Life since the Olympics has been very busy. Since we are back on the road racing in Europe, I have time to share my Olympic Blog.
Before Stanley and I headed off to Vancouver were asked to speak at Cam Bailey’s children’s school about ski cross. They wanted to know how we felt about going to the Olympics and they wanted to know everything about the new Olympic sport, ski cross. It was a great opportunity to realize how I enjoy talking to young children. I will enjoy sharing my Olympic experience once the ski cross season is completed.
It was an amazing to see 400 students eagerly waiting to hear our presentation. Goose bumps appeared when they began cheering!! The team also had a send off party for us. My dear friends and lovely Hampton family attended the celebration at zin.ca wine store. I loved seeing everyone but I have to say the cake was really good! If you are ever in the Inglewood area stop by the wine store. (right beside the public pool) It is a really beautiful place.
The next day Stanley and I flew to Vancouver. When we got off the plane we went and got our accreditation right there in the airport. That was pretty cool. We then went down to get our baggage. My uncle was there with a sign with my name on it and some flowers! It was great to see him. It had been a really long time since our last visit together. We had a quick visit and off to the village I went.
Walking thru security, then thru the village and the road leading to our housing made me feel like a kid in the candy store. It was so exciting and fun. All the flags on our Canadian buildings and the big Aussie one as well set the atmosphere. It was so exciting. Later that day we got all our Olympic clothing. My favorite piece was the sweat pants. They are amazing. A real close 2nd is the closing ceremony sweater. It was handmade here in Canada and is really nice. We had a little pep rally to welcome all the Canadians to the village and Sandra O from Grays was there. It was unreal.
Next day was opening day. My parents drove all the way from Calgary to come to Opening. I was so excited and happy they were able to come and proud because I would not have been walking in that stadium without their financial, emotional and loving support. This was a moment for my whole family including my sister who was at school. They arrived in town early and were able to come to the McDonalds near the village to visit with me. They brought me the letters, cards and Downhill Racer Winner aka DW teddy bear from my little cousins in Winnipeg. It had skis, poles and a Canadian flag on its foot and fur. I was able to take a few pictures of DW around the village. Thanks for the support.
We had another pep rally before we headed off to join the other teams in GM Place and then off to BC place for opening. It was a long day but totally worthwhile. I think we waited over 2 hours in our opening gear sweating before we walked in to the unspeakable roar that I will never forget when “Team Canada” was introduced. We saw one of our teammates Brian as we were starting to walk in. Seeing Brian was awesome. It was overwhelming and amazing to see all these people watching us walk in. I made it on TV. It was exciting because I had emails and texts before I had even got to my seat
saying,” we saw you!” The opening show was amazing to watch. I am such a fan of all the performers who welcomed us to the world and to our home country Canada.
After the show we went and ate some food. It took a bit of time to wind down. The realization hit home that I am in the Olympics, I am part of Team Canada and we are in Canada. The following day we took off to our Top Secret training location in Hemlock. It is a great hill. It has the small ski hill feeling and not a big resort feeling so it helped keep the team grounded. It rained alot but the training we got there was great. It made us all feel a bit more comfortable about what we were about to do over the next week. There was no TV in the house where we were staying at so we weren’t able to watch too much of the games unless we were in the day lodge. I am a huge sports fan and love to watch everything…well almost everything but I do appreciate the work and skill of the other athletes and what it took them to get to the games.
Once we got back to the village it was time for us to get ready for our event. Our first day of training was with the boy’s team. It was great. The track was awesome and a lot of fun. Brian was kind enough to run the track before while they were building it to make sure it was in great shape and amazing for our sport to shine. His help will always be remembered and appreciated by us. On this day our teammate Dave Duncan crashed on the start feature and broke his collarbone. He was no longer able to race. Brady Leman was the alternate and was called on to fill that spot. Its weird to have more then one day of training and we the girls had more days to come. The next day the guys trained in the morning and Brady crashed. He hurt his bad leg and as a result was pulled from the race. Davey Barr now the 3rd alternate was in and it was race day. At the end of the race with very few practice runs to get ready he finished 6th.
I choose not to go up and watch the men’s race. Instead I meet up with my parents and Chance and we hit up the HBC lounge and watched the men race on TV. I find it much easier to race then watch our guy’s race live. It was stressful watching. It turned out to be a good day. Not great as we weren’t on the podium but we ended up with Del in 4th (with a sick crash), Davey 6th, Stanley 10th. Now it was time to fully focus on my race.
We had another day of training and I felt good. I had been nailing what I wanted to nail and was feeling comfortable and confident on the track. On race day, I did my training run and when I got to the bottom I saw my family, extended family and friends who came out to watch me. I went back to the start to focus and I was ready. I felt good strong and I knew what I wanted to do. I nailed the start. I skied well just a little open in qualifying and finished 10th. Not to bad. I was ready for the heats. After some food and a break we headed back out for the heats. I was pumped. A bit nervous but I had my game plan and I was ready. I felt confident and ready to race.
In my heat when the gate dropped I pulled out hard and I missed a bit of the fin which killed my speed over the second feature and I had issues. I found myself in 4th a place I didn’t expect that but I knew I could pass later down the course. I heard Stanley’s voice in my head saying to be patient and I was. I knew where I wanted to pass and I was lining it up. Then one of the girls in front of me all of a sudden went from one side of me to the other near the take off of the big jump. It was tossed but knew I had time still. As I was getting ready to make my move the girl in 2nd crashed and the girl in 3rd was falling. I tried to pick my lane to avoid them and get thru but I went off the feature and crashed as well. I got up as quick as I could and finished with no poles. I finished the heat in 3rd and went out in first round. My worst result of the whole year. I was devastated. I had let my family and myself down. But they were just so proud of me for getting up and finishing and being there that it made me realize what I had over come to get to this race. That moment it wasn’t the result I wanted but the approach and experience of the Olympics. The fact I had nailed that start every run except one was saying something. I was sad for how I did but excited for Ash because she won. That’s right a Canadian won GOLD and it was amazing to watch.
That night we went to medal ceremony and headed to the after party. I was able to see my family. My mom, dad, sister, Chance, Aunty Anne, Aunty Shirley, Aunty Lori, Uncle Jim, Uncle Ron, Ashley, Katie, Suez, Peter, Caitlin and Wendy (who came down from Whistler village where she is working with as an athletic therapist). I think that is everyone. I felt so supported and loved it was great. We had a great time it was amazing to see and catch up with everyone.
The next day my parents drove back to Calgary and many of the others flew home. I spend the day with Chance and we went and watched the quarter final hockey game. USA vs Swiss. It was a great game. The Swiss made the USA work for there win. It was a lot of fun! That night we had a ski team thank you party and watched the Canada Russia game, the bobsled girls- gold and silver runs. It was a great day, with great company and great results for Canada.
Chance was flying out on the afternoon of the 25th so I met him in the morning. We got to the airport early so we just sat there and watched the semi for the woman’s curling! Also on our Bell phones we had the bronze medal woman’s hockey game on. It was fun to watch. After Chance left I headed off to watch the men’s curling semi where I watched them win!!! After the game I was able to meet up with my Aunty Shirley, Aunty Ann, and Uncle Ron for dinner and catch up about life. It was a special time and such a nice visit.
The next three days I watched woman’s gold medal curling, men’s gold medal curling, and most exciting I got a ticket to the men’s gold medal hockey game! All three of these games were amazing and so spectacular to watch!
It was time for the closing ceremonies and soon time to get back to normal world cup ski cross races. Closing was exciting but sad because it was all over. Now I have 4 years to become a better and stronger competitor. I look forward to doing this and seeing where I can take myself in this sport. Who would like to join me in Russia in 2014?
I want to thank all those who cheered for me thru their TV’s and that were there. Thank you for all the support and PLEASE don’t hide for the next 4 years keep watching and cheering!
