the contest

With the Olympics almost over, I remembered that I have this poster about winning given to me when I got my Event Management certificate over 10 years ago. I really like it and I think it embodies competition really well.

The contest lasts for moments
Though the training's taken years
It wasn't the winning alone that
Was worth the work and the tears
The applause will be forgotten
The prize will be misplaced
But the long hard hours of practice
Will never be a waste
For in trying to win
You build a skill
You learn that winning
Depends on will
You never grow by how much you win
You only grow by how much you put in
So any new challenge
You've just begun
Put forth your best
And you've already won.

- W.A. Clennan

Victory Ceremony and Great Big Sea

Tickets for tonights medal ceremony was only $22 retail and since my friend bought and sold a 3rd for $80, he made enough profit selling it that we didn't have to pay anything! Crazy what people will pay for Olympic tickets!

There were 2 medals awarded tonight at BC Place and 2 at Whistler. No Canadians tonight.
My friend was in from Germany, and there was one.

Ladies parallel giant slalom snowboard, Netherlands for Gold, Russia and Austria following.
Freestyle skiing, men's aerials, Belarus for Gold, USA and China following.

Biathlon, men's 4 x 7.5 km relay, Norway for Gold, Austria and Russia following. Alpine skiing, Germany for Gold, Austria and Czech following. Germany's Maria Riesch is a top athlete for that country.

It was Newfoundland and Labrador day today and there were musicians from there but unfortunately I didn't who any of them are. Too bad they didn't have their names on the screen.

Great Big Sea are the headliners and they were very energetic. Too bad we were 3 rows from the top of the stadium, but still some energetic fans up here. I would say that it was about 80-90% full. They only used half the stadium. The semi final men's hockey game was on next door at Canada Hockey place, so I think most of the people were there. Canada vs. Slovakia. We kept getting updates along the way, but we found out later it wasn't accurate (We heard 4-0), but we still won, 3-2! On to the finals on Sunday with USA!

After the concert ended, we met up with my friends from Germany. They were wearing German colours in the form of a Dr. Seuss style hat and a wig. They were getting a lot of attention, good and bad, but still lots of fun. Next time I travel, I'm going to wear Canadian colours and walk around and see what happens.

We headed towards Japadog, since we didn't eat yet and it was so famous, they had to try it before going home. I tried the Okonomi the other day (bonito flakes, fried cabbage, mayo on kurobuta pork, okonomiyaki sauce). I tried Ume today (bratwurst, plum sauce, raw red onion). Better than a standard dog for sure.

On the way, we stopped at Beard Papa's for the famous Chinese style cream puff. Here is their welcome to the world tower of cream puffs.


We were headed towards Germany Fan Fest (which was at Steamworks pub near the Waterfront station) because my friends have VIP tickets since they bought their Olympic tickets from Germany. However, we got sidetracked by the fireworks, fire and light show at Robson Square. We stopped to go to the Roots store because my German friends wanted to buy some clothing. So easy to get distracted here, so many things to see and do, and so many people.

While we were there, we saw the finals for the short track speed skating. Canada won gold and bronze for the men's 500m (Charles Hamelin and Francois Louis-Tremblay). Finally, Charles Hamelin got his medal! His girlfriend and silver medallist Marianne St-Gelais jumped from the stands and onto the field of play to hug and kiss him! How cute is that! That's the kind of support and love that an athlete deserves. Apolo Ohno got disqualified, and Korea took silver (Si-Bak Sung). Korea is just so fast! Poor Tyson Heung, my non-Canadian favourtie, finished 5th. Hey, at least you're here competing, not everyone can do that. I wish I was the one to support him...:)

We also got Gold for the 5000m relay. Yay for the Hamelin brothers! It was so disappointing to watch them come in 4th and 5th place in the individual 1000m race behind Apolo Ohno and the 2 Koreans (Si-Bak Sung and Jung-Su Lee) especially since they were leading most of the race. I think they can't pass as well as them. Olivier Jean and Francois Louis-Tremblay were the other 2 members.

3 more medals for us, we are now 3rd for the medal count and the most gold, at 10!!!! How proud am I to be Canadian. I find myself so emotional when our athletes win. I played sports throughout my student years and still play recreationally now. Too bad it's too late for me to be an Olympian, but I BELIEVE!

Since it was just past 11pm, we decided to head over to the CTV live broadcast with Pamela Martin and Bill Good on Robson Street to see if we could get the Germany colours on TV. It was crazy loud and pushy, lots of Canada flags, people on people's shoulder's, 9/11 signs, etc. There was a spectator with a large paper mache Muk Muk and she moved from the back to the front and then we couldn't see anything at all. We stayed for almost the whole hour, but then just couldn't take it anymore.

We headed towards GE plaza and got our photos taken with the bobsled and the snowboard. It was raining a bit, but it was just too hard to use an umbrella. We just stuck it out and then headed home about 1130pm. No Germany Fan Fest tonight.

LiveCity Yaletown

In the late afternoon, another friend and I headed to LiveCity Yaletown. I tried to come last night, but the line was way too long, considering that the men's hockey team won the quarter finals against Russia.




Today, we only waited 10 mins. The women's gold medal hockey game was on with Canada and US. We were there for the 2-0 win! Another gold for Canada, 17th medal, 8th gold.

We tried to assess the lineups for the sponsor pavilions, Coke, Acer, Samsung and Panasonic, but really didn't want to wait more than 10 mins, so we skipped them all.

We went to Vancouver House instead. It displayed some green initiatives as well as the recently approved laneway houses. ~ 866 sq ft models that are $280,000 to build! Yikes. If I had enough property, I would just make an extension, or sell and buy and bigger place with suites already built in.






We went off to find Haida Gwaii house, near BC Place and it was a tiny shop.

downtown Olympic stuff

I headed downtown with my friend to go check out things during a weekday. We were both hoping to come across shorter lineups. It was a clear day and not raining.

We started at GE Plaza at Robson Square. Circus West performed for half and hour and it wasn't too bad. I've taken these hand balancing classes before, so I know how difficult these poses are and seeing how young these kids are, I just wish that I found the sport earlier so that I would know how to do it.

We walked to the Bell Ice Cube and missed gold medalist Ashley McIvor by ~ 15 min. Bell has live interviews with Olympians at 3pm. We were in line and got in late, so only saw some former Olympians from 1988 or 1992, 2002 Olympics. I didn't know who they were unfortunately. Maybe someone can help me out?

We headed to LiveCity downtown and our wait was only about 10 min. The men's hockey game was supposed to be on at 430pm, so we wanted to get in before the hoards of fans did. There were no lines at both the Canada Pavilion and the Manitoba Pavilion.




























Freestyle skiier Kristi Richards was signing autographs.

last shift, #13, ladies figure skating

For my last shift, I tried to get a media post, as I wanted to see the hubbub, but was misdirected and could only get posted inside at a media access point. In the meantime, Apolo Ohno was doing an interview and I caught him here.

It's figure skating again. 2 volunteers from my team are figure skaters and one of them pointed out Scott Hamilton. I would not have recognized him. Of all the other media coming in and out, CTV, NBC, RDS, SDS, French TV, etc, I didn't recognize anyone.


The media compound is a bunch of trailers, and I have no idea what's inside. The press have lots of cameras, video equipment and designated spots to be.














I saw the last part of Canadian skater Joannie Rochettte. Her mother died suddenly of a heart attack a few days ago. I think she held it all in until she finished skating. She was so emotional at the end and wanted to cry I'm sure, but not in front of the media. A bunch of us volunteers also felt tears swell in our eyes. One of the volunteers actually got her flowers, a "torch" like vase and a bear for hugs. How thoughtful is that? She finished 3rd in the short program, so I hope she can still stay in the top 3 for the long program to win a medal.

I got off shift at ~10 pm. While I waited for the Games Express bus, there must've been almost 6-7 buses that passed us by as "not in service" or not even full! How can you can see the line of blue jacket volunteers and not pick us up?

On the way home on the skytrain, there was a lady who just collapsed and fell out of the skytrain doors onto the platform and puked. Her friend said that they both drank, but this reaction was not normal and that she may have been drugged. Her friend said that she's been drugged before too. There was also a gentleman who stopped to help and also said that him and his friends have had that happen too. How common is this? And why don't people report this stuff? I really urged the ladies' friend to report it, not to just sleep it off, as there might be a guy wandering around drugging drinks and hoping to get somewhere. I felt helpful by calling an ambulance when no one else would. I really hope there aren't a lot of "bad things" happening during the Olympics. When the paramedics came, I headed for home.

In news coverage, I heard we won gold in ski cross, so I stayed up til midnight to watch. Ashley McIvor!! Medal #10 for Canada, our 5th gold! Ski cross is a great spectator sport.

For my last shift, I got a large blue Swatch watch. I won't be keeping it or some of my other souvenirs, and maybe try to sell them before it loses value on the market.

I gave VANOC 111.5 hours of my life and some of it was good, and some not so good. I put some comment cards in about the unfair deployment of volunteers, selfish and unreliable volunteers, poor food nutrition and quality, lack of leadership and organization skills from Team Leads and Supervisors and poor communication from venue managers to volunteers. I did however, put in some glowing comments about some fellow volunteers I worked with and that they were responsible, helpful, had great work ethic and a joy to work with. I guess you get the whole gamut.

I remember now why I didn't want to be supervisor. I remember volunteering for merchandising for the 1999 Jazz Festival as the assistant to the coordinator. We had a lot of trouble coordinating volunteers, because they call in sick, they don't do their roles, they feel it's all fun and games, not a job. I volunteer to get into the "behind the scenes" action as I have always wanted to be an event planner, but not a human resource person. Or maybe, it's just because good help is hard to find. But to all the joyful volunteers, congratulations for helping out with Vancouver 2010 and being part of Team 2010 with a smile on your face and a great attitude.

cauldron, 4 hosts and aboriginal pavilion

Well, I forced myself to stay up after I finished my 5am volunteer shift so that my sleep pattern would return to normal. I called a friend and headed downtown.

We went to the new convention centre and waterfront to see the external cauldron. There were lots of people, but actually not as many as I thought. Maybe 4pm is the time to show up!

There was about a 45min wait for the upper viewing platform. I'm just not that interested in anything that long.

We headed over to Canada's Northern House. It was on Hastings St, at the old Hard Rock Cafe location, I think. Again, only a 20min wait! We got in and saw a caribou and inukshuk. There were lots of animals, stone and bone carvings, and we saw some traditional artic sports. Kind of like hangman with the man replaced by a stuffed toy seal, and trying to kick it.



We headed over towards Live City Downtown and bumped into the BC Hydro building, and hardly a line, we thought it was closed! An employee who is native carved 2 statues and is now in the building as a legacy. We saw the home of the future, 2 converted shipping containers made into a living space with "smart" appliances and sensors.

We kept on walking and hit the 4 hosts building, which is the Vancouver Community College downtown campus. All the aboriginal vendors are in there, lots of wonderful glass and silver native art. Really expensive carvings and figurines, up to $12,o00! Some decent bangles and earrings from $60 to $120.

We kept on walking and found the aboriginal pavilion at Queen Elizabeth theatre. There is a dome theatre with a short 9 min movie about the native people of Canada. It was pretty good, and again, we only waited ~ 20min.

We decided to leave about 7pm and realized that the women's hockey game just finished at Canada Hockey Place (GM Place). We had avoided almost all the crowds until now! Well, we were lucky, as most people were headed back into downtown and there was no real wait for the skytrain.

Not bad to get all that in, in ~ 3 hours! "Go Canada Go" and Canada flags were posted all over corporate buildings. It was great to see the patriotism come out.

shift #12 - figure skating training again

I was late, just can't wake up anymore; my 3rd 5 am shift in a row. I was caught by a team lead on my entrance and taken to the Coliseum, but I was lucky to be inside, because other hosts who were late got posted outside.

Really short on staff now, even the team leads need to cover 2 areas. I was on the entry team, but since the training is really boring to me, I preferred to have a seat and be an access monitor for the lower arena where the athletes can go. I sat most of my shift and then was rotated to ushering. So many people in the wrong seats, and the quality of the skating was dull to me.

Some of the skaters don't do their whole routine. You follow them once their music starts, but then they stop their routine and so you watch another skater on the ice. I watched the Canadian pair do free dance. I was a little more impressed with this style as it added holds and body flips, etc, like circus arts on skates. They just won gold in ice dance - ice dance and free dance combined! Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Canada's 10th medal.

I got my 12th shift gift. We had a choice. Originally I picked a pair of angora gloves with cut off fingertips and the mitt cover, but it had so many holes, I figured it wouldn't be warm. I opted instead for the fleece lined black gloves, but they were quite large, probably for men, but I didn't want a toque nor another scarf.

Last shift tomorrow, and they told me it would be a watch!

shift #11 - workforce entry

Ah, another 5 am start. I just can't get enough sleep!

I was assigned outside to the foxtrot team, working the workforce, or accreditation entry. We just scan staff in and make sure they go through random security screening when the computer system says so.

Nothing of note today, other than another ticketed figure skating event, ice dance. Lots of fans showing up at 6am to watch! Just crazy. Some Japanese fans came without tickets and were hoping to see famous people. Too bad we couldn't let them in, and that the athletes come on a bus and get dropped off at a secure entrance...We had other people just walking the grounds and wondering what was going on. Too bad I don't speak Mandarin to help these women out.

I worked with 2 other wonderful volunteer hosts and we managed ourselves for the whole day. Margaret Ardine and Christianna Wilder. Goes to show you that there are great volunteers out there, and also bad ones. Lots of people quitting, not showing up for their shifts, or leaving early.

I got off at 130pm and went home, hoping to stay up, but eventually ended up on the couch fast asleep for almost 4 hours!

I caught some tv coverage and Canada lost to the US hockey team, we missed another medal for the ski cross when our Canadian Chris Delbosco crashed on the last bump, he could've had bronze. We got silver in the long track speed skating though (it looked almost like a Gold, but not quite), ladies 1500m, Kristina Groves.

1st day as a spectator

Finally, a day to enjoy the Olympics without working or volunteering, Friday Feb 19. My friend is in from out of town, but working for the Olympics and we hung out most of the day.

We met up at Olympic station on the Canada Line, and hopped onto the Olympic streetcar. Just ~ 30 min wait, which isn't bad for a Friday. We got to Granville Island. It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was perfect for walking around taking in everything.



First thing we saw was Atlantic House, at the Arts Club Theatre. They only have lines for food tasting and some entertainment, but we weren't going to wait for an hour.


Next one was House of Switzerland, Bridges restaurant. He had raclette and I had a sausage.

We went over the Place de la Francophonie but there was nothing on, I guess mostly nightly entertainment.

We went to Candahar, which was a recreated bar from Belfast. There were wood chairs, pretty bare bones atmosphere. They serve whisky, beer and wine for $5.75.






We ended up at Richmond O-Zone for the evening. It's near Richmond City Hall and Minoru park. They had big screens, but not really much else. I really wanted to see the BCLC games dome, but it was a long line and I had a volunteer shift at 5am and it was already 9pm. We couldn't get into Holland Heinekin House either because it was full and no one was leaving. Pretty disappointing. We did try some ice wine from Iniskillin winery. Pretty darn sweet and I like the vidal grape.

I'm looking forward to seeing other stuff in the following week.

shift #10 - ticket taking

It was bonus gift day, volunteers got a silver medallion and thank you pin from IOC. At least that was a welcome surprise for me, since this is another 5am shift and 2 more to go.

I got on the "entry" team which is at the arena, but I decided to take tickets, as it was a practice figure skating session and I wasn't too interested in ushering. It was so cold in the morning, my new long johns, and extra layer of fleece did not help. Gates open at 6am, people only pay $30 to watch the entire program, ladies and ice dance for 6 hours. The only thing is that there are other skaters on the ice, and some people may not show up.

Scanning was fine, reminds me of my Ticket Master days working doors. There were some problems with people's tickets not scanning. Boy, are those people nervous that they wouldn't get in! Some people bring all their tickets, some people bring the wrong ones, one lady didn't buy one for her kid, who is four, saying that he will sit on her lap, where other people are buying tickets for their babies.

Since I was off at 130pm, it was great to go home and have a nap. This also enabled me to watch the speed skating finals. I was cheering for Canada and Tyson Heung from Germany. I learn so much from TV coverage, it's just so much more informative than being live, but you get the atmosphere and crazy buzz if you're there for a medal finish.

The Hamlin brothers lost their 1000m final to Korea and USA champ Apolo Ohno. They lost steam in the race and came 4th and 5th of 5. Tyson didn't make it through the quarter finals because Charles Hamelin and Apolo Ohno were in his heat and only the top 2 advance. I found out that he's from Brampton Ontario, no wonder he seemed so polite and a lone wolf from the German team, it's that Canadian part of him.

For the ladies, our Kalyna Roberge fell in a heat and our Tania Vincent lost steam also and came last in her 1500m final, coming in 8th. So disappointing.

There's so much pressure on those athletes, but they must want it so bad, that they have to take risks. I've seen a few passes where falls happen and lots of infractions and disqualifications, mostly Korean men. Gotta have good sportmanship!

shift #9 - ingress and egress

Well, I knew it was coming, an outdoor shift. I was with the "plaza" team. I was at the spectator entry, doing "pacer" work. We let only one spectator through the magnetometer at a time, ensuring that the security person watches them go through and if it beeps, the spectator gets wanded for all metal items on the body.

It was so sunny in the afternoon, it was great, I had to bring out my sunglasses. It's funny the stuff people bring to the games, flags, signs, the costumes they wear, etc. It's a sign of patriotism and great spirit. Good for them.

The security guys confiscated a couple of pocket knives, but nothing else to note. There was some inconsistency in messaging from the security people: can you bring in water, can you bring in food? The whole point of "no liquids" is that it's potentially a threat to public safety. The supervisor was on the side of the spectator, saying that if you stand in line for an hour, you get thirsty, you drink from your bottle and now you have to dump it at the gate?

Funny how many people will come late to a figure skating event having paid hundreds of dollars. Lower bowl seating tickets are $450! Some of the Japanese come in their wooden sandals and kimonos, it's great to see, but cold for the feet, I'm sure. It's men's figure skating today.

Ingress was probably the fastest 3 hours I've had volunteering. Once the crowds went in and the sun went down, it was quite cold. My team lead let us have an extra hour break once our entry tent was closed. There was one security guard, Badi, who was very friendly and a great screener, always ready for the next spectator, trying to get them through as quickly as possible. Other workers didn't have the same work ethic. I heard about 5000 people were hired by security for the games, but I don't think any of them would stop a threat, they were more into standing with a metal wand, or into customer service and socializing.

I read in the paper that there was a 2nd security breach, where an x-ray operator thought he saw a gun in a bag, but didn't stop the bag or person, was too busy calling over a supervisor and cops to check out the video! These guys are protecting our games?!

Egress was quite a steady flow, ~12,000 people leaving the arena and trying to get home. Really cold now, ~ 2100h. I feel bad for the spectators, they have to walk ~ 400m from the street to the entrance and same on the exit. The way the organizers mapped out the venue, in my opinion, was not the best way. I think the spectators always come last, where media, sponsors, etc get priority treatment. I heard USA Evan Ysacek upset the favoured Russian Evgeni Plushenko for Gold. I saw Patrick Chan skate and he fell a couple times and came 5th.

For my 9th shift, I got a silver plated keychain for "Team 2010" from Birks.

shift #8 - short track speed skating

Yay, I was posted inside again! I was at the south end of the Coliseum and watched the first half of the races. I missed the finals for the women and the qualifying for the men's relay.

Women's 500m quarter and semi finals and men's 1000m heats. Lots of crashes and some of our Canadians qualified, but we only won silver for the women's 500m; Marianne St-Gelais; we got edged out by a toe by China. Canadian Jessica Gregg got 4th and Italy got Bronze. Our other Canadain Kalyna Roberge got 6th. Gregg lost some power because of 2 bad starts in her heat with Great Britain's Sarah Lindsay edging into her lane. They both fell twice and lost some energy.

I missed the men's 5000m relay, but we qualified.

Gold medalist Jennifer Heil was in the crowd and people were asking her for photos and autographs.

Quite a short shift, as the competition is only 2.25 hrs long. Met a really cute policeman from Montreal Police, Luc. And I saw my cutie from Germany race, Tyson!

No photos today, the volunteer boss is getting more stringent on that, but how can we take photos when we're in full uniform and on break? Not possible and lots of volunteers are doing it. Just don't get caught I guess.

shift #7 - men's figure skating short program

Yay, I was inside again, Tribune team. I was posted right beside the media and press boxes and the Olympic Family Lounge. There are so many desks for the press and broadcasters. Tons of laptops, cameras, video equipment, microphones, etc. I was standing beside France Television and these are probably very popular people and I have no idea who they are.

I had to block off access to this restricted zone (sections 8-11 and C - I) and the public were not too happy. We blocked off one set of bathrooms too, just for the Olympic family. I had to escort Patrick Chan's grandfather, 90 yrs old to the washroom. He didn't have a pass, but his other family member did, so gave him the pass. I guess people are used to the Coliseum and going all the way around. Everyone seemed to want to go around and check things out.

I watched the last half of the men's figure skating short program. I saw Patrick Chan skate, he came 7th overall with 81.12 pts. We have another guy, Vaughn Chifeur, but he didn't make the top 10, he was 27th with 57.22 pts. Lots of point differentials, the highest being in the 90s, all the way down to 40 something points. Even though I don't know much about figure skating, you can just tell when some skaters perform great turns, clean landings, awesome footwork and great performances. I love it when the music is upbeat and the crowd claps along.

Russia, USA and Japan are currently 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

I saw some people interviewing and asked who it was. It was Elizabeth Manley, Rod Black and David Pelletier.

shift #6 - figure skating pairs short program

My supervisor said, how romantic, volunteering at the Olympics for pairs figure skating.

I got a little stuffed Miga for my 6th shift, worth ~$20. I'm on the entry team today.

I saw my sister; lucky for me, I was posted to the section she was sitting at. I gave my Miga to her. She has more Olympic spirit than me, spending money on tickets, buying Olympic mitts and a Canada scarf! Good for her. And her fiance watched the men's moguls and our first gold, Alexandre Bilodeau in freestyle skiing !

I watched most of the pairs figure skating short program, with the exception of dinner break. I learned that the short and long program scores get combined for the total score for the medal. I was inside doing ushering at sections 22 to 24, upper bowl of the Coliseum. Pretty fun to be able to watch and help people find their seats. Section 22 was for athletes and it was interesting to see them in their country uniforms and cheering on their team mates. Lots of people throwing out gifts for the performers.

The poor spectators who have to go up to the last row, 26 at the top. It's quite steep and some people are elderly or have bad knees. I guess those are the cheap seats and then I heard that some of the flags at the top are blocking their view from the big screen. I guess the organizers didn't check that part.

I saw Josee Chouinard MC'ing in the crowd. She interviewed Brian Boitano. The closest I've been to a real Olympian.

Our Canadians, Jessica Dube and Bryce Davidson came 6th with 65.36 pts and Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay came 7th with 64.20 pts. The Chinese pair, Xue Shen and Hongbo Xao came 1st. Germany and Russia are currently 2nd and 3rd.

shift #5 - figure skating practice session

First day of competition for the 21st Winter Olympic games! It's finally here!

I started at 5am. There was a ticketed session for figure skating practice, pairs and mens this morning 7am to 1pm. I guess tickets would be cheaper than for competition. I was assigned outside and it was cold and I was not happy, but had to do my job. Just doing access monitoring again and not letting spectators into acredited zones.

During my breaks, I would go in and look to see who was on the ice. I saw a pairs routine, although I don't know who they were or what country they're from. I did get a chance to see Patrick Chan warm up. The only reason I knew it was him, was because of all the cheers and people telling me. Have a look at the video.

I also saw the performance of Austria skater, Viktor Pfeifer, not very interesting, not a lot of jumps, but mostly dance performance. I saw pairs from Ukraine, but didn't know who it was.

The opening ceremonies were great on TV. The commentary really helps. Since I saw the dress rehearsal 2 days ago, I now know what some of the actual segments really mean. I really enjoyed Sarah MacLachlan's performance, and seeing Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams. The poet was really good, and I really like the maple leaf with roller bladers.

shift #4 - Killarney training session, short track speed skating

New venue today, Killarney Centre. This is the training venue for short track speed skating, and probably my most eventful and exciting shift yet!

I saw lots of teams today as I was posted at the athlete entry and in the rink beside the athletes as they warmed up, trained and cooled down. First up was Australia in green and gold suits like skeletons, Tatiana Borodilina and Lachlan Hay. They trained along side Japan, ~8 athletes, in black and gold suits; and Russia. ~5 athletes, through relays. The Australia girl used to compete for Russia and they all probably know each other through world cup competitions anyways. Lachlan is tall and fast!

Women apparently go ~ 40km/h, so imagine the guys! I saw much more speed later in the day. The rink is bigger than the normal hockey rink and tons of thick padding all the way around. They use small cones on the turns and change the placement of these cones to skate on fresh ice, so that there's almost 3 rings to skate around. They replace each other in the relay by having a skating following on the inner track and change after ~ 1.5 - 2 laps, by pushing each other. It's fascinating how coordinated this is.

Next up was Great Britain and Netherlands, 7 athletes each. Great Britain in navy blue with the Union Jack and Netherlands in black and orange. The Dutch team was fun to watch, they seem to really like to practice relay throughout the entire hour that they were on the ice. Good looking ladies on the Dutch team.

Next up CANADA! Yay! I was so happy to be able to see them. They had the rink almost to themselves, with the exception of a lone Czech Republic girl, Katarine Novotna. Canada has 10 skaters, the only one I can remember seeing is Olivier Jean, because of his hair. Black and red suits. Most of the team is from Quebec and I heard this is because they have a really good short track speed skating program there. Apparently the sport really took off when one of our athletes won a bunch of medals in Calgary. Cool! Only 2 athletes are from BC.

Then, Team USA. 10 athletes again. Apparently Apolo Ohno was the one to watch. He is fast, but mostly known for his win on Dancing with the Stars! They're all the same to me. This was the only team to use all their ice time, that they had to be kicked off the ice for the next set. I always found that USA teams have so much drive, and I could really feel the intensity in the rink. Coaches were pushing their athletes hard and they were training hard, every minute. The pace was fast and really intense.

A bit of press for Canada and USA showed up. The Olympic News Service is a bunch of journalists who provide interviews or facts for to help out other media services. I met a fellow, John Crumlish, who has been to 3 Olympics. He says he doesn't always get credit, but his coverage may spark a good interview or be used in actual press.

Last set was France and Germany. There was a young guy who I really liked. He was training on his own, warming up, getting sprints in, spoke good English, really polite and really good looking :). I noticed that he seemed to be the lone wolf of the team, either dedicated or just focused. Tyson Heung, I'll hope to see him compete for real. Tons of relays for the German team, fascinating to watch.

On the French team, one woman I remember is Veronique Pierron. Funny, there's so many of them, they're all so young and once they put their suits and helmets on, they all kinda look the same. Amazing how they can get to this level of competition by their 20s. If only my parents got me into volleyball! Too bad for me.

I saw the Olympic torch relay go by. I was at my post and couldn't really see it, but there were vehicles with music, security escorts, runners and the community. Pretty cool. It was supposed to go by my work and actually stop, so I'll have to ask my colleagues tomorrow. It was supposed to be at the RCMP Memorial with musical ride horses and the whole shebang.

For the 9 hour shift, I was really cold most of the time, but had a fun time. I met some Montreal Police, some RCMP from across the country and a diplomat protection detail lady, Andrea, from the US. Love to see what people do for work and why they've come.

On a final note, I got the opportunity to see the final dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies at BC Place last night. I didn't have many expectations until a coworker mentioned that he went to the rehearsal 2 days ago and it blew him away. I was a bit disappointed, but there were certainly some highlights. Mum's the word, as I won't be the leak, but I'm hoping to watch the TV coverage of the live ceremonies and compare.

Until next shift...

shift #3 - pre games training - short track speed skating

Oh man, 5am is not my idea of fun! I got my first gift for volunteering, a Team 2010 pin.

This time, I was on the "foxtrot" team, we were stationed outside all day. At least it wasn't raining, and there were some posts with heaters. I was cold all day and just couldn't warm up.

I scanned people coming into the venue and stopped a bunch of external staff who didn't have the right accreditation. Man, people get impatient when you don't give them access!

There are 4 designated entrances to the Coliseum and they service different people; public, media and workforce. VANOC has hired security and have cops all over the place. Apparently 6000 officers from all agencies across Canada are here. Security has a x-ray machine but right now we're only doing random screening. I think when Games times starts, they will be screening everyone.

When I had a break, I went to watch who was on the ice. I saw men speed skaters from Italy. I saw them do a start with 4 people and they went into formation really quickly and were totally synchronized! Pretty amazing choreography. They had another person skating alongside the 4some on the inside track and then he replaced the lead skater at a later point to carry on the relay.

Then I saw women's Chinese team . They were not as coordinated as the Italian team, but it's just practice now. The Olympics are brand free, so only the country name or 3 letters are on the team uniform somewhere. I saw 2 Bulgarians rotating in with the Italian team, one lone guy from Kazakshtan and a few others. It's a much better view with the binoculars.

3 am just couldn't come fast enough!

shift #2 - pre games, figure skating practice session

Well, 5am start! OMG, for those who know me, this is NOT my favourite time of the day. But I made it in and was awake for most of the morning. It was soooo slow. I was doing access monitoring again, and asked for a pee break. When I came back, they said that I missed all the action. They had let some press in to interview one of the German figure skaters! Ah, it's like that Kit Kat commercial, where you have a break and that's when the bear comes out and you've missed the photo!

It was 10 hours long and very cold. I was on the lower arena level and got posted in areas where I could not see the ice. Only when I did relief for people's breaks did I get a glimpse of the ice skating pairs from the Ukraine, UK and Swizterland. Most of these athletes are lean, young and pretty good looking. I brought my binoculars this time. Smart, eh?

However, I did get to greet some athletes at the athletes entry. Skaters from Romania, Japan and Hungary. Cool.

Another gluten free pizza for lunch and a bowl of chili. Kept me going for the afternoon.

My next shift is tomorrow, 5 am again. This is going to kill me. I'm going to bring a book, make the time go by faster. Most of my posts were solo today, so didn't meet too many people. They had a "get to know you" contest for volunteers and I'm hoping to win a prize. Complete 7 questions about fellow volunteers, inlcuding finding someone who lives out of province, speaks 3 languages, worked at the World Cup, has an exotic pet (I found a lady whose daughter has a rat!), an officer who is not VPD and born in Europe. Can't remember the 7th question. I'll find out tomorrow if I win a prize.

volunteer journey for the 21st Olympics - shift #1

Finally! My first shift as a volunteer for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics was yesterday. I am assigned to Event Services as a Host. I guess with my multiple years working in retail and customer service, they figured I would be great as part of the "face of the games" team.

Since the Oympics have not officially started, volunteers were only required to secure facilities for athletes to train, that is be access monitors. I am assigned to the Pacific Coliseum, the venue for figure skating and short track speed skating. I am not a fan of figure skating, but love sports that involve speed.

Yesterday I went to work in the morning, then got off at noon, had lunch and showed up for my shift at 3pm. Short track speed skating teams from Japan, Germany and Italy were already in the venue and practicing. I watched Germany and Italy; they were tall and lean, and when skating, were low and gliding so smoothly on the ice. There were additional team that showed up later, but I only saw the Polish team.

We were assigned posts to ensure only those with the proper accreditation were allowed past the access points. I almost stopped the coach of the Italy team from coming in! There are lots of things to check on an accreditation pass: the photo must match the person wearing the pass, the venue code must match the one they're trying to access and the access code must match where they are trying to access.

This is what I learned about the Olympic access monitoring system:

I am assigned Pacific Coliseum, so have "PAC" as my venue. I am in operations, so have a red stripe on my pass. There's additional arm bands for the volunteers: yellow for access monitors and red for medical personnel.

Coaches and athletes have a blue stripe for access to field of play, "PAC" for the venue, "ST" for short track and "2" for athlete only zones.

Media have "5" for media zones and some people are wearing body bibs as support for media or athletes. NBC is already here in trailers.

The sport volunteers get to help move athlete belongings from one end of the rink to the other, their skate guards and clothing. I guess athletes enter from one side and exit on the other. There's huge padding all the way around for falls.

It's all very interesting how the Olympics came up with all this stuff.

The ice gets changed over once a day between figure skating and short track. Apparently it only takes 15 minutes to change the thickness of 40cm! I want to watch that.

In the meantime, I met some interesting volunteers. One guy volunteered for the Asian games about a year ago in Qatar and said the monitoring system is the same. He was assigned to assist the head of Myanmar! How cool is that?

To bide the time, another volunteer and I were trying to figure out all the country flags. You think you know them all until they're side by side!

The one highlight was that I got my food allergies addressed for dinner. They feed the volunteers, but with my allergies to gluten, egg and dairy, it is can be quite difficult to get food that meets the criteria. It was a gluten free pizza with tomato and mushroom, no cheese. It was actually quite good, but no one was able to tell me where to get some commercially.

My shift ended at 10pm, because no more teams were coming in. I was scheduled till midnight, so that was another bonus. The bus came right away and I was home in 15 min. Our accreditation pass is good for free travel on translink.

Next shift, Sunday at 5am.