I arrived in Vancouver on the sea plane from Victoria and was very excited to see the lit cauldron. When I had landed the day of the Opening Ceremony, it was covered. I hadn't seen the outdoor one yet, so as we landed in the harbour, I took the time to take photos. You can see the three posts I wrote about Day 1 here (arriving in Vancouver), here (pre-opening ceremony) and here (Opening Ceremony).
I walked up to the cauldron where I met a Japanese tourist. She was also at the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and was very excited about seeing the cauldron. She asked me to take her photo and she then took mine.
The fence is a bit of an eyesore, but I was still able to get some great shots by putting my camera right up to it.
I especially love this one.
I then walked over to the seabus terminal and arrived on the north shore with plenty of time before my assigned bus time up to Cypress Mountain. I got myself a fruit bowl and went out to to the quay to take in the view, take photos and enjoy the sun that made its first appearance on my trip.
My bus was scheduled to leave at 11:25am. The bus was full at 11:20am so we left ahead of schedule. Incredible organization on getting us to the mountain.
For the second time at the Games, security is no problem. It's like going through at an airport. They take your bags through an x-ray machine, you empty your pockets and then walk through a metal detector. There were only a few people in line ahead of me and I am quickly through security.
I continue my walk to the mountain and pass by the portable toilets (seriously?) and a very very long line-up for food. I'm happy I had my fruit bowl and have a snack in my bag. As we passed, workers did warn us that this was a short line-up compared to what it would be. They weren't kidding!
I make my way to my seat, and take in the view... gorgeous ...
I arrived a couple of hours before the start of the event, but time went by quite quickly. There was a 45 minute practice session, there was commentary and I learned that I was in the same venue as my favourite mogul skier, Jean-Luc Brassard (1994 gold medallist) who was doing commentary for RDS (Réseau des Sports), the French Canadian version of TSN. As they announce that he is there, I take a photo of someone who is at the window of the RDS booth behind me. It looked like him, and I will continue to believe that it was him.
Interestingly, I just looked online to get a recent photo of him because I haven't seen his face in over a decade. The video clip that I stumble upon is from a program called "La flamme de la Francophonie" (The Francophone Flame) and he talks about finding your passion and pursuing it. I guess it's a common theme, or once something is in your head, it pops up everywhere.
At this point, I realize that I am only going to see every skier twice. I decided not to photograph or video during the final round which meant choosing whether to video or photograph on their first runs. During the qualification round, I took a video of Alexandre Bilodeau instead of photos. I knew he was our best chance at a medal. I took photos of the world's number 1, Dale Begg-Smith who is originally from Vancouver but competes for Australia.
I also took photos of Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (nicknamed P.A. - pronounced in french P=pay A=soft a like in cat) whose brother was sitting behind me. This photo of P.A. ended up being my favourite:
P.A.'s brother (and friends) are very knowledgeable about moguls, so I thoroughly enjoyed their (French) commentary and I learned a lot about what to look for. I learned that even though a skier may be fast, their turns were not as good, so although they would get time points, they would lose style points. They could easily see when a skier was being bounced around and would lose points. They often predicted correctly where a skier would end up. It was also fun to have a more personal experience by hearing their excitement over P.A.'s performances (and his teammates and friends).
Every skier was introduced and they lined up at the bottom for a photo in the order that they qualified for the final.
The Canadian skiers were ushered through the media maze in order to be interviewed by RDS.
I like this photo of P.A. during his interview.
There was then a two hour break where people lined up for food, souvenirs or portable toilets. The food venues included two tents, each about the size of a McDonald's counter (or smaller). The ski chalet was in another area of the hill (and probably reserved for athletes and their entourage). During the break, there were thousands of people in line. The line was so long that I took a video walking from the back to the front of the line. It took me over two minutes to walk along the 2-4 people wide line to the point where the people would enter the roped zig zag line for one of the tents (and where that line-up ended when I first arrived and I thought it was long). The other tent's line went the other way. I was glad I had my snack. On the bright side, the line up for the (portable) toilets was only about 10 minutes.
The final round was amazing. I didn't take the camera or video camera out until it was all over. I wanted to completely enjoy the moment. Vincent Marquis, a Canadian was in first place when P.A. came down. P.A. had an amazing run and was cheering looking up at his brother and friends behind me. He was in 2nd place! The next skier was another Canadian, Maxime Gingras. The crowd was so enthusiastic and cheering, 1-2-3!! 1-2-3!! Unfortunately, his score wasn't high enough to have an all-Canadian temporary podium. After every skier, the crowd would go crazy with the Canadians still with potential podium finishes. The astmosphere was electric. Vincent and P.A. lasted in first and second until the 4th last skier came down.
When the Canadian-born Aussie Dale Begg-Smith came down and took first place, it burst our bubble a little, but we knew we still had a shot with Alexandre Bilodeau coming down second last.
After Alexandre's run, he was announced as the leader (ahead of his biggest rival Begg-Smith) and the crowd went crazy. I was so excited that we were guaranteed a silver medal. Everyone waited with baited breath as the last skier came down and we awaited the final standings.
GOLD for Bilodeau. GOLD for Canada. Our first gold medal won on Canadian soil.
In case you missed his run, you can view it here.
I have never heard cheering as loudly as I did that day...even louder than at the Opening Ceremonies. We are jumping up and down and celebrating this great feat by Alexandre Bilodeau.
Will this be remembered as a moment in Canadian sports history when people will wonder where we were when we won our first gold medal on Canadian soil? I will be very lucky to be able to say, I was there.
At this point, I moved more centrally as some people have left I'm sure with hopes of catching one of the first buses back to Vancouver. I take my camera out and take photos of the podium and flower ceremony.
I took a short video of the podium, but I am shaking so much that it's quite comical. I was so cold at this point, from not wearing my mitts to take photos and not being surrounded by people like I was when the stands were packed.
My friends had found me a hotel room in Vancouver, so I wasn't in a rush to leave to catch the ferry back to Victoria. I went down to the General Admission area and watched as the skiers left and accepted congratulations, including P.A. from Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
Finally, after all his interviews, Alexandre Bilodeau came by while on the telephone. I don't think he was able to hear anything though with the crowd still cheering.
Time to leave the mountain. As I start walking to the exit, I notice that the souvenir shop is still open and there is no line-up to get in so I enter and purchase a couple of Cypress Mountain freestyle t-shirts and a stuffed mascot for my daughter.
As I get to the bus line-up (which is basically every spectator that was there, since I was in the minority in taking my time to get to the line-up), I realize that I'm hungry. It's about 7:30pm. Since that bowl of fruit this morning, I have only eaten a few almonds. I am still feeling quite cold because I continued to keep my mitts off while I took photos of the departing skiers. My granola bar is frozen, and it's difficult to chew with me shivering, but I am still so happy.
What a day!!
I walked up to the cauldron where I met a Japanese tourist. She was also at the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and was very excited about seeing the cauldron. She asked me to take her photo and she then took mine.
I especially love this one.
I then walked over to the seabus terminal and arrived on the north shore with plenty of time before my assigned bus time up to Cypress Mountain. I got myself a fruit bowl and went out to to the quay to take in the view, take photos and enjoy the sun that made its first appearance on my trip.
My bus was scheduled to leave at 11:25am. The bus was full at 11:20am so we left ahead of schedule. Incredible organization on getting us to the mountain.
I continue my walk to the mountain and pass by the portable toilets (seriously?) and a very very long line-up for food. I'm happy I had my fruit bowl and have a snack in my bag. As we passed, workers did warn us that this was a short line-up compared to what it would be. They weren't kidding!
I make my way to my seat, and take in the view... gorgeous ...
Interestingly, I just looked online to get a recent photo of him because I haven't seen his face in over a decade. The video clip that I stumble upon is from a program called "La flamme de la Francophonie" (The Francophone Flame) and he talks about finding your passion and pursuing it. I guess it's a common theme, or once something is in your head, it pops up everywhere.
At this point, I realize that I am only going to see every skier twice. I decided not to photograph or video during the final round which meant choosing whether to video or photograph on their first runs. During the qualification round, I took a video of Alexandre Bilodeau instead of photos. I knew he was our best chance at a medal. I took photos of the world's number 1, Dale Begg-Smith who is originally from Vancouver but competes for Australia.
I also took photos of Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (nicknamed P.A. - pronounced in french P=pay A=soft a like in cat) whose brother was sitting behind me. This photo of P.A. ended up being my favourite:
P.A.'s brother (and friends) are very knowledgeable about moguls, so I thoroughly enjoyed their (French) commentary and I learned a lot about what to look for. I learned that even though a skier may be fast, their turns were not as good, so although they would get time points, they would lose style points. They could easily see when a skier was being bounced around and would lose points. They often predicted correctly where a skier would end up. It was also fun to have a more personal experience by hearing their excitement over P.A.'s performances (and his teammates and friends).
Every skier was introduced and they lined up at the bottom for a photo in the order that they qualified for the final.
The Canadian skiers were ushered through the media maze in order to be interviewed by RDS.
I like this photo of P.A. during his interview.
There was then a two hour break where people lined up for food, souvenirs or portable toilets. The food venues included two tents, each about the size of a McDonald's counter (or smaller). The ski chalet was in another area of the hill (and probably reserved for athletes and their entourage). During the break, there were thousands of people in line. The line was so long that I took a video walking from the back to the front of the line. It took me over two minutes to walk along the 2-4 people wide line to the point where the people would enter the roped zig zag line for one of the tents (and where that line-up ended when I first arrived and I thought it was long). The other tent's line went the other way. I was glad I had my snack. On the bright side, the line up for the (portable) toilets was only about 10 minutes.
The final round was amazing. I didn't take the camera or video camera out until it was all over. I wanted to completely enjoy the moment. Vincent Marquis, a Canadian was in first place when P.A. came down. P.A. had an amazing run and was cheering looking up at his brother and friends behind me. He was in 2nd place! The next skier was another Canadian, Maxime Gingras. The crowd was so enthusiastic and cheering, 1-2-3!! 1-2-3!! Unfortunately, his score wasn't high enough to have an all-Canadian temporary podium. After every skier, the crowd would go crazy with the Canadians still with potential podium finishes. The astmosphere was electric. Vincent and P.A. lasted in first and second until the 4th last skier came down.
When the Canadian-born Aussie Dale Begg-Smith came down and took first place, it burst our bubble a little, but we knew we still had a shot with Alexandre Bilodeau coming down second last.
After Alexandre's run, he was announced as the leader (ahead of his biggest rival Begg-Smith) and the crowd went crazy. I was so excited that we were guaranteed a silver medal. Everyone waited with baited breath as the last skier came down and we awaited the final standings.
GOLD for Bilodeau. GOLD for Canada. Our first gold medal won on Canadian soil.
In case you missed his run, you can view it here.
I have never heard cheering as loudly as I did that day...even louder than at the Opening Ceremonies. We are jumping up and down and celebrating this great feat by Alexandre Bilodeau.
Will this be remembered as a moment in Canadian sports history when people will wonder where we were when we won our first gold medal on Canadian soil? I will be very lucky to be able to say, I was there.
At this point, I moved more centrally as some people have left I'm sure with hopes of catching one of the first buses back to Vancouver. I take my camera out and take photos of the podium and flower ceremony.
I took a short video of the podium, but I am shaking so much that it's quite comical. I was so cold at this point, from not wearing my mitts to take photos and not being surrounded by people like I was when the stands were packed.
My friends had found me a hotel room in Vancouver, so I wasn't in a rush to leave to catch the ferry back to Victoria. I went down to the General Admission area and watched as the skiers left and accepted congratulations, including P.A. from Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
Finally, after all his interviews, Alexandre Bilodeau came by while on the telephone. I don't think he was able to hear anything though with the crowd still cheering.
Time to leave the mountain. As I start walking to the exit, I notice that the souvenir shop is still open and there is no line-up to get in so I enter and purchase a couple of Cypress Mountain freestyle t-shirts and a stuffed mascot for my daughter.
As I get to the bus line-up (which is basically every spectator that was there, since I was in the minority in taking my time to get to the line-up), I realize that I'm hungry. It's about 7:30pm. Since that bowl of fruit this morning, I have only eaten a few almonds. I am still feeling quite cold because I continued to keep my mitts off while I took photos of the departing skiers. My granola bar is frozen, and it's difficult to chew with me shivering, but I am still so happy.
What a day!!
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