Posts tagged olympics
The Countdown Begins – 15 Days
Feb 2nd
Today I realized that there are only 15 days until I leave for Seattle on my way to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I’m so FREAKING excited, I can’t stand it! This will be my third Winter Games and will most likely be the best ever. This time I’m going with a larger group of people that consists mainly of family but also includes my friend Rachel who went with me to Torino in 2006.
We’ll be spending 2 days in Seattle before heading up to Vancouver. My sister and her husband are coming along and they love Seattle so it will be fun to spend time with them there. I also hope to meet up with a former college friend who now lives there. We’ll see. This will be twice in less than 6 months that I’ll be in the PNW… maybe I should just move up there? ;)
We’re set to see Men’s Ice Hockey, Short Track Speed Skating and Curling (which rocks, btw). It should be some good times. We’ve got ourselves setup with a nice Canadian family that lives right outside of Vancouver but is next to a SkyTrain station for easy access downtown. So, the adventure is set to begin very soon.
The games begin 2/12/10 -- will you be watching?
Vancouver 2010 – Countdown
Dec 5th
My thanks to Kaci for sharing this photo essay with me! I cannot wait!
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/olympic_torch_relay_heads_to_v.html
Olympics
Nov 6th
**DISCLAIMER**
I totally planned on blogging yesterday but the time just got away from me. I have back dated this post to reflect that fact. Don’t judge.
**DISCLAIMER**
Below are photos of the medals for the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. They are amazing. I’m aways interested to see what designs they come up with for medals for each of the games. Vancouver has to be one of my favorites so far. The fact that they are wavy makes them very unique and I also enjoy the artwork that is etched into them. An interesting fact, the artwork on each medal is part of a much larger work and, to see the whole thing, you would have to win every medal that is presented at the 2010 games. Kind of a nifty idea.
Summer Games – 2016
Oct 1st
The IOC will vote tomorrow to award the Summer Games of 2016 to one of the 4 bid cities. The bid cities are Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, and Tokyo. The voting will begin at 8:10AM PDT and the announcement ceremony is scheduled for 9:30AM PDT.
Let’s go Chicago! America needs the games again. Atlanta 1996 seems like ages ago!
Vancouver 2010
May 24th
The countdown has begun towards my trip to Vancouver for the Olympics in February 2010. I’ve been working really hard to find lodging that isn’t going to break the bank and isn’t located out in the boonies of Western Canada. I think I have a few good options, but I’m waiting to see what my sister’s husband can find. His family is from the Seattle area and they have family friends that live up near and in Vancouver. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, Vancouver released photos of the relay torch and I think it looks pretty good. It’ll be interesting to see how large the flame really is. The past few torches have had very small flames. Did you know that if you’re in the torch relay you get the option to buy the torch? I think I would if I ever had the chance. I’m such an Olympics nerd.
Oh, and if anyone is interested, I have a pair of tickets available for the games. Why are people so flaky sometimes? Anyway, they’re available so send me a note if you want more details.
Vancouver 2010 – Tickets
Sep 24th
Vancouver 2010 tickets go on sale starting October 3rd to Canadian residents. As most of you know, I love the Olympics and going to the Winter Games is something I’ve done since Salt Lake 2002. Anyway, I hate how you have to purchase or commit to purchase tickets so far in advance. I find that most people that I try to recruit into going to the big event with me have no idea what they’ll be doing in 2010 or if they’ll even be able to afford it now. That’s fine, I totally understand. At the same time, we’re talking about something that’s a year and a half away, you can’t save $$? I digress.
Tickets go on sale soon and Vancouver has posted their Olympic Experience Packages, which are sports packages that the organizing committee puts together to make your trip planning much easier. I have gone through and chosen packages that meet my requirements and now I have to send them out to the people who are interested. I think I’m going to allow them to vote on the select few and see which ones come out on top. I’m also going to have to decide if I want to add some separate sports on top of the sports that are included in the packages. Some of the packages I like don’t include Curling and there’s no way I’m going to miss out on that!
Anyway, I’m hoping that the whole thing doesn’t end up costing too much $$. My good friend in Canada is doing me the favor of ordering the ticktes and what not for me since (obviously) I don’t live in Canada. After these ticket decisions are made, the next big issue will be lodging. That’s where the total price of the event will really begin to take shape! Here’s the tentative plan for that:
- Fly to Seattle
- Drive to Vancouver
- Stay outside the city and drive
So much planning to do!
Matthew Mitcham Wins Gold
Aug 24th
Congrats to Matthew Mitcham from Australia (and only openly gay athlete in Beijing) for winning gold in the men’s 10m platform diving event last night. The event was amazing and came down to the last dive of the night. He scored 112.10 out of a possible 114.0 points on his last dive, propelling him past the Chinese favorite. To read more about Matthew, check out his profile located on NBCOlympics.com. You can watch the final dives here. Video below of Matthew taking with reporters outside the diving venue in Beijing.
USA Relay – WTF!?!?
Aug 21st
Seriously?!? Both the US Men and Women drop the baton during the qualifier race in the 4×100 relay!? This doesn’t happen!!
Maybe it was the handmade country tags that both teams were wearing on their chests? Seriously, what the hell was that about? Does Beijing provide those or do the teams themselves?
NBC Olympic Interviews
Aug 21st
Okay, so I just got done watching the Olympics on NBC this evening where they had women’s platform diving semi-finals. Why do they have such crappy interviewers in Beijing? Andrea Cramer interviews the 15 year old Haley Ishimatsu who just missed making the finals and asks her what’s going through her mind given she “just managed to miss the finals”. Um, duh, she’s devistated. Her Olympic dream is over. Haley breaks down during the interview and Andrea just stands there, like an idiot, staring at her. Haley apologizes and Andrea says “It’s your first time, we understand this” with, in my opinion, an uncaring tone to her voice. Anyway, she asks Haley some other stupid question about “what she will take away from this experience” and Haley barely can get a complete sentence out she’s so emotional. I was watching the interview thinking “For crying out loud, hug her already! She’s sad for not making it and now embarrassed that she’s crying on national television. Do you even feel?” Why can’t Cat Deeley be doing the interviews for the Olympics? At least she is good at showing that she cares when someone is hurting or is at least really good at faking it.
Wow, I must really be suffering from lack of sleep if I felt it was important to write about this before going to bed tonight.
Olympic Update
Aug 14th
Okay, the sheer number of Olympic hours on TV have won! I’m so far behind there’s no way I can catch up. I am fast fowardeding through many items. I stop and watch a bit of canoeing/kyaking, wrestling, shooting, etc. and then I move on. It’s kind of sad but I guess I can’t really complain. These sports used to never be seen on the TV and now they are here for everyone to see. Anyway, I’m thoroughly enjoying my Olympic viewing. Maybe I can catch up this weekend, but who knows. Okay, now I have to go back to watching my recordings – Team Badminton!!