Day 15 - Medal Bonanza

-As usual you can click on this link to see all of the Blog posts or read below. Enjoy!
http://bit.ly/bMw0UN
Wow, it's hard to believe that on a drizzly, foggy, rainy, slushy, damp and miserable day you could find so many happy and elated people.
There is this amazing current of life flowing through Whistler and Vancouver that is totally contagious. If you were to interview a 13 year old, they might say that this is 'totally random' but having studied enough math over the years I know that this is not a random event. This is an amazing culmination of work that was 7 years in the making. Everything from creating two olympic villages (so that all Athletes feel part of the games), to an amazing volunteer workforce, unparalleled transportation, friendly but strong security and last but not least, enthusiasm from RED bedraggled Canadians from Coast to Coast.
I was fortunate today to drive many officials and Olympic Athletes ...3 women Bobsledders from the US, 2 German Cross Country skiers, 1 of the 2 athletes from Tazikstan, Canada's Alpine Doctor, an Australian Women's Skier, A Japanese IOC official, the Director of IT for London 2012 and finally a woman from Germany who won a bronze medal in the biathalon earlier this week. She was ecstatic about the venues, the games, the friendliness, etc. Her first Olympics were in Turin and she never felt like they were part of the games, as their events were staged 7 hours away. Also, there was no Olympic village where she could meet and talk with other athletes from around the world, as each country had their own hotel. Here in Whistler they have resolved all of those problems, plus there is a beautiful village with all the amenities. I think that these words from the German medalist would be echoed by athletes from all nations.
When I hear kind and sincere praise like this, it really makes me proud to be a Canadian ...and it makes it even better when you have a 4 medal day like today!!! While I think that the COC were dumb for thinking they could "own" the podium, I do think that our athletes have come through with flying colours ...10 Golds leading all countries and to think that it could have been 11, if Canada's most popular "Cougar" could have delivered that killer takeout in the 10th or 11th end.
Our Canadian Hockey boys have also gelled at the right time and have set the table for Sunday's Closing event. I hear that the cigars and beers will be there when they need them!!
Win or lose these games will be remembered for years by millions of red adorned Canadians. So, where will you be on Sunday afternoon?
Speaking of proud little Canadians, my little 5 year old niece has been enjoying the games here and in Vancouver for the past week. My sister Lori took her to the Women's Figure Skating last night and she was captivated by the performance of Joannie Rochelle. So just as Joannie was motivated by Elizabeth Manley, many little Canadian girls will want to skate just like Joannie. While Joannie was skating little Kyra said to Lori, "would you be my coach when I skate at the Olympics?" Now those of you that know Lori, know that she can be a little awkward and clumsy at times, but who knows ...maybe she could pull it off and in 2026 Kyra Welch might perform the first "Triple Klutz" in Olympic History.
Enjoy the games tomorrow, wear "Red" and continue to display the "Red Spirit" of the Games.

sent from my BlackBerry device
Best regards,

Greg
M 416-347-1545