Men in tights. Don't say I didn't warn you!
The Swiss and the Czechs demonstrated the "grim and burly" esthetic to perfection (though the grim part might have been circumstantial):
Like their driving, the German physiques were impeccable:
and Croatia acquitted themselves rather handsomely:
The Italian speedsuits left perhaps too little to the imagination:
And I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty partial to our Canadian boys:
Happy Friday!
One of the things that fascinated me most about our behind-the-scenes view of the Olympics was the opportunity to observe the personalities.
Four man bobsleigh would, at first glance, appear to be all about testosterone and adrenaline - lots of manly shouting and hype at the start, enormous bulging muscles (I might have an eye candy Friday devoted to that) propelling the sled down that first sprint - one could easily assume the sport is driven by aggression and glory.
And yet, the three teams who stood on the podium were piloted by three remarkably similar men: Steve Holcomb (far right) of the US,
the legendary Andre Lange of Germany,
and Canada's own Lyndon Rush.
All three are extremely low key, affable, baby-faced teddy-bear types; beloved by their team-mates for their selflessness and leadership qualities. Like many competitors, all three had disappointing runs at various points in the two and four man competitions, but what set them apart was their reaction. Although disappointed, they didn't get angry, throw equipment or yell at the track crew; didn't blame the weather, the track, the circumstances, or anything else external. What they did do was to carefully analyze what went wrong, make a plan, stay focused, and carry it out.
It paid off:
I still haven't finished the Olympic storytelling, but our computer was acting up for the last several days - crashing every 10 minutes, which wasn't conducive to the longer task of photo formatting and blogging. Now that THAT is sorted... I'm going to interrupt the Olympic narrative for this morning's Paralympic happenings:
The Paralympic torch relay is considerably shorter than its Olympic counterpart, and the torch was lit this morning from a sacred ceremonial fire, "gifted" to the community by the local Squamish and Lil'wat nations. The ceremony took place at the Squamish Lil'wat cultural centre (as it happens, just a couple of blocks from our home.)
After some traditional singing, drumming, and dancing, the fire was blessed by a Lil'wat elder:
and the torch was lit:
It was handed off twice,
before being deposited in a safety lantern for the trip up Blackcomb mountain, across the Peak to Peak Gondola, and down Whistler mountain to the Village.
To be honest, I wasn't sure I had the emotional capacity left to be moved by yet another ceremony... but I was. This one was far more intimate than the tens of thousands that greeted the Olympic torch - and all the more special because of the connection I've had over the last couple of years with various elders and members of the Squamish and Lil'wat nations. The opportunity to integrate our local First Nations as proud hosts and citizens, and to begin to understand and incorporate their history and tradition and connection with the land into our community consciousness, has been one of the very best legacies of the Games.
Perhaps I'll write more about that another day - relations with First Nations communities and the fallout from colonialism has been a passion of mine for decades, and the things that happened in and as a result of the Olympic bid and games here in Whistler and Vancouver are simply breathtaking in terms of the nature and scope of genuine good-will and healing.
Their national bobsleigh program clearly wasn't blessed with abundant funding and support, but their hearts were enormous, and they won ours completely. The Japanese women set a decisive (albeit unofficial) record for the most crashes in training. Any way you do it, flying down a track on your head at 140 km/h is frightening and painful. It's part of the sport of bobsleigh... at any track... but to do it more than once has reduced some pretty tough men to tears and caused them to withdraw from competition. The Japanese girls dusted themselves off and stood up smiling, every. single. time. Petite, girly, irrepressibly optimistic ... and tough as nails.
Anticipating a rough ride, they used a temporary cowling in training:
and had to make a few repairs along the way:
Things were so shaky, the FIBT (international governing body for the sport) told them they really didn't have the required skill to compete, but if they insisted, they'd have to sign a waiver. Which they did without hesitation, and proceeded to lay down four successful runs in competition, proudly displaying their sled in all its glory.
After every run, they exchanged high fives:
and accepted the wild cheers of the crowd with much bowing and unbridled enthusiasm:
The Olympics isn't just about determining the best in the world - at its heart, it's about testing the limits of the human spirit, overcoming overwhelming odds, finding the best that is in you and doing it with grace and style. Manami Hino and Konomi Asazu qualified on all counts.
Did you ever wonder what those medal-winning green bouquets looked like up close?
There were four extras at the last day of bobsleigh competition, just in case there was a tie for one of the medal positions. And since there wasn't.... Rob brought one home.
There's a pretty cool story behind the bouquets, too - just one of the many creative ways ordinary people found to leverage the Games legacy for social benefit.
So there seems to be a general consensus that continuing to blather on about the Olympics is a good thing. Thanks so much for all the feedback - I especially like Joan's idea, for all of you who didn't quite finish your Olympic knitting. How about we say the Games aren't technically over until I'm done telling stories?
The Village is considerably quieter this morning, although some of the infrastructure and extra personnel will stay in place for the Paralympics later this month. As the kids headed back to school and the locals began to resume our regular lives, we all agreed on two things: best party ever, massive post-Olympic exhaustion. The entire town looks hung-over, from the grocery store clerks to the school teachers - needless to say, it was a pretty low-key day for the kids.
For my own part, I had planned to dive right back into a full work schedule, but I've got a serious brain fog going on (spent most of the day with my hoodie on inside out.) I think it's going to take a few days to get up to speed!
Well, technically the Games ended tonight, after a hockey game that took ten years off my life before finally exploding into national glory. But as the last sliding event was yesterday, Rob went up to the track for a couple of hours this morning to tie up loose ends, and already it looks so.... empty. Finished. Forlorn.
After a 12 day breather, Whistler hosts the Paralympics, so we don't have to quit entirely cold turkey, but there's no doubt I have a great deal of emotion and experience to process in this void. (Not to mention rebooting... real life, business, etc.) Speaking of processing, I've still got a good dozen posts worth of people and nations and behind the scenes human interest stories that weren't really complete until yesterday... but I'm wondering if it's a bit anticlimactic to post them at this point? I'll be making our own memory book of photos and the stories behind them, but I'm not sure if that train has left the station for my readership!
And The Sweater. I kind of fell down on that one as the Olympic whirlwind sucked me under altogether in the second week, but if anyone is still with me, I'll resume that as well.
Good night!
Cost of a ticket to the women's bobsleigh final, plus 11 hrs babysitting (at $12/hr): a little over $200 (which is why I could only afford the one event ticket.)
Standing 4 feet away from our girls as they took gold and silver: priceless.
Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown knew good things were afoot when they posted a blistering run in the final heat:
But when the ('til then) second place Erin Pac of the US failed to better it, they collapsed to the floor of the leader's box:
Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, who dominated throughout with incredible driving and unshakeable focus, finished up with the winning run:
Notice the handknit maple leaf hat to the left? That would be me. Had to stand in the near-freezing rain for four hours before race time to secure the spot - no regrets!
I didn't get as many shots of Kaillie and Heather, because they were so busy waving and celebrating after crossing the finish line that they rather neglected the braking and slid waaaaay up the outrun before finally coming to a halt.
The crowd was wild with joy, and the girls were more than willing to share:
The flower ceremony:
They get their medals tonight in Whistler, and though we don't have tickets, I plan to take the kids down and stand outside the plaza to see the flags go up and sign along to Oh Canada.
Still trying to find time to blog as the whirlwind gathers speed - kids are home from school and Rob fully committed to the track, demand for the track pendants accelerating, and my one and only event ticket is for women's bobsleigh tomorrow, which will take up the latter half of the day, by the time I get through security, etc.... (I would feel badly for falling down on the "live" blogging if Bloglines weren't stonewalling my feed this week - who knows when any of my subscribers will see these posts?)
Here's a few photos from this evening - I had a single ticket to the Victory Ceremonies at Whistler Medals Plaza - unfortunately Rob couldn't get down from the track in time for me to catch the actual medals presentation, but I did see the concert afterwards with the Fray:
The Whistler "cauldron" is located inside Medals Plaza, so I finally got an unobstructed view:
And some uniquely Swiss entertainment outside Swiss House on the way home:
Huge bells, extraordinarily long horns... are the Swiss trying to make a statement?
Since Bloglines has (as best as I can tell from my end) completely refused to pick up my last two posts, I think I'll opt to break up the photo content a bit with shorter entries. (It's either that or the long arm of US broadcasting refusing to allow Canadian Olympic content out there where NBC's captive audience might see it...) If you generally read my blog in Bloglines and missed days 7 & 8, you might want to go to the blog to catch up, as Rob got some pretty awesome photos at the sliding centre.
Now, since bobsleigh coverage has been pre-empted far too often by, well, hockey... I expect most of you haven't had the chance to spot Rasputin. So here's a couple of Olympic banana moments:
Reposing on the Very Same platter that held Jon Montgomery's gold medal flowers only moments earlier:
Hanging out with royalty - that's Prince Albert of Monaco (Monaco's Olympic bobsled pilot in 1988) in the background giving interviews:
Thanks to Rob's colleague, Michelle, for coming through with the camera phone after I forgot to put the card back in his camera last night! Ouch - and yes, he did phone from the track to point out the proximity of royalty and consequent magnitude of my grievous omission.
(BTW, if you are still looking for Rasputin in the wild, he hangs out most often in the window of the track office.)
Such a great guy - if you have access to CTV.ca, you've got to look up his post race victory walk/interview with Jennifer Hedger (you'll have to search it on the site - it doesn't appear to be possible to link specific videos).
If you watched the race, you will have seen his standing leap onto the podium - I think Rob rather outdid himself with this shot:
Celebrating with the crowd immediately after epic his fourth run:
Victory hugs as Dukers' time displays (look at the board top left):
Sharing the joy with his wife:
On the podium:
And the trio flag waving for the adoring crowds:
The first gold medal to be awarded in Whistler happens tonight - I won't make the actual presentation, but if the bobsleds manage to stay upright and Rob gets home in time, I might join the after-party. (Depends if I can keep my eyes open - Rob's been getting home after midnight excited and chatty all week, and I've been getting up early the next morning with the kids - I just can't do that for as long as I used to!)
