Vancouver 2010 Olympics

www.vancouver2010.com
That was probably the biggest Event I got to live through! It was from February 12th to February 28th and during that time pretty much everything I did was watching TV no matter to what house you came. Especially in Calgary the spirit was great. A lot of people could still remember the '88 Winter Olympics right here and so everyone felt connected. My host parents even went there and had a great time! For me, all started off with going to the torch relay in Calgary which was pretty amazing! :) I got a Tshirt and a Sweater, also mittens (the most favourite item bought here - ask mum and dad, I sent them some) and a hat from the Bay - the official sponsor for all the clothes and that was what the Canadian athletes were wearing at the Opening ceremony. I still remember the first day. The Olympics didn't start of well for Canada. Firstly, they didn't have enough snow. Secondly, the Georgian luge athlete died in a practise run the morning of the start and then at the opening ceremonies (which I of course watched) the hydraulic stopped working and one of the elements of the cauldron didn't come out. That was definitely not the first day everyone imagined. But then, everything went great. Canada hadn't won gold at home during the Olympics and this time they even had 14!!! Therefore, they are the new record holders. I am sure that every single Canadian citizen played a big role in that and the athletes just made 'our' country proud!! The Calgary Tower was lit every day Canada won a medal, which was quite often.
Alexandre Bilodeay won the first gold medal for Canada and his story inspired me: he started playing hockey but as his brother has a disorder and couldn't play, he switched to skiing for his brother to do that with him and now he won the moguls. His brother was just celebrating and so proud and all that is just were nice I think. Another great medal I still remember was Maelle Ricker who won gold in Snowboard cross, and she was faaaaaar ahead of all the others because they fell and she was unexpected winner! Jon Montgomery won gold in Skeleton and he was just so happy that he went along the street with a bottle of beer in his hand and the medal was almost taken away from him, but he has such a nice personality. Marianne St-Gelais (silver in speed skating 500m) and Charles Hamelin (gold in speed skating 500m) stayed in my mind because after they won they just ran towards each other and jumped over the railing since they were so happy! Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are 20 and 22 years old and had fabulous performances in Ice Dance. They were probably the cutest winners Canada saw during this time! The men won gold for curling and the women silver, just because THEY made a mistake with the last rock and therefore lost the final, which was very unfortunate. Joannie Rochette made Canada proud because of another reason: Her mother died just a few days before her first competition and she still competed in Figure Skating and won Bronze. But the biggest success were still the Women's Hockey and the Men's Hockey gold medals. Both had to challenge the USA in the final. The women won 2:0 and set an example for the men who, on the last game of competitions, won the 14th gold medal in a very exciting and nervracking game that ended off in overtime with a final score of 3:2. Crosby was the champion and this made the perfect Olympics for the Canadians!!! I really enjoyed being in the hosting country and feeling the spirit! I watched the formal closings and they brought up the last part of the cauldron in BC Place and Catriona Le May Doan got to light it as she couldn't in the Openings. They even set up TVs at the malls and showed the events there, my Social teacher set the up during the periods and I always stayed updated via internet. The German athletes of course weren't shown that much. They also show different sports here such as Freestyle skiing/snowboarding, curling and hockey, the sports where the Canadians are good at. :D
Our Social teacher arranged that a women's national hockey team player could come into class and bring her medals. Gina Kingsbury played for Canada in Salt Lake City and Vancouver and brought both gold medals and handed them around!! That was sooo cool :) and I liked what she said: "It is our medal, I'm just the one who gets to keep it. I want as many Canadians as possible to touch it."
On the 5th of April, Julia and I went to a celebration at Olympic Plaza where all the athletes that were born/practice/live in Alberta were invited to and they presented their medals and it was very nice and so emotional to live through all that again! I hope you all enjoyed that time. I think it was great and I the best still came -- I went to Vancouver from March 12-14, that was during the time of the Paralympics. It is unfortunate that nobody follows them. I don't even know how that ended^^ My next entry will be about my weekend in Vancouver. All the best, Bente