Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Canadian Olympic Medals 2010

I am proud to say I was able to watch 4 Canadian gold medals last week and a couple silver. I had tears in my eyes watching Maelle's gold medal run for snowboard cross. And I was on the edge of my seat for the narrow hockey victory over Switzerland and saddened when we lost to the USA. I regret that I will likely not get to see much of the rest of the Olympics now that reading break is over because I don't own a TV but I'll try to get down to the tv lounge sometime this week for some more hockey games. 10 Olympic medals so far Canada! Bravo! Here's the break down:

Gold Medalists

VIRTUE Tessa
MOIR Scott
Figure Skating - Ice Dance


MONTGOMERY Jon
Skeleton - Men's


NESBITT Christine
Speed Skating - Ladies' 1000 m


RICKER Maelle
Snowboard - Ladies' Snowboard Cross


BILODEAU Alexandre
Freestyle Skiing - Men's Moguls



Silver Medalists

GROVES Kristina
Speed Skating - Ladies' 1500 m


ST-GELAIS Marianne
Short Track Speed Skating - Ladies' 500 m


ROBERTSON Mike
Snowboard - Men's Snowboard Cross


HEIL Jennifer
Freestyle Skiing - Ladies' Moguls




Bronze Medalists

GROVES Kristina
Speed Skating - Ladies' 3000 m

Friday, February 12, 2010

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

So I stayed up to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and I have to say I was very impressed. It was unfortunate that not all of the tiers on the torch rose but to be honest the ceremonies were amazing. They showcased Canadian culture in a way that puts this blog to shame! The music, the dancing, the light show and fire shows! All fantastic! I especially liked the tributes to First Nations groups. What I was not impressed with was the commentary on NBC and perhaps even more so the commercial breaks! Show the sponsors before or after but don't break up live footage of the Olympics! Really!!!

Although I am sure I'll have lots more to say in the days to come I am writing this tonight because I wanted to draw your attention to one person who was a part of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. He is the British Columbian beat-poet Shane Koyczan. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was back in first year English at Okanagan College in Kelowna, British Columbia. Shane Koyczan put on a show for us. My prof that year was a wonderful woman who chose mostly local poets for us to study in class. She had in fact taught Shane creative writing at Okanagan College. Check him out on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/shanekoyczanandtheshortstorylong

That all said let us remember Georgia's luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili who sadly had a fatal accident in practice and now will not be able to cherish the memories of the 21st Olympic Winter Games. The hearts of the world mourn for him and his country tonight.