Golden Day Two

Day two is now in the books, and what a day it was!

As you all know by now, Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau made Canadian Olympic history tonight by winning a gold medal on home soil. Yes, I believe!



Here's how my day unfolded.

Shift was for 10 a.m., so I left the house at 7:30 a.m. Walked to my new local Starbucks. No rain this morning, so I started feeling confident about the weather today on the mountain. Bus was late, which meant I started worrying I would be late for my shift, however, my connections on the Seabus and then the Cypress shuttle all clicked, and as we drove up to Cypress, we burst through the clouds to see hints of blue sky, and a glimmer of hope that we'd have a dry day.

In the briefing, I was teamed with a new group of people. I am starting to like this, because with thousands of volunteers, there's so many interesting people to meet and talk to, and mixing up the teams and daily duties keeps each day fresh.
So today our team was Plaza 10. I don't get the 10, but Plaza means we are basically doing crowd and access control from the point when spectators enter the main viewing area (merchandise, food concessions, first aid, lost and found, bathrooms and grandstand). As the role of Hosts for Event Services, we basically 'touch' each and every person who attends an event.

So as I stood outside the operations building, greeting people, the sun started coming out, which was a far cry from the wet weather yesterday. And sun really gets people in a fantastic mood, so another grand day of me smiling, helping people find there way, making sure they are in a positive and festive frame of mind before the action starts.

I will say the one common complaint amongst spectators is that the food concession lineups are way too long. There are only two areas where people can buy food (and the rules state that you cannot bring your own in for security reasons), so there are two very long lineups for a good chunk of the day. Thankfully, the weather helped to ease some distress, but overall, it's something that cannot be alleviated. Cypress is not built to accommodate upwards of 9000 people for an event.

In any case, my shift went incredibly well, and although we were short staffed, we more than made due. As I was finishing up, a senior supervisor asked if I minded giving him a hand moving the crowd to allow a vehicle to transport food to the athletes. Of course, I'm more than willing to lend a hand, and after I did, Glenn rewarded me with a dinner voucher. This is important to note because on shift, you only get one meal voucher, and I will honestly say, volunteers are fed very well. So to have two meals taken care of is a real bonus.

As I sat in the main day lodge eating my dinner and watching luge on the television, I had the time to call home - finally! Lisa and I have missed each other's calls lately, so this being Valentine's Day, I really wanted to hear her voice. After our call, I had to decide whether to head back to Vancouver or stay and watch the Men's Mogul medal run. It was an easy decision to make, and one that I am grateful I made.

Sitting in the crowd, I watched the top ten men come down the run, many of which had some great times, some with great aerials, but not many with both. Third last to go was Canadian-born Aussie Dale Bigg-Smith, who put in an incredible run and was in first place. Alexandre Bilodeau followed, and when his name was announced, the crowd roared and then we all cheered each and every twist, turn, and jump that he made. When the scores were announced and Bilodeau had beaten Bigg-Smith, everyone went nuts! It was the most incredible feeling, like when your favourite team scores that point on the final play or scores in overtime to win the championship. We all knew we had witnessed something special. Of course, there was one more skier to follow, and so we collectively held our breath, some of us wishing for him to fall or at least screw up. French skier Guilbaut Colas raced down the course but did not secure very good aerial points, so when he crossed the finish line, we all knew the gold was ours.

So there you have it. A gold medal day for Canada (as well as a bronze from fellow Ottawan Kristina Groves for her third place finish in the 3000m speed skate), an historic experience, a bus full of happy Canucks singing Oh Canada on the way down. And it's only Day Two.

Good night everyone!