life.  There was a lot of hard work that we did setting up and tearing down the ski jump each day but that was all part of the excitement and the thrill of being part of something very special.

Getting serious about winning the Human Curling event!

Great team spirit with the Olympic Workers!

My last few days at the Olympics were some of the most fun.  The Ski Jump work team had great spirit.  John Heilig who managed the Ski Jump operations and crew had the right approach.  Every opportunity that he had to build team spirit, he really took advantage of.  I think that’s what really made it fun for us.  We did the Human Curling event which was a blast, we had an evening out in Squamish with pizza and beer and a slide show, we had celebrations after each event and we had little get togethers on a regular basis just to make sure everything was going smoothly.  I went out skiing with John one afternoon around the trails at Whistler Olympic and it was fun getting the tour from someone who had been around the area for so long.  People in Squamish often talked in glowing terms about John’s spirit in rallying volunteers to the Olympics by holding events in Squamish and getting participation at Canada and World Cups from the locals.

John Heilig, Manager of the Ski Jump event

Men’s 4 x 10 Team Relay in Cross Country Skiing

Another fun event was watching the Men’s Team Relay.  I was very excited about watching the Men after seeing the Team Sprint race with Alex and Devon coming fourth a couple of days before.  There were high expectations for a medal since the four men placed so high in the Pursuit race.  Canada had the best showing in that race of any country so perhaps this race would be our second breakthrough.  I watched Pierre Harvey being interviewed the day before on CTV and he was totally pumped about the chances for Alex and the team to potentially medal in the event.  When the men took off we started off great with Devon going in lead off.  However, it soon became clear that both he and Alex hadn’t fully recovered from the Team Sprints as they lost the lead pack quite quickly and didn’t really regain much ground.  It looked hopeful with George and Ivan to regain some ground but they were already quite far back and it was too much to recover.

Ivan Babikov out sprinting the Russians to the finish

Trading with the Norwegians and meeting a Gold medalist’s mom

I did have the good fortune of standing beside a group of Norwegians at the Team Relay.  They asked me who I thought would win, the Norwegians? the Swedes?  the Germans?  Of course I replied that I thought that Canada had a great shot at medalling and would put up a good fight about Petter Northug and team from the Norwegians.  Alas, I had to downplay my enthusiasm quickly after our team started to drop back from the leaders.  It also didn’t look good for the Norwegians, as the Swedes and the Czechs looked like they had it sewn up.  However, you can never count out Petter Northug.  In the final leg of the relay, Petter started 30 sec back from the leaders and almost caught up enough to win.  Petter caught the Czechs, the Fins, and the French in the final sprint into the stadium and of course totally outsprinted anyone that he was able to catch.  It was only the Swedes that were able to hold on to win for Gold.

The great Petter Northug from Norway

My Norwegian friends were in heaven watching this great skier catch up such a distance and almost hang on for the win.  I had quite a bit of fun with the Norwegians just chatting before the race.  I had a request from my girlfriend for a “Norwegian” item that I trade for.  So I asked the 5 or 6 folks if they had anything to trade.  I had some Olympic bibs that I picked up from the Ski Jump and asked them if they’d like to trade something for one.  They looked around and then finally one of them offered me one of the beautiful Norwegian hats that everyone seemed to be wearing.  I quickly agreed to the trade and took a picture with them for fun.  I also learned that one of the people that I was speaking with was the mother of Marit Bjoergen, Gold Medalist in the Sprint event.  It was pretty amazing to think that so many of the spectators were probably people somehow connected to all of the competitors out on the field.

Marit Bjoergen's mom and I

Trading with a Norwegian!

Canada Russia Hockey game and International Relations

My last evening at the Olympics I spent up at Whistler watching the Canada Russia hockey game.  It was a lot of fun.  I hooked up with a Polish friend from the Ski Jump area who was watching the game at another friend’s condo.  When I arrived, I found out that Poles aren’t really big fans of the Russians.  I guess this comes from the years of being occupied by Russia and being forced to do things the Russian way for so long against their will.  It was an interesting look at international relations that you don’t really get until you’re sitting with people from those nations.  They were so happy to see Russia get defeated by Canada.  I was pretty happy as well, but they were ecstatic.  My new friends also treated me to a great pasta dinner and salad.  The other two guys that were there were both judges in the Ski Jumping.  They were responsible for the distance measurement.  One of them had a son that was also a forerunner for the Nordic Combined.  It was quite surprising since he knew of my son, who he’d met at Hinterzarten, Germany at the World Nordic Championships at the end of January.  I marvel sometimes at how interconnected the world of sport is.

Wes, one of my polish buddies from the Ski Jump and I

The memories live on!

Well that’s it for my Olympic journey but of course the memories will live on forever.  It was one of the best experiences of my life and I’ll always be thankful for the opportunity to have participated in something that’s so big and helps to bring greater friendship and relationships between people and nations.  I also have already signed up as a volunteer for the Sochi Games in Russia.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll have the opportunity to participate in those as well.  I want to thank everyone who’s taken the time to read my blog and share this experience with me.  I hope you all get similar opportunities in the future.  If you get a chance to do something like this, grab while it’s there, because the opportunity will pass by quickly!

My son Steffan and some of the other Olympic forerunners at the Cross Country venue

Beautiful area around Whistler Olympic Park

Congratulations to Vancouver and Canada for organizing such a great event.

Cheers, Peter

How’d they ever come up with Nordic Combined?

Tomorrow will be my last day here at the Olympics.  It’s been a wonderful time and so many interesting and exciting adventures along the way.  It’ll be sad to leave.

At the Nordic Combined Races

Sprint Relays

Today and yesterday were more race days at Whistler Olympic Park.  Yesterday was the amazing “Team Sprints” and today they held the “Nordic Combined” race.  As you all likely know, Canada did fantastic in the Team Sprint with Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey placing 4th.   Again the men were in the mix with the leaders throughout the race.  It was only at the end that the Germans, Norwegians and Russians pulled away.

Petter Northug from Norway is a machine!  If you get a chance watch the finish of the Team Sprint.  He came from behind Axel Teichmann of Germany like he was standing still!  Petter is the Usain Bolt of the Winter Olympics.  He took 3 or 4 skates and pulled away by 10 m over Axel and continued to increase his lead for the last 200 m.  Devon Kershaw had a great last lap, pulling the Canadian team into first place wth only one more skier to go.  Alex hung on and skied brilliantly to finish in 4th place.

Alex Harvey edging out Kazakhstan for 4th place in Team Sprint

Nordic Combined

In the Nordic Combined race today, Canada wasn’t participating.  There’s one Nordic Combined skier that I’m aware of from Canada at the Olympics, so we didn’t have enough to make the two man team requirement.  Perhaps in Sochi, Russia at the next Olympics.

For those of you unfamiliar with Nordic Combined, it requires the athlete to complete both the Ski Jump and a skate ski race.  In today’s team competition there are 4 competitors.  Each person’s score is combined to give a point score, and then difference is used to calculate the starting place for the team.  Nordic Combined is affectionately called Nordic Confused by the people around the Ski Jumping area.  I think that’s because it seems to be a strange combination of skills.

One of the Japanese Jumping stars

I was trying think how it may have started.  Probably went something like this:

Hey Gunnar, I know that you’re a good jumper, but you can’t ski at all.  I’m better than you, at the two combined so I’m the better athlete overall.

Ah no Sven, you’re not a bad skier, but your jumping sucks, so I’m the better athlete.

Or something like that and so Nordic Combined was born.  It’s odd to see some good jumpers from teams like Finland skiing so slowly.  I must say though that the 3 or 4 top teams had excellent skiers.  My theory is that Nordic Combiners are Jumpers that added skiing rather than the other way around.  Would be pretty tough to convince a skier to start taking up Jumping.  All in all though, the Nordic Combined event was a very exciting race!

One of the jumpers at Nordic Combined today

As I mentioned in a previous post.  Ski Jumpers are very thin and must keep their weight down to jump long ways.  Jumpers depending on their body make up may have to leave the sport if they get to big.  I was amazed watching the Jumpers pass in front of me just how gaunt they are.

Ski Jumping is also big business in many European and Asian countries.  Ski Jumpers are held in very high esteem.  Jumpers not only do it because it’s fun but because it pays very well.   One of the Japanese skiers is 38.  He’s considered a national star.  The Japanese media were all over him after his jumps.

Controversy at the Women’s Pursuit Race

One of the controversies that I forgot to mention to you the other day, was about Justyna Kowalchuk.  As it turns out, in the skate portion of the pursuit, Justyna took 3 event.  skates in the classic leg of the event.  Since she only came third by inches over Norway’s  Kristin Stoermer STEIRA, the skates would have made the difference in her winning and losing.  However, the FIS judges ruled that the difference was negligble and so therefore they didn’t disqualify her.   What do you think, should she have been?

Justyna Kowalchuk at the start of the Women’s Pursuit

The weather here has been fantastic.  Bright sunny skies during the day and cold clear weather in the evening.  That’s all supposed to change tonight, we’re supposed to get some snow.  It did snow a little today during the Nordic Combined race, and that really slowed the skiers.  I was out skiing and I could feel the suction on the bottom of my skis.

That’s all for me tonight, these 4:00 starts are killing me!  I have to get to bed and catch up on my ZZZZZ’s.  I’m looking forward to watching the Canadian Men race in the Team Relay tomorrow!   Go Canada Go!

PS.  I was very pleased to see the Canadian Men finally get a decent hockey game under their belt.  I think Jerome Iginla and Sydney Crosby on the same line, is a great line-up.

Cheers, Peter

Olympic rumours, free concerts and more exciting racing!

Canadian Men Show their stuff in the Pursuit Race

Things have really heated up at the Olympics.  There has been lots of racing at Winter Olympic Park with events in Biathlon, Cross Country and Ski Jumping over the past few days.

The big news here for us Cross Country Skiing fans was the Men’s Pursuit Race which took place on Saturday afternoon.  It was one of the most exciting races that I’ve seen.

Working on the Ski Jump at 7 a.m.

The race started off with George Grey jumping solidly in with the top 5 skiers and holding that position for most of the race.  In addition to George, all 3 of the other Canadian racers also skied in with the top 10 – 15 racers.  It was incredibly exciting, with the Swedes just taking off near the end of the race.  The 4 Canadians skied closely together for most of the race, not letting the leaders get very far away.

On every loop of the Pursuit race, the Canadian men hung in there.  It was great to also see Alex Harvey, only 21 years old, also skiing so well.  All of the Canadians looked in great shape throughout the race without any sign of starting to hurt as the pace quickened and the pack started spreading out.

Ivan Babikov fell off the pace slightly during the Classic leg of the pursuit and then had a strong second half and pulled up to the top 5 and just narrowly missed a medal by only 9.1 seconds.  His skate leg of the race was probably the quickest of the entire field.  Everyone here is anxiously awaiting the Team Relay on Wednesday when the men will compete against the other teams.  There were no other teams that had as many skiers in the top 10 as Canada or 4 skiers in the top 20.  It should be a very exciting race!

Olympic gossip and rumours

It’s been fun at the Olympics to get the scuttlebutt on all the Olympic news and happenings that are going on.  You get to hear a lot of the inside scoop on different events that occur.  This week there was lots to discuss.  One of the biggest stories was the fall by Petra Majdic of Slovenia.  Petra is one of  the top female skiers in the world but had the misfortune of crashing on one of the corners and falling down a fairly steep embankment.  The Slovenians have been very upset about the crash and have threatened to sue the Vancouver Olympic Association.

They have said that she’s broken ribs and also had a collapsed lung from the fall.  I did see her after her race and she was definitely in a lot of pain.  However, being the amazing athlete that she is, she came back after her semi-final in the sprint and was fast enough to place 3rd and get on the podium.  What I’m hearing though is that it’s not likely that she has a collapsed lung given that she raced so well.  If she did collapse a lung, why did her team doctor allow her to race in the first place if she was that injured.  In any event, it was very sad to see a racer get injured on the field of play.

The other controversy that is going on is about the ski bindings used by Amman from Switzerland.  Amman totally dominated the field in both the 90 m and the 120 m jumps.  However, the Austrians, rivals of the Swiss, protested loudly about the bindings that were being used by Amman.  The ski jumping crowd seemed to think that the Austrians were just upset about how much Amman was winning by and were trying to find a reason to take a shot at Amman.  The bindings were finally approved by FIS, so everything seems to have quietened down.   I expect that by the next Olympics though, everyone will be wearing the same bindings as Amman.

A day at Whistler

The past day I spent up at Whistler.  I had a day off so I decided to head up to where the excitement seems to be happening.  I wasn’t disappointed.   I was able to ski up at the Lost Lake trails in Whistler which are really great.  It was a gorgeous day with the temperature hovering around +4 C.  The snow though held firm in most places except out on the golf course where it started softening up a little.

While I was out skiing one of the Russian Olympic women skied by, so I took the opportunity to ski with her for a bit.  It’s easy to see who’s who on the trails, as most of the athletes ski in their country’s ski suits.  When I got back from the Lost Lake trails, I headed into town and visited Norway House where they served up great waffles and strong coffee!  It’s a great place to just hang out and catch up with others from around the country and the world.  You really do meet amazing people.

After filling up on waffles, I headed up to the centre of Whistler Village for a free show with Sam Roberts.  He was awesome and totally pumped about the Olympics.  I was standing about 10 feet from the stage.  It was a lot of fun.  After the concert, Sam stood around and took pictures with some of the people who asked.   It doesn’t get much better than this.

A couple of days ago as I was just getting back from Whistler Olympic Park, I came across this phenomenal high school band who were doing a free concert outside of a MacDonald’s restaurant.  This band was incredible.  They had some of the coolest music.  I managed to upload it to Youtube.  Take a listen here, I think you’ll enjoy it!  The next day after, I saw them up at Whistler Olympic Park, playing at the Ski Jump in between competitions.

My son Steffan just arrived here in Squamish.  He’ll be starting forerunning tomorrow at the Team Sprints.  Should be exciting for him.  There’s a new crew of forerunners for Cross Country that have just arrived.  The men’s team for the sprint relay will be made up of Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw.  I’m looking forward to seeing their race.

For some additional photos from the past few days, click here (Long Hill Ski Jumping and Men’s Pursuit) and here (Women’s Pursuit).

Cheers, Peter

Sprint Racing at the Cross Country Venue!

Yesterday and today I have days off from Ski Jumping, so I’ve been able to relax and get out and enjoy some of the Olympic events going on.

Qualifying Rounds

I was particularly excited about watching the Sprint Event at the Cross Country Ski venue. It was a great event and really lived up to the hype around it. I positioned myself on the far side of the stadium at field level, in line with the finish line. It was a great location. To see all the Norwegian flags around me though, I felt like I was in Norway. There was a young couple from Norway standing right beside me. They had a good day with a gold and bronze medal at the end of it.

The day started off with the Qualifying rounds and two of our Canadian women made it through, Dasha Gaiazova and Chandra Crawford. I think that Sara Renner could have made it through however, she had a Chinese skier crash right in front of her and slowed her down since she had to get around to pass her. Strangely for the qualifier, they only had one track in the stadium so Sara had to shout at the Chinese woman to get out of the way so that she could pass.

I don’t recall if she got out of the track in time, but judging from my photo above, it looked like she was held up. I think it’s odd they didn’t have a passing lane. I’ll have to find out from Dirk what their thinking was. Sara only missed making the heats by 0.8 seconds, so she likely could have made it in.   It was too bad that Perianne Jones from Nakkertok didn’t make it through, it was a very tough field of competitors!

The Canadian Men had a great result from Stephan Kuhn who qualified 10th and Devon Kershaw who qualified in 24th place.   Check out Devon’s interesting take on the race here.  It was fun to see all the great World Cup skiers in one place.  Emil Joensson, Hattestad, Northug, and the many others who you usually only see on the internet.  Here’s a link to more photos from the qualification round.

The guys who take care of the course

The conditions for the qualifying round were quite icy but softened up eventually for the heats and finals.  It would have been tricky coming down some of the hills as you’d pick up pretty good speed.   It was interesting to see the course crew out working on the tracks between the qualifying round and the heats.  They would meticulously work the track foot by foot in the stadium so that it was just perfect.  Hats off to Dirk and crew who have a tough job to keep all the coaches and athletes happy.

Forerunners

Here’s a photo of Michelle Workun-Hill forerunning at the Olympics.  She’s been doing this at each of the races that go on in the Cross Country Ski venue.  What a great job!  The skier smiling below is one of the Drolet sisters from Quebec.  I think it’s Stephanie.  Click on the pic for more photos of the forerunners.

The heats and finals

The heats and finals were so fun to watch.  In the women’s category, it was great seeing Marit Bjoergen take the gold.  She went out in the lead and went back and forth with Krystyna Kowalczuk until the last downhill where she took the lead and never gave it up.  She’s an amazing skier to watch.  In the men’s race, my Norwegian friends were hoping for a sweep of the podium or at least two.  They had 3 in the final along with 2 russians and a Kazakhstan.

However when they turned the corner into the stadium, the Russians were totally dominating the race.  They had at least 30 m on Petter Northug and were just hammering into the finish.  I have some great photos of the last 100 m of the Russians, who were neck and neck right up to the finish.  These guys are roommates, so it must have been exciting to finish at the Olympics that way.  Just flip through to near the end to see the finish.

Unfortunately for the Norwegians, Oeystein Pettersen got tangled up with the athlete from Kazakhstan and finished well back of the leaders in the final.  He had quite a sense of humour despite the mishap as he passed by the crowd on the finishing lap he bowed and waved.  When he got across the line, he just fell back and laid on the ground.  Hats off to him for an awesome race.

On the way up to the cross country venue, I was chatting with one of the officials from Biathlon.  He was telling me that one of the starters let the Canadian athlete go 3o seconds early.  I couldn’t believe it!  Apparently many of the Canadians were cheering him on thinking that he was in 5th place.  They adjusted the time later but it must have been a little unnerving for the Canadian knowing that he’d be started incorrectly.  Hard to believe that they can make mistakes like that in the Olympics!  Kudos to our local race organizers at the Eastern Canadians, who I believe got everyone off in the right sequence.  It’s funny that it can happen since they have back-ups on back-ups of just about everything else!

Today I have another day off from Ski Jumping and will be heading up to Whistler to catch all the action up there.  It’s nice being able to sleep in for a couple of days!  It’ll be fun if I can catch some of the downhill skiing up there.   That’s it for now, we’ll catch you later.

XC Starts, meeting with an XC legend and Human Curling – a new Olympic Event!

XC Racing Starts!

Yesterday the cross country skiing competitions started in Callaghan Valley.  We had 2 races, the women’s 10km classic race and the men’s 15 km.  I was lucky since my shift at the Ski Jump started later that morning so I was able to get out to the women’s competition and check it out.  I was also able to scoot out for an hour and catch the men’s races.

I watched the women for a while and then moved down to the stadium to  catch all the finishing action.  It was a little difficult to figure out who was who without a start list.  With the iPhone or other smart phones, you could actually see the live intermediate results anywhere on the course.  Very cool!

It was exciting to see the big crowds for the event.  Despite the wet weather we’ve been having the snow was pretty good for skate skiing.  It started softening up later in the day and was quite granular by the time the men’s race rolled around.  However for both races, thanks to Dirk Van Wijk and crew, the course was in great shape!  To see photos from the Classic Races click here.

Between the women’s race and the men’s race, I went back to the Ski Jump to help out with the set up of the Long Jump.  Training for the Long Jump started today.  It takes quite a bit of effort to move over from the small hill to the bigger one.  All of the jumping is now finished the 90 m jump and all of our efforts are now focused on the 120 m jump.  The Long Hill has to be packed in by skiers side stepping down the hill and pushing the snow down so that it’s smooth and hard packed.  Every inch of the hill needs to be packed this way.

The crew worked very hard today to get it done in time for the training run that started at 9:30.  Training will go on till Friday and then Saturday we have our Long Jump competition.  Today it snowed like crazy with big, wet snowflakes coming down.  The accumulation was about 20 cm, and this took hours to get the snow packed down and the excess off the hill.  I was packing the snow down the landing hill and also used a big snow scoop at the bottom to take the excess awayl.  I’m starting to get used to the steepness of the hill, but I still get a little vertigo when I look down.

With all the wetness in the air, we soon became drenched.  Our gloves, hats, shirts, jackets, boots, everything got soaking wet.  When the jumping started, I was asked to sit on the side of the “in-run” (the ski jump track) with a leaf blower to use to blow snow off the track if necessary.  This requires you to sit on a metal grill stair and stay very quiet so you don’t disturb the jumpers as they come down the track.  However, being soaking wet, I was just freezing the whole time as my body cooled down.

About halfway through the training jumps, we used the leaf blowers to clear the track of any extra snow.  The jumpers like the track to be icy and fast, so the more snow we can clear out the better.  It is very cool to be sitting so close to the take-off of the jump.  I’ve posted a few pictures of the skiers that I took from where I was sitting so you can see my view.  It was a great location to watch the jumps.

After lunch we set up the distance marker stands along the down run.  These are used by the judges to stand on, to visually note the distance that the athlete has jumped.  When the hill isn’t in use, the distance stands are taken down and jammed in beside the hill out of the way.

Human Curling

After setting these up, we were invited to meet at one of our meeting tents to set up a game of “human curling”.  The guys responsible for Ski Jumping wanted to have some fun with the team so they organized this event.  They split us up into 6 teams of 5 and we would put one person on all 4′s straddling a pair of ski jumping skis.  Two others would then push that person across a field of snow and try to land them in the middle of a circle about 50 m down the field.  The other two people on the team would then sweep the way to either slow them down or speed them up.  The sweeping really did nothing, but it was fun to get them involved.

I have some good video of the “human curling” which you can see here.  We also used the Olympic speaker system to announce who was curling and the results.  Our team came in as the bronze contender and won a sticker for our efforts!

I took some video of various finishes from yesterday’s racing, just click on the links – D. Cologna (Switzerland winner), Ivan Babikov (Canada 8th place), Marcus Hellner (Sweden 4th), and Pietro Piller Cottrer, as well as some photos of the Ski Jumping, Cross Country Skiing, me, and Human Curling.

Meeting up with Pierre Harvey

Yesterday after the race, I was lucky to jump onto a shuttle and saw Pierre Harvey.  We spoke about the race in the morning (not the Human Curling, the 15 km classic race).  He was very excited about Alex’s 21st place.  An awesome start to Alex’s Olympic events!  Alex will be racing on Friday in the Pursuit and has been training specifically for that event.  Make sure you cheer him on!  Pierre is doing colour commentary for Reseau des Sports.

That’s all for tonight… am going to get up early and head out to watch the sprint races.  I’m putting my money on Emil Joensson!  The Forerunners here at the Inn have a pool going for the race.  I’ll see if I can find out who picked the winner of the day.

Competitions start and going vertical!

Yesterday and today, there was lots of jumping going on at the Ski Jump hill in Callaghan Valley.  Due to all the precipitation coming down, we had to take off very early again.  Yesterday was the 90 m jump qualifications and finals and today we had the Nordic Combined.  Both days went very well.  Yesterday we had to leave at 4:00 a.m. (yes that’s 4:00 a.m.) to arrive at the hill at 5:30 and start work on the jump.

I had gone to bed a little late and so I slept most of the way to Callaghan Valley.  When we arrived we went straight to work on the hill.  I worked at getting the main banner up at the end of the jump along with some of the other guys.  This comes down every night so that they can put tarps over the ice and the tracks on the jump.  It’s heavy so it takes 5 or 6 guys to put up.  I also was involved in clearing extra ice off the track that accumulates on the tarp, putting up some railings at the top of the landing area and “buffing up” the area to make it look nice for the cameras.

Both days were amazing for the jumpers.  Light winds and no rain or other precipitation.  Once the jump is set to go, our job gets easier and we can enjoy the show.  Yesterday I went down to the base of the hill and watched the jumping from there.  It was great seeing these athletes flying over the hill.  We also had the benefit of watching the big screen video for instant replays and standings.

I learned a lot about jumping over the past few days.  Wind at the hill makes a huge difference.  Wind coming up the hill benefits the jumpers and can really lengthen their jumps.  On the other hand, downwinds can shorten them.  Within the time that the jumps go on, the winds can change significantly in either direction.

They’re working at coming up with algorithms to take the wind into account to try to even the jumping.  Yesterday the wind wasn’t a huge factor, but today several of the athletes who qualified well, didn’t do so well in the final.  I noticed for several of them that the wind had in fact been a downwind, which would have affected their jumps.  Jumpers that were only 2 jumps later had much longer jumps and the wind had changed in their favour.

Although it poured rain overnight, today was a much easier day.  We left at 4:30 a.m.  When I arrived it was pouring at the base of the hill and snowing at the top.  That’s Callaghan Valley weather!  By the time the jumping started though, it had all cleared out and it was perfect for the event.  The Nordic Combined race has both jumping and a 10 km skate race.  Racers gain time over their competitors by jumping farther.

Once the jumpers had finished their jumps, we all headed over to the cross country ski venue to watch the race.  It was great to see the athletes take off one by one, based on their time differences.  However, in Nordic Combined, being a good jumper doesn’t automatically give you a huge advantage.  There are many mediocre jumpers that are great skiers and mediocre jumpers that aren’t so great at skiing.  The guys behind the leader soon overtook overtook him and formed a pack of 7 that stayed together for most of the race.   A very exciting finish with the Americans taking 2nd and 4th and the French taking first.   I had a ring side seat for the event.

This was a great day for the Americans who had never medalled in Nordic Combined.  Another exciting thing to watch was the forerunners, who are great young skiers just below the senior national team level.  They took off before the race to clear the track and ski it in for the racers.  I took lots of photos of both the ski jumping from yesterday and today as well as the cross country racing.

Today I was lucky enough to finally get myself out onto the landing hill itself.  Yee haw!!!  I’ve been trying to psyche myself up to do it for the past few days.  It’s very, very steep and I wasn’t quite sure how it would be going on the hill with skis.  So this afternoon, we started work on the big hill and I was asked to join the snow packers to pack down the snow.  They do this so that the surface is fast and hard for their landings.  I was thinking to myself, okay this is it!  Do or die!  So I went out grabbed my skis and took them down to the hill.   It was fairly easy on the top but the steepness gradually increased, until you felt the vertical of the hill.  It was actually quite fun to be out there and learning to balance yourself so you didn’t tumble down the hill.  It’s a long way down, especially on the big hill.  Take a look at it the next time they show it on TV.  It’s like a 100 m vertical drop or at least it seems that way.  I did manage to make it all the way down without falling, however my legs are going to be sore!  The packing itself is quite a chore since you have to really stomp down with your feet to pack the snow in.  So I’m very happy I made it though without incident and without being the first person to slide down the hill!  That wouldn’t have made a great impression!

The security seems to be tightening up around Callaghan Valley.  They’ve set up a check point halfway between Squamish and Whistler.  Only accredited vehicles and locals can travel along the highway between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.  Today we were stopped at the checkpoint and everyone had to get out of the vehicle and have their badges swiped.  One of our guys was also frisked.  They do a full scan of the vehicle and also have mirrors to look underneath.  It’s quite the production.  They’re usually quite polite, but it’s a bit of a hassle to go through.

During a break today I was able to stroll over to the cross country venue and watch many of the cross country ski athletes do their training runs.  It was a lot of fun seeing these great skiers that we usually only see on television.  It’s also great to see their technique and how smooth they ski.  While I was standing there, one of the coaches from Great Britain happened along and we started chatting.  I was amazed that they had British athletes, however they come mostly from Scotland where they’ve had a ton of snow this year.

One of their athletes ranked 5th in the Junior World rankings,  We also talked about drug testing prior to the championships and some other interesting items.  It’s fun at the Games because you meet so many interesting people.

So tomorrow will be an easy day for Ski Jumping as nothing is scheduled and we’re moving over to the big hill.   There are also 2 cross country ski races, so make sure you glue yourself to the TV to watch them.  They should be good, the women’s 10 km skate and the men’s 15 km race.  I’m looking forward to seeing them.

That’s it for now!  If you have any questions or comments, please send them along, I’d love to hear them.

First day on the job!

Today was my first day on the job at the Ski Jump hill.   I was supposed to catch a van to the hill early this morning (5:00 a.m.), so I waited outside my hotel for 30 minutes before I gave up and grabbed a bus up to Whistler Olympic Park.  The transportation to and from Whistler Olympic Park is a little challenged at times.  There are hourly shuttles, but if you miss one, you have to wait for another hour.  As well, since shuttles pick up at different locations, it may take up to an hour and half to get to your location.  When we’re talking about being on-site at 6:00 a.m. that means getting up at 4:00 a.m. to start the trek!

I made sure after today to find out specifically when my shuttle is heading up tomorrow morning!  Tomorrow’s pick-up time is 4:30 a.m. and we expect to be there for 5:30 to start packing the snow on the hill.  They’re expecting snow overnight, so it has to be an early morning to make sure we’re ready for the 90 m finals that start at 8:15 a.m!

After I arrived on site, I took the chair lift to the top of the ski jump and started to work.  Today I was working on various jobs around the ski jump.  The first thing I was asked to do was to hang out and be ready to help if they needed to quickly clear the track on the ski jump from any snow or ice that builds up.  So my first task was pretty easy since we didn’t have to do anything.  I’m starting to like this job!  The track stayed clear and I was able to stand back and take photos!  You can check out some new ones here.  I was able to watch all of the qualifying rounds of the Ski Jump and just enjoy the view.

The Ski Jump team has by far the best seats in the house.  We stand up at the top of the hill and watch the skiers as they descend.  It’s great!  You really get to feel the speed and the focus of the jumpers.  They truly are amazing.  After watching for a while, you start to get better at predicting how they’re going to do when they land.  There were some incredible jumps, with a couple over 109 metres (more than a football field).  The jumpers hit the take-off point at about 80-90 km/h.

It’ll be fun to watch the finals in the morning.  In the afternoon, I was asked to take a blower down from the top of the Ski Jump and be ready to blow out any snow that accumulates.  Thankfully again we didn’t need to blow out the tracks, and the jumps went very smoothly.  In addition, we also were seated right beside the track.  I mean right beside.  I was only 2 feet away from the ski jumpers as they came down.  I could look back and actually see their eyes and their concentration as they descended the track.  Check out this video to see how close we were seated to the action.

The rest of the afternoon I sat watching the jumpers.  After they finished, we packed up and then re-cut the tracks and then covered it with a tarp.  Then it’s off to Squamish to watch the Opening Ceremonies.  As I sat on the bus going back to Squamish I chatted with one of the people working in the race office.  It was very sad to discuss the tragedy from the Luge run.  Everyone here is saddened by the accident.

I also learned from her, that in some ways things are very high tech and super organized, and in other ways, it’s like running a race locally.  They have bibs that the athletes have been wearing, and some of them they actually have to take home at night and wash them.  Go figure!  Most of the bibs are all prepackaged and ready for the upcoming races, but these ones they actually have to take care of after each training session.  There are many other things that go on that help you realize that people here do what they have to do to make the Games successful!

Well that’s all for tonight!  I have to get up early again in the morning for my shuttle.  In the time that I’ve taken to write this, they’ve decided to change the start time of the shuttle from 4:30 to 4:00.  I’m going to be one tired camper if I don’t get going!

Day 2 – Training on the new job

Well today was my first day at Winter Olympic Park.  To get from Squamish to Winter Olympic Park is about a 45 minute shuttle, once you get to the shuttle.  To get there I have to catch a city bus for a 10 minute bus ride.  All this happens at 4:30 in the morning.  My shift starts regularly at 6:00 a.m. and runs until 4:30 in the afternoon.  Long days, but hey this is the Olympics!  Although for someone new to the area, it takes a bit of getting familiar with the transportation system.

This morning though, I didn’t have to get up quite as early as I’m doing some training rather than actually working.

I managed to catch the right local bus today, and get to the Transportation hub on time to catch the hourly shuttle.  I see the crowd of blue jackets and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I’m at least at the right place.  At 6:40 the bus arrives and I hop on.  This morning I’m sitting with James, who’s managing the forerunners for cross country skiing.  He’s got his work cut out for him as the forerunners need to keep running the course if it’s snowing so that the trails are evenly skied in for all of the competitors.

We arrive at Winter Olympic Park (WOP) for 8 a.m.  I get my ski pass and take the lift up to the tip of the ski jump.  I look down at the ski jump and think that in a couple of days I’ll be working on the hill.  It’s so incredibly steep.  Hope that my downhill skills haven’t totally forgotten as the pitch almost at vertical.  I get off the lift and introduce myself around to the others in the shelter at the top of the hill.

I find out that training doesn’t start until 2:00 p.m. so I have a few hours to kill.  I walk out and again survey the ski jump and landing.  It’s hard to believe that athletes hurl themselves off the jump at 80 – 90 km/ hour and fly over 120 m.   More than a football field.  I have the utmost respect for those athletes.   I wonder how many hours these guys have trained to get to this place.  It would take a ton of commitment to get there.  In Europe, the ski jumping is one of the premiere events and regularly attracts audiences of 40,000 and more.

I decide to walk the venue.  There are stairs on either side of the jump and I walk down and survey it some more, convincing myself that I can actually do this.  Hoping that my supervisor doesn’t ask me to ski straight down it, at least not on the first day!

As I’m standing there I watch a couple of the guys working on the hill.  They decide that they need to put some small pine branches on the landing area.  They need to do this to give the course some additional depth of field.  They ski down the course and drop the branches along the way.   I watch and amaze at how fast they ski down the course.  Later in the day, one of the guys loses his hat as he skis down.  Someone will now have to go down and get it.  Can’t have skiers landing on hats!

I took a walk over to the cross country venue.  Its only half a kilometre away.  This will be great during the games as I should be able to get over to catch some of the competitions.  The track is all nicely laid out and very well groomed.  My friend Dirk and his team of groomers have been up all night working on the course.  It looks amazing.  Then I see some of the athletes skiing the course.  I grab my camera and snap some shots.  You can see them here along with photos of the Ski Jump and some of the jumpers.

I was able to walk much of the course for the racers.  As I walk along I see cameras set up everywhere and the broadcasters getting their equipment set up.  It’s striking how much coverage there will be of these events.  As I walk down the course, I eventually get to the stadium.  Here I am surveying the stadium and standing beside one of the Russian coaches.  I see skiers training from all around the world… Switzerland, Moldavia, Russia, Norway, France, and on and on.  It feels surreal to be here and experiencing all of these great athletes.  Everyone intent on performing to their highest levels.

It’s a pretty incredible feeling.  I keep walking around the course and eventually get to the wax testing area.  Normally at our competitions people have 6 to 10 skis that they work with.  Here the wax techs are testing upwards of 40 to 50 pairs of skis.  A lot of effort goes into getting the waxing just right.  It can make the difference between winning and losing at this level.

The rest of the day was fun and just as interesting.  There were lots of security around although they weren’t obtrusive in any way.  You know they’re there, but it doesn’t seem to affect the feeling of fun and excitement at the event.

I have to get off to bed now.  It’s 9:50 and I have to get up for 4:30 in the morning for my 5:10 pick-up.  Hope everyone back home is catching all this excitement!

Touchdown in Vancouver!

Well this is the start of my adventure at the Olympics. I arrived here on Monday and have had an incredible time so far. My first day was an adventure in itself. I flew out of Ottawa at 8:00 a.m. local time and arrived in Vancouver at 12:30. Pretty good start. When I arrived, VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) had a shuttle waiting for me and drove myself and a few other volunteers up to Whistler to get accredited.

The people that you meet along the way at the Olympics are some of the most interesting people. It was great getting to know them. Each of them have their own interesting stories and reasons for wanting to be a part of the Olympics.

One of the people on the shuttle was a mom of an Olympic Ski Jumper, it was fascinating learning all about the sport of ski jumping and what it takes to be a parent to an Olympic jumper. Did you know that jumpers all have to watch their diets? They want to be as light as possible so that they’re able to fly as far as possible! Wouldn’t go over that well for my cross-country skiing son, who loves to eat! Although I’d say that it’d sure help the food budget in my household.

Another of the people on the shuttle up, Kjell-Erik Christiansen from Norway has, what I think, would be the best job in the world. He goes around from World Cup events to other World Cup events, announcing at each of the venues the status of races. Kjell-Erik also knows everyone on the circuit.  He’s got to, as he needs to know interesting info about the athletes as he’s announcing the race. He’s even announced the Tour de France several times. Very cool! He’ll be doing the announcements for the Biathlon races at the Olympics.

As we arrived in Whistler to get accredited, we also received all our Olympic clothing. You’ll see it when you watch the Olympics. It’s very nice gear and looks great. It’s fun to see all of the workers and volunteers out walking around in the Olympic blue. I haven’t worn mine around yet, but looking forward to it.

By the time I did get accredited and rec’d my clothes, it was now 5:00 and I had to head back to Squamish to my accommodations. The trip back on the local transit, took about another 45 minutes and dropped me and my bags / skis off at the main transportation hub in Squamish. Somehow I got onto the wrong bus in Squamish and ended up going north again towards Whistler rather than closer to my hotel. So I did the milk run on that bus and arrived back at the transportation hub very tired from the day and still not back yet. Finally my bus arrived, I got on and got to my home for the next 2.5 weeks at the Inn on the Water. Great place, nice rooms, and cooking facilities.

I’ll post another blog tomorrow on my first day on the job at the Ski Jumping venue!  Check out some pictures here.