PSA: Olympic Visit Thoughts

I was with all the crazies cheering Bree to a great Olympics.
It was exciting, especially when she was in the top position for a medal and beat her hero (USA 1) by one hundredth of a second. Then the world champion German sled capsizing on the ice and ejecting the brakeman. INTENSE!!!!
She is a rising star on that circuit and an excellent driver for her 1st full year in a bobsled.
Great to hug and congratulate Erin Pac's mom for her success!
The Oregonian has been doing a great job of covering Bree. She was on the front page of the Oregonian the day of her race. Oregonian  and this Front page Article

Glad I went, great family time, Tickets were easy to get, skiing was fantastic-no crowds, new snow, ski right on chair. Got to rub elbows with some high end athletes on the USA alpine teams.

Really happy and proud of Bree's hard work and accomplishments. Close second is her brother Tim who is dating a hot USA GS skier (23rd in combined) and I helped him rent skis (he's a very good snowboarder) so he can learn to ski again.
Such a proud uncle!
Not sure if they made it out the next day as they were partying full throttle and it was midnight when Uncle Joe had to throw in the towel. Bree and Emily were still in their racing outfits as they went out dancing and partying!

That's awesome Joe -- so cool to have a local and a friend-connection to someone in the sleds.

I can appreciate Joe's pride in his relative's Olympic accomplishment.( My only connection to the Olympic participants is my friendship with the head of the Finnish broadcasting team.) The biggest story concerning this event on this side of the 49th Parallel was the fact that gold and silver was claimed by Canadian ladies.

Hey Telemon, and with apologies for the drift to all, a few days ago i noticed a post on Ttips about a troop of guys - and thinking you were one of them- that toured  at and above a small inbounds place on the north end of Vancouver island - don't recall the name of the place - some nice looking pics - is the area worthy of a destination visit?  Always wanted to ski something over there - still blows me away that the island has glaciers - seems the only times we get over there is with kayaks on the truck. david

I've been cheering for nordic skier Holly Brooks who, as a tween, was the littlest ski instructor at the Snoqualmie nordic center back in the mid-nineties. Go Holly!

The biggest story concerning this event on this side of the 49th Parallel was the fact that gold and silver was claimed by Canadian ladies.

As well it should be! The event was theirs to lose.
It is pretty obvious that track was built for speed with added technical turns, a notch higher than any course ever built in the world. I saw the worlds best bobsled driver flip her sled and eject the brakewoman.
After the death of the Georgian luger, some how the light-bulb went on and then other sliders were allowed practice time on the track. Bree was out practicing from 10pm to early in the morning hours just to get time on the track.
Before the death, only the Canadian team was allowed to practice on the track. So Canadians got 150 runs on the track compared to Bree's 15. I was concerned for Bree's well being, so I wondered... Why would they not let others practice on a track that was intentionally designed to be so much faster with more turns than anything else in the world than what they are accustom to racing. The policy of home ice training to the host country is nothing new in sliding events in the Olympics and it is only privy to the home country. Since Canadians knew this going into the design phase, Canadians organizers should be held accountable for winning the medals and also killing the Georgian luger. Since the Russian team crashed, that policy needs to be changed before the bar is raised on the next track design in Russia.