It's raining, not hard, but it's raining
Damp and Cold.
I am off to "work" for the final time. I am working on the infield floor of the oval. I am helping at the clerk of th course on the finish side of the ice. We have both Mens and Ladies teams on our side of the track.
The Ladies skated first in the 'C' Final for fifth place. They were awesome. They went out like they should have one day earlier. They were 19/100s off the Olympic record. Egads. Did they ever make a statement.
It ended up that the Germans won the Gold medal.
The Guys had to skate against the Americans. It was loud, it was rauckous, it was great and we won the Gold medal.
My Swedish friend Ake Falk told me that he thought that Canadians have learned how to be proud and how to cheer and be loud.
The medal ceremonies were held at the Oval, then everyone left. Everyone except the speed skating people.
We walked around and thought about that there would never be another long track meet in that building. It was sad and we were all a little chocked up.
We all retreated to SSC house. and congratulated ourselves on a great 17 days of the Olympics and 12 days of competition.
We are done and my excellent adventure has come to a close. A time to be remembered and a time to be cherished. God it was Great.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Day 11 of Competion - The Pursuits
We ran the intial stages of the pursuits today.
The Guys did incredible. They set two, not one, but two world records on their way to qualifing for the Gold medal final. EGADS.
Unfortunately the ladies seemed to coast their way through their quarter final and were eliminated from the Gold medal race. I have never seen four more morose young women in my whole life.
In short track we won Gold and Bronze in the Men's 500M and won Gold in the Men's 5K relay. God was that exciting. We drank bubbly at the SSC house and cheered like crazy.
To bad we can't curl. Two bad ends and what do we have to show for it but a silver medal. UKKKK.
See you tomorrow.
The Guys did incredible. They set two, not one, but two world records on their way to qualifing for the Gold medal final. EGADS.
Unfortunately the ladies seemed to coast their way through their quarter final and were eliminated from the Gold medal race. I have never seen four more morose young women in my whole life.
In short track we won Gold and Bronze in the Men's 500M and won Gold in the Men's 5K relay. God was that exciting. We drank bubbly at the SSC house and cheered like crazy.
To bad we can't curl. Two bad ends and what do we have to show for it but a silver medal. UKKKK.
See you tomorrow.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Day 10 and Clara's Last Race
The Ladies 5K race is today.
Nancy and Linda are attending the race. They have seats directly across from the finish line.
The two of them go seated and soon found themselves surrounded by Dutch fans.
The in house video scans the crowd all the time between races and because of the Dutch around them they got on the video screens for all to see a few times.
Racing started and Cindy was in the first pair. She skated against an American and did her best. But because of the surgery and the time recovering she didn't do too well.
There were only eight pairs, so four pairs skated then there was a flood, then the final four pairs skated.
Clara was in fifth pair, the one right after the flood. Fresh ice. She came off the line and though her opener wasn't as fast as the current leader, it was good.
From that point on she lowered and lowered the lap times. She finished below 7 minutes and set a track record. The crowd went KNUTTTTSSS!!!!! Every lap they got louder if that was possible.
Pair six wasn't a serious threat.
Pair seven, the skater from Germany blasted off the line and was consistantly faster than Clara. She finished ahead of Clara, which put Clara in the Silver medal position with two skaters to come.
Pair Eight. Sablakova, the current world record holder was in this pair. She was paired with another German skater. Sablakova lowered the times lap by lap. For a while the German in her pair stayed with her and everyone's fears were that Clara would be edged off the podium. I guess those early attempts to stick with the lead skater tired the German, because with 4 to go, she started to fall back. The time clock would show the accumulated time on the board and what the projected finish place would be. So, when the German girl went through the line in a project fourth place the place when crazy.
That fourth place held up and our Clara was a Bronze medalist in her last race in her last Olympics.
I took Nancy and Linda over to SSC house and showed them the Speed Skating family. They meet Clara's family and all the people from Calgary that Nancy knew.
Linda was impressed with the whole aura around the place. We watched the hockey game, we watched short track and bob sled competitions. Every goal, every race brought out cheers from everyone. Linda couldn't get over the way that the Speed Skating people cheered everyone. It was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow is a day off then we have two days of pursuits, the qualifiers, the semis. The finals are on Saturday. Day Last.
Nancy and Linda are attending the race. They have seats directly across from the finish line.
The two of them go seated and soon found themselves surrounded by Dutch fans.
The in house video scans the crowd all the time between races and because of the Dutch around them they got on the video screens for all to see a few times.
Racing started and Cindy was in the first pair. She skated against an American and did her best. But because of the surgery and the time recovering she didn't do too well.
There were only eight pairs, so four pairs skated then there was a flood, then the final four pairs skated.
Clara was in fifth pair, the one right after the flood. Fresh ice. She came off the line and though her opener wasn't as fast as the current leader, it was good.
From that point on she lowered and lowered the lap times. She finished below 7 minutes and set a track record. The crowd went KNUTTTTSSS!!!!! Every lap they got louder if that was possible.
Pair six wasn't a serious threat.
Pair seven, the skater from Germany blasted off the line and was consistantly faster than Clara. She finished ahead of Clara, which put Clara in the Silver medal position with two skaters to come.
Pair Eight. Sablakova, the current world record holder was in this pair. She was paired with another German skater. Sablakova lowered the times lap by lap. For a while the German in her pair stayed with her and everyone's fears were that Clara would be edged off the podium. I guess those early attempts to stick with the lead skater tired the German, because with 4 to go, she started to fall back. The time clock would show the accumulated time on the board and what the projected finish place would be. So, when the German girl went through the line in a project fourth place the place when crazy.
That fourth place held up and our Clara was a Bronze medalist in her last race in her last Olympics.
I took Nancy and Linda over to SSC house and showed them the Speed Skating family. They meet Clara's family and all the people from Calgary that Nancy knew.
Linda was impressed with the whole aura around the place. We watched the hockey game, we watched short track and bob sled competitions. Every goal, every race brought out cheers from everyone. Linda couldn't get over the way that the Speed Skating people cheered everyone. It was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow is a day off then we have two days of pursuits, the qualifiers, the semis. The finals are on Saturday. Day Last.
Day Nine or the Dutch Doom
Today was the Men's 10K.
Excitement reigned. Everyone wanted tosee what kind of skate Sven Kramer from the Nederlands would skate.
Things were going as usual until the Korean skater, Lee, set an Olympic record and really lowered the time.
The next few skaters tried, but couldn't get anywhere near the time.
Now it is Kramer's turn. The Dutch go KNUTTTS. His first few lapse are pure indication he wants this Gold and the Olympic medal.
All is well as he keeps his lap time in the 32 sec range. He is steadily faster and faster than the Korean.
Then lap 16 of 25 something seems to go wrong with the timing system. There is a buzz in the facility and those who know, know something is wrong.
There was something wrong and what had happened was he should have skated an outer instead he skated an inner. So at the end he sets an Olympic record and is DQed.
Kramer had started to skate the outer and then changed to the inner. Apparently his coach was yelling at him to skate the inner, so he did. Oops!
Everyone figured that the coach and Kramer would severe their relationship, but Kramer says no.
We figured that that Boo Boo cost Kramer 100,000 Euros.
Oh well another day at the office.
Excitement reigned. Everyone wanted tosee what kind of skate Sven Kramer from the Nederlands would skate.
Things were going as usual until the Korean skater, Lee, set an Olympic record and really lowered the time.
The next few skaters tried, but couldn't get anywhere near the time.
Now it is Kramer's turn. The Dutch go KNUTTTS. His first few lapse are pure indication he wants this Gold and the Olympic medal.
All is well as he keeps his lap time in the 32 sec range. He is steadily faster and faster than the Korean.
Then lap 16 of 25 something seems to go wrong with the timing system. There is a buzz in the facility and those who know, know something is wrong.
There was something wrong and what had happened was he should have skated an outer instead he skated an inner. So at the end he sets an Olympic record and is DQed.
Kramer had started to skate the outer and then changed to the inner. Apparently his coach was yelling at him to skate the inner, so he did. Oops!
Everyone figured that the coach and Kramer would severe their relationship, but Kramer says no.
We figured that that Boo Boo cost Kramer 100,000 Euros.
Oh well another day at the office.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 8 of Competition
We are at Day 8 and the end is near. I am not sure if I'm glad to see it coming or if I just want this ride to keep on going.
We had an exciting day of racing at the ROO. Christina Grove won the Silver in the Ladies 1500M. It was a incredible sight to see. The Canadian fans went absolutely NUTTTS. Grover was in first until the last 100M, then you could see her start to tire. It was exciting to watch.
Of course all the officials and SSC people trucked on down to SSC House and celebrated again.
It seems the only celebrating we have to do centres around Speed Skating. We watched the Men loose at hockey, the women at loose a curling, and the Men fall at the ski cross. Not a great day for our medal hopes.
We have the Men's 10K tomorrow, unfortunately we don't have anyone that's a medal hope. The Ladies 5K is Wednesday and we have a couple who could win medals. The Men and Ladies pursuits are on Friday and Saturday. If we get to the final we should have a chance at medals in both.
Today, Monday, is a day off. I am going to sit with my feet up and do nothing. Pretty much like when I am at home.
I know that the decompression from this level of activity is going to take a while, but is it ever exciting.
We had an exciting day of racing at the ROO. Christina Grove won the Silver in the Ladies 1500M. It was a incredible sight to see. The Canadian fans went absolutely NUTTTS. Grover was in first until the last 100M, then you could see her start to tire. It was exciting to watch.
Of course all the officials and SSC people trucked on down to SSC House and celebrated again.
It seems the only celebrating we have to do centres around Speed Skating. We watched the Men loose at hockey, the women at loose a curling, and the Men fall at the ski cross. Not a great day for our medal hopes.
We have the Men's 10K tomorrow, unfortunately we don't have anyone that's a medal hope. The Ladies 5K is Wednesday and we have a couple who could win medals. The Men and Ladies pursuits are on Friday and Saturday. If we get to the final we should have a chance at medals in both.
Today, Monday, is a day off. I am going to sit with my feet up and do nothing. Pretty much like when I am at home.
I know that the decompression from this level of activity is going to take a while, but is it ever exciting.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sad Saturday
We went through a very bad day today. Our long track guys skated their buns off but on the world stage it wasn't good enough.
Kyle, Lucas, and Denny skated the very best that they could given the altitude and the ice conditions. Their effort was exemplorary as far a I was concerned.
Every knowlegable bystander gave the Canadian boys full credt or their effort.
Shot track as a disaster. Enough said.
Tomorrow the Ladies 1500M. Keep your fingers crossed.
Kyle, Lucas, and Denny skated the very best that they could given the altitude and the ice conditions. Their effort was exemplorary as far a I was concerned.
Every knowlegable bystander gave the Canadian boys full credt or their effort.
Shot track as a disaster. Enough said.
Tomorrow the Ladies 1500M. Keep your fingers crossed.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Mundane Friday - Laundry Day
We have the day off today. Back at it tomorrow with the Men's 1500M, the the Women's 1500M on Sunday.
We are all in need of a break. Emotions and stress have been running pretty high, and you can see the effect it is having.
I don't remember being this tired or drained before.
Laundry day today. There is a line up to get it. So may have to wait til later.
That wandering wife of mine is back in the country and is coming to visit.
It should be a great day.
We are all in need of a break. Emotions and stress have been running pretty high, and you can see the effect it is having.
I don't remember being this tired or drained before.
Laundry day today. There is a line up to get it. So may have to wait til later.
That wandering wife of mine is back in the country and is coming to visit.
It should be a great day.
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