at the sliding centre for 4 man bobsleigh

The 4 man bobsleigh qualifying round took place this afternoon at the Whistler Sliding Centre, a beautiful facility on the side of Blackcomb Mountain. A number of competitors were eliminated as a result of crashes , scary to watch even though they aren't injured. Tomorrow is the final two rounds with the last round determining the winner. Hundreths of seconds become the margins of difference so a slightly bad start or a wrong line on a wall can make all the difference between gold and something else.

 

This look at the scoreboard early in the first round shows these differences.

Standing and waiting for the sleds to come down the track you can hear them approaching long before they arrive. In spite of this they pass very quickly and you have to take a lot of pictures to get the money shot. Hopefully I did get one.

 

There is usually a good crowd for these either in the stands or along the track - tickets can be had a t a reasonable price if you're willing to stand.

 

They also have large screens so you can view what's happening along the track including at the start and finish lines.

 

This picture is Canada 1 pilot Lyndon Rush and one of his teammates. We had two of the Canadians in for doping control,chosen at random, one was very pleasant and the other more subdued and unhappy with his result. 

I also took a picture of the section of track where the unfortunate death of the Georgian luger took place. You can see the higher wall installed and some flowers left as a memorial.

It was an easy testing day with only 4 randoms done. The finals tomorrow promise to be very busy with 16 athletes to be tested - 2 selected at random from the top 5 finishers and 2 each from 3 sleds selected at random. Our station will be a very crowded place and it will be a zoo at the finish area where the athletes get notified of their selection for doping control. As there will be medal presentations that evening some of the medallists may be transferred to our doping control station at the medals plaza so that both things can take place , and no we won't be doing the testing while the athlete is on stage for the medal presentation. It will also mark my last full day at the Olympics. A fantastic voyage that is coming to an end.

For those following my bet with my Norwegian ex-roomie Christain Canada has now taken the lead and I expect to leave Sunday with his $2 in my pocket and a lot of bragging rights. Way to pull it out Canada athletes! Deen meanwhile in Barbados went with some friends to watch the Canada Slovakia hockey game at Bert's Bar. This was a sacrifice for her above and beyond the call of duty for someone who normally goes to bed at 9pm. In this case the game started at 10:30pm Bajan time and she was back in the hotel by about 1am. She then called me thanks to the wonders of Skype to share in the victory. Meanwhile son Geof was texting me throughout the evening letting me know about the speed skating results.

Ski jumping is wilder than ziplining

Maybe you thought my zip lining adventure was crazy enough but today I tried a jump off the Long Hill at Whistler Olympic Park. No helmet or fancy suit or training but I survived it. My jump distance was OK for a beginner . You can see from the picture and it was awesome. Luckily I didn't tell Deen about it beforehand or she would have worried endlessly.

  

We were moderately busy there today with a Cross Country women's 4 by 5km relay in the morning. There are teams of 4 skiers and they each do a 5km lap. Two of the skiers can do freestyle while the two others do the classic style. Very intense and I got some good photos. The first one is the finish area and the second one shows skiers coming into the finish area .

 

I also wandered the site a bit and saw this aboriginal display - a guy carving a totem pole.
 

In the morning there was the Long Hill ski jump portion of Nordic Combined followed by the cross country ski race in the afternoon. The jumps are measured for both distance ( a good one is over 125 metres) and style - the two in combination give the athlete a score . This score is then translated into so many seconds lead to start the cross country race. I forget the formula but it's several seconds head start per point from the ski jump. I met the winner from the USA and he started the race something like 26 seconds behind the first place finisher from the ski jump. A very pleasant young man and I certainly congratulated him on his victory.This next picture shows a long hill ski jumper (not me) but you have to look carefully above the Olympic rings to see him.
 

While I am toughing it out in this winter paradise Deen left a snowy Ottawa early this morning for  hot and sunny Barbados and all our friends there. Some delay for her getting out of Ottawa from the snow and again another snow delay out of Toronto. But she was very happily met by our English friends John and Dorothy at the airport in the afternoon. She had previously arranged for a whole group of them to go to Bert's Bar in the eveningto watch the Women's Ice Hockey Final with Canada prevailing 2-0. I haven't received a real report from her yet on the flight or the game at Bert's as she called this afternoon via the magic of Skype while I was busy with an athlete.

Tomorrow and Saturday I'm at the Whistler Sliding Centre for 4 men's bobsled competition. Two qualifying rounds Friday and then the two final runs on Saturday. Should be exciting.My roomie Chris has been working as the chaperone coordinator at the sliding centre and reported to me last night it was chaos with the two Canadian medal teams.

there is no there there

Today was an off day from the Olympic Village. Did some shopping this morning - failed to get by a few minutes some more red Canada mittens but later on got myself a nice light blue sweat shirt on sale. I'll be wearing vanoc2010 stuff for years to come.

This afternoon,rather than watch the USA men's hockey game, I decided to take the bus to Squamish. It's at sea level at the top of Howe Sound . I arrived there at a WalMart and beside a Home Depot. I discovered it's a bit like arriving in Kanata although with mountains- there's no there there. Ottawa and area residents know what I'm talking about. Just a big spread out town . I inquired about buses to downtown and got directed from pillar to post. As patience in waiting for buses is not one of my strengths( I can be patient about other things..) I gave up and went into the WalMart. Bought some small souvenirs then took a bus back to Creekside, a trip of about 45 minutes each way. This picture is taken showing the view behind the Home Depot. Certainly different than the view in Kanata.

Got back in tie for a short nap then went downstairs for the Canada Russia men's hockey game. WOOHOO! Bring on Alfie and the Swedes. I watched the game with my now ex-roomie Christain from Norway and a blood collection officer from Surrey named Annie.Also with us was my new friend from from Wales named Alan , a UK doping control officer.

Lots of people in the bar. I had been teasing Christain that he was the younger triplet of the Swedish Sedin twins sold by the Sedin parents to a Norwegian couple to raise as their own. Christain now uses a picture of the Sedins as his Facebook profile picture.
Spooky or what?

Alan and I enjoying a drink during the hockey game.

Great win by Canada! Christain and I have a bet, as I have mentioned, for a twoonie for total medals Canada Norway. Great evening tonight for Canada picking up 3 more to close the gap. However there are way too many medals for cross country skiing and ski jumping and not enough for real sports like hockey and curling . Maybe in hockey there should be medals like in the skills competitions: fastest skater,hardest shot, most accurate shot, best stick handler, or may be new hockey events such as hockey team pursuit,individual pursuit,relay and all sorts of other ways to pad out the medal totals.

Christain also got to meet the King and Queen of Norway this afternoon but no pictures allowed. I had asked him to get a pair of the Norwegian men's curling pants from the King for me but alas no luck there. I did get this picture of Christain in front of the Norwegian flag in our lobby.

 

For my younger female readers you should note that Christain is engaged and will be getting married in late June with a honeymoon to follow by touring across the US in a car.

Tomorrow I'm up and out the door in the morning for a day at cross country. I believe it's Nordic Combined , which is ski jumping followed by cross country skiing. I hope I'll have some good pix from that.

Athletes treated "worse than pigs"

Well that was the headline in a local newspaper today with a story repeated in other newspapers across the country. A female German biathlete told a German newspaper that the athletes were treated "worse than pigs going to the slaughterhouse in the post-competition drug checkups."You really get shoved around and force is used . It really ruins your mood".

This must be where they all end up- great pulled pork sandwiches at the restaurant next door.  Apparently later on the head of the German team issued an apology. Now the reality of the situation is that right after competition the medallists (and some others) are required to go to doping control. However before that happens there is a so called "wrangler" whose job it is to get the medal athletes through the mixed zone of press , the flower ceremony, and then off to doping control. Usually after the mixed zone the athlete is notified officially of their selection for doping and they have up to 60 minutes to report while being accompanied by one of our volunteer chaperones. Most of the time they want to get it over with so they proceed to doping control as soon as they can. It can be quite a smozzle with this press,flower ceremony etc process and maybe the athletes do feel like they are being pulled in all directions. The vast majority of the athletes are very gracious and friendly throughout the process , even those who didn't meet their performance expectations but still have to go through the process. Our process is all about the athletes and we always try to be very respectful of them.

Right beside our hotel is a fairly busy train track of trains going north from Vancouver. As I right this a noisy one is now going by. Most of them are freight trains but there are passenger trains as well. One was parked outside the hotel late this morning.
  

I may have mentioned the significant police presence throughout for these games. The officers are from across Canada ( 60 from Ottawa alone ) and are friendly. The intersection of the street of this hotel and Highway 99 is fairly busy and I counted 6 officers there today at noon. One on each corner and 2 others helping to direct traffic. I feel like a kid with a school crossing guard.

 

One of the officers said it can be quite hectic with lots of wild foreign drivers. One of them was hit by a bus the other day. 

Today I spent the afternoon and evening in what turned out to be my last shift at the Whistler Olympic Village. Our command centre called me while I was there to tell me I have Wednesday off . We did some blood screens this afternoon and nothing this evening. Happy to have the day off rather than sitting there not doing anything real. I am including again a picture of the dinner menu for Tuesday evenings dinner . My family will appreciate why when they see the dessert listing.
Deen would be more interested in the pasta entry.

Now we'll see what tomorrow brings........

My Zip Lining Day

It was an absolutly beautiful day here in Whistler - nice temperatures and not a cloud in the sky. Cooler than Vancouver but still great. I arrived shortly after noon at the check-in place, paid my fee, then waited with some others for our adventure to start. Our tour guides, both pleasant young guys from England, outfitted us in our harnesses and we set off through the village to the short gondola ride up Blackcomb. We then got into a snowcat pictured here for a further ride up the mountain.

 

They  have a series of  4 lines running between the mountains varying in length between 400' and 700' and along one of 2200'. We each (there were 8 of us in our group plus the 2 guides) take turns going  across on a line with a guide at the receiving end applying the brakes as you come in. I was a bit apprehensive the first ride but once you got the hang of it that was replaced by terror. Kidding- you got used to it. Here are some pix from others on the lines.

 

The views are stunning. The guides also mix in little lectures about the local ecology as it is also called an ecotrek. Very interesting as this was taking lace in a rain forest.

 

One of the young guests had an extra thrill. When she came into the landing zone she didn't make it far enough and went about a third of the way back out and just hung there over the river between the two mountains. The guide at the receiving end grabbed a rope and clamp and slid out to attach the rope to her. He then hand over hand pulled himself back then hauled her in via the rope. She took it all in good humour. Funnily enough it also happened later on to her boyfriend. This next picture shows the line crossing the river.

 

The zip lines start and end up in the trees and they have elaborate structures built there, including walkways between the  end of one line and the start of the next one.

Here I'm pictured in all my gear at one of the start stations. Magnificent views...

I tried to video some of my rides but a couple of them didn't turn out well. The best one came with a later ride across the 2200' span shown above. That was a great ride but I did it mostly backwards - don't know why... It goes near the Whistler Sliding Centre and crosses the river 5 times. My video is about 50 seconds long and is too big too include here so you'll just have to imagine it or somehow view it on my computer.Apparently somebody in another group using a GPS unit recorded their maximum speed at about 47 km/hr.

 

Our last ride took us down the mountain to the village which you can see in the background.The guides had told us to think about doing some freestyle moves or doing the ride upside down. I was pretty lame about it and just waved my arms and legs about. But several people  did do the ride inverted. Here's a picture of one of them.

He did this all the way down going along side skiers finishing their runs on the mountain. All in all a very cool adventure.

When we got back this evening our young Norwegian roomie had two announcements for us. He will no longer have to sleep on the pullout couch and live out of his suitcase as they gave him his own room. His other announcement was to tell us he has been invited to a reception here in Whistler on Wednesday with the King and Queen of Norway. Good week for Christain and Norwegian athletes,many of whom he knows, as Norway has pulled ahead of Canada by 4 medals . I tell him to wait until the real sports start to give medals instead of the endless variations of cross country ski medals that Norway seems to win. We have a toonie each riding on the total count.

Tomorrow I'm back at the athlete village for a late shift and we'll see how busy that is. I keep hoping they'll shift me elsewhere for this shift and Wednesday but so far no luck.

a great day at the Whistler Sliding Centre

My day got off to an ordinary start - did my laundry then went for a run. I also phoned son Geof  to wish him Happy Birthday . Deen and I are still trying to figure out how we're so young and he's so old but he is a great son! Funny how I'm doing laundry and Deen is home shovelling the driveway and taking out the garbage.

This afternoon I wet up to the Whistler Sliding Centre(WSC) for a work shift. Although I had been at the venue previously as a spectator for women's luge there were parts of I hadn't seen before, especially the work areas. The view from our station on Blackcomb Mountain is of course spectacular and is right beside an attraction called Tube Park.

 

This would be the type of downhill I could handle.

At the sliding centre itself our chaperones and coordinators first encounter the selected athletes after they pass the finish area and come to a stop at the top of a rise. The athletes stop the sled, get out of it, and the sled is moved quickly off the track onto an adjacent ice surface , where it is turned over and wooden tracks put on the blades to protect them. The whole sled is weighed as there is a maximum weight for the sled and the riders. Interesting to watch in operation and it can become quite hectic as the race is finishing and athletes are being notified for doping control. I hope some of these pictures capture a sense of it.

 

This is the Canada sled of Leuders and Lumsden.

 

The finish area where all the post race stuff happens . It can become quite hectic here.

I did have time for a press conference with my American colleague Steve in which we provided to the world press our views on the Olympic Games. Fortunatly this took place before the Canada US men's hockey game.

 

I meet several interesting athletes after the event in the course of our testing. They are HUGE with legs like tree trunks and well muscled upper bodies ! And they all have tattoos- must be part of the bobsled culture. I also saw the Aussie bobsled support team  - like who knew the Aussies had a bobsled team?

  

Finally on this topic for today here is a picture of the Polish sleds in the container they travel in and where work is done on them. I'm back at the WSC for Friday and Saturday for the 4 men bobsled competition - Friday is qualifying and Saturday the medals day. I'm certainly looking forward to that - sadly however it will also mark the end of my winter Olympic experience , an experience of a lifetime. 

On my way back to my hotel this evening I received a phone call from our command center. What the command centre giveth, they also taketh away. My scheduled day off for Thursday has been cancelled as I'm going to work at the cross country venue. I was there for over a week in the pre-competiton period so it will be interesting to be back there for some competitions. On the Thursday I had planned to go on the Whistler ZipTrek but will now try to schedule it for Monday sometime or Tuesday morning before I report back to the athlete Village in the afternoon. We'll see what transpires and I know my darling wife will worry whichever time the zip line experience takes place. Check it out at www.ziptrek.com. The free zip line in Vancouver has been extremely popular.

enjoyed my 4th day off

After a lazy morning I went into Whistler to meet an old friend from my RMC days and his wife for lunch at a sushi place where their daughter-in-law works. Nice lunch and we were joined by some of their friends. One of the couples left their decorated dog outside and I had to include this picture for the cute factor...

 

When we came out from lunch we saw in the outdoor TV studio across from us the latest Canadian gold medal winner Jon Montgomery from Russell,Manitoba  being interviewed . I took a bunch of pictures and think this is the best one. I found out he won sitting in a restaurant with friends when my son Geof sent me a text message.
 

Wandering the streets afterwards I encountered some of the Olympic mascots sitting outside enjoying the day.

 

Then a bit further on there was another live concert taking place . I don't know the name of this group but they were very enthusiastic .Perhaps they are the Bare Naked Laddies.

  

Next I saw the Great Britain 1 Mixed Bobsled team performing some warmups for the crowd. Are these the people that won the gold medal for Great Britain?

 I mentioned in a previous post (I think) about a sign in a restaurant near our hotel. I had pizza there tonight with some American colleagues who are all very experienced and very entertaining people to be with. Well here is the Go Canada sign --- very Canadian if I do say so myself.

 

Our central command centre (the people who manage our schedules) called a while ago to tell me that my shift Sunday at the sliding centre doesn't start until 2pm instead of the 11am I had been told. Two man bobsled finals so that should be interesting. However my Norwegian roomie just came in a few minutes ago, not a happy person, as these same people took away his day off for a 12 hour (7am-7pm) shift at the downhill venue.

Once again an unexpected day off

Regular readers are no doubt aware of my whining about the inactivity of the past few days for us in the athlete village. Well after I posted yesterday's blog update they called and said I had the day off. Others were in the same boat - it was a gorgeous day here today and I was able to take advantage of it.

I naturally slept in a bit , had breakfast then later on went for a run , this time taking my camera. I'm getting spoiled running here and the streets of Stittsville will be very boring in comparison. Here are a few shots taken along the way.

 

  

This is the back of our hotel taken from the path on the way back.

After noon my friend Denise from Ottawa and her daughter Courtney, also from Ottawa but now living in Australia, came up for the day from Vancouver. They are both chaperoning here for the games. They did the Peak to Peak and it was sunny and clear for them. We had lunch after that. I had one actual sort of celebrity sghting , Premier Campbell of BC and a Garth Brooks look alike- maybe I should have started one of his classic songs like "I've got friends in low places" to see if it was actually him. After lunch we walked about in Whistler Village and many people were doing the same thing. Here are Denise and Courtney in front of a bandstand with another free concert.

 

There are many colourful team uniforms around and here are two :
 

These mannequins are in the Russian out fit and some stores have big sections of these - $450 for the jacket. 

 

If you can read closely this is the Czech team outfit. Very colourful.

Denise and Courtney left about 6:30pm for the bus back to Vancouver and I returned to Creekside. I met up with some colleagues and we had dinner at the Southside Diner. Neat spot. This next picture is for Deen as you'll see the Mac and Cheese special.

 

Final picture of the day shows Kathy having a press briefing where she explains the chaperone part of the anti-doping program. Did you all see it on TV?
 

A scheduled day off on Saturday and I'm meeting an old classmate and his wife for a suishi lunch - should be interesting. 

All Quiet on the Western Front

Whoever coined the phrase "early to bed,early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise" was clearly a sadist. Nothing healthy about getting up at 4:50am. This is going to be a boring report as no new mountain vistas nor exciting news.

We had one test today and woke up some poor unsuspecting cross country skier at 7am. He wasn't grumpy about it (unlike me). Otherwise we hung around until 2pm then back to the hotel. A nap for me then watch the hockey game with a glass of scotch. My Norwegian roomie keeps sending me trash texts about the game
.

I thought I'd share our lunch menu as at least that's interesting to some - the meals are very good there.

We did have some interesting visitors early in the afternoon as two men from the 2012 London Games Committee dropped in to see the operation . Too bad we were idle as that might have given them a better impression but at least they got to see the setup. The following picture shows two of my colleagues hard at work. The lady is a blood collection officer from Vancouver and the man is a UK doping control officer.They are sitting in one of our doping rooms.

This morning in the Vancouver Sun there was an editorial cartoon depicting athletes jumping for joy for gold and silver and a guy lying on a beach chair in the sun reading a book for bronze- in another 2 weeks that will be me.

Final 3-2 Canada in a shootout - way to go Sidney!

WARNING: there may not be a posting tomorrow if things continue to be as dull today....

Bare Naked Ladies in concert

OK I wasn't at a stripper bar where the performers sang - there was a free concert this evening at Whistler Live in the Village Square. The Bare Naked Ladies are an iconic musical group of 4 clothed males but they are very good. They did their classic "If I had a million dollars" amongst many others . It was terrific and lasted just over an hour. A picture to prove I was there and another one of the group - I have lots of these and some snippets of recordings.

 

In the Village itself there is lots of strange things happening. The picture is a couple of Brits on stilts proclaiming the the best games ever inspite of the British press..

 

Today started very early at Dark O'Clock.. My alarm went off at 4:50am (as it will Thursday morning) and I got to the Athlete Village before breakfast at 6am.Our shift started after 7am but we did absolutely nothing all day  - the IOC did not have any missions for us as a lot of pre-competition testing had already been done and the current testing is being done right after the competitions following IOC protocols at the venues. I hope this improves as so many of us are sitting around waiting for something to do (we're kind of like firemen waiting). Our major task was to take inventory!

However I did take these 2 pictures there today - one shows the lunch menu n the workforce cafeteria and the other is my daily scenic mountain shot (this is the view the Canadian athletes have from their rooms).
 

  

Now this Old Timer , as my roomie Chris (he's 37) calls me , needs to take notes throughout the day so I can have my stories ready to go when I do this post. Here you can see me hard at work....
 

OK inspiration comes with the help of a beer or two...

Deen will be proud of what I did not do when I returned to the hotel bar. I did not have another beer but more importantly I did NOT join the singer in the bar who asked me several times to help her with some Jimmy Buffett songs. I told I was brutal and would help to clear the bar- however for my Barbados readers I can't make that same promise when I'm there in March.