Wow. That was a whirlwind of action unlike anything I’ve experienced. The 2010 Winter Olympics closed last night while I was making my way back from Vancouver to lovely VT.
It’s much more winter-like here, and it feels naked without the tall pines that inhabit Whistler.
Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to go on the Mark Johnson Show on WDEV radio, 96.1, to take a look back at all the action. I’d love to take your questions, so feel free to leave them as comments here on the blog, or call in tomorrow morning.
The quick look back makes me think of lots of highs and lows, favorite moments – ones that were sad, inspiring, amazing, passionate. I keep thinking back to the slogan of the 2006 Games in Torino. It was “Passion lives here.” I think passion is something that courses though the Olympics, and even though NBC tries its best to ruin that feeling by chopping up and over-manipulate the coverage to fit into their neat little template, punctuated with expensive ads, the beauty of the Games is simple. We love watching people who are passionate about what they are doing, and it is beautiful to see goals accomplished and unreal feats pulled off.
I’ll outline a larger list of highlights, in this week’s Stowe Reporter, but for now here are a few tidbits. Please comment and share your favorite moments, too.
Joannie Rochette losing her mother, then skating to two of her best results in figure skating was heartbreaking and beautiful to watch. It’s difficult to imagine what that took, and amazing that she was able to channel such a tragic and sad moment of her life into such a triumph.
When Petra Majdic, a sprint maven in the cross-country world, fell during warm-up and broke five ribs before the ladies’ classic spring many other athletes would have thrown in the towel. Not Majdic. She skied through the pain, puncturing a lung in the process, and collected a bronze medal. What else do I need to say?
The “Hermann Maier moment” in alpine skiing has to go to Anja Paerson of Sweden. After launching herself off the final jump in women’s downhill, flying more than 200 feet (it looked more like a ski jumper’s jump than anything I’ve seen in downhill) and taking a nasty crash, Paerson came back in the next race to win bronze in women’s super g. Paerson would have won the downhill silver, and she made a huge recovery in the air, which saved her from what could have been complete disaster. She was able to muscle her feet back under her in the air – it’s scary to think what would have happened had she landed on her back.
Watching Bode Miller ski with renewed inspiration during these Olympics (up until the gs and slalom when we didn’t get to see his ski much) was a real joy, and seeing him ski to a gold medal in super combined was phenomenal. To walk away from an Olympics with three medals, one of each color, is an amazing feat, especially considering Miller’s 360 from 2006.
Vermont taking home three medals is also a huge excitement, and a pretty big deal. Thanks to Hannah Kearney (gold in moguls), Hannah Teter (silver in halfpipe) and Kelly Clark (bronze in halfpipe) our small state as many medals as Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Australia and more than Great Britain.
