North Van Pride

Being a North Van girl, I was very excited when I heard that Drew Neilson had made the Olympic Snowboard team. Drew started snowboarding 12 years ago, after watching a James Bond movie with an intense snowboard chase. But boarder-cross is only 4 years old to Neilson. Drew competed in the 2006 Olympic Games, and was the top of 36 in his qualifying round but in the elimination round another racer fell and sent Drew flying off the course. The North Vancouverite is 35 years old and he is claiming these Games to be his last shot at an Olympic medal. Drew is a father to 2 young boys, who I'm sure will be cheering loud and proud for their daddy at Cypress in February. Flying down a hill at 58 mph, shoulder-to-shoulder with 5 other racers takes a person with a lot of courage and not a lot of fear. On the off season Drew says he trains with Play Station, swimming and mountain biking. Neilson once had a superstition where his girlfriend has to paint his toenails purple before his races. That tradition is no longer running, but maybe his wife will have to re-start the tradition with red toenails, and white maple leafs :) The boarder said that the worst job he's ever had was working in the parking lot of Silverstar mountain in -60 degree weather. Neilson says he likes to listen to Led Zeppelin while he races. I am very proud of the North Van boarder. It's looking like the North Shore is producing a large number of the athletes; Manuel Osborne-Paradis is also a North Vancouver boy, and Maëlle Ricker is from the North Shore as well. There must be something in the air here!

Tour of the Press Centre

You think that a lot of work goes into the Olympic and Paralympic Games. That is a huge understatement.

I don't even think I understood how much time, effort, money and planning went into the Winter Games until I got a first hand look at the Main Press Centre at Canada Place. You'd wonder how much space people need to write an article or edit a photo, but the entire Canada Place is all taken up by media. Not only is the media provided with stations for their journaling or blogging, but they are also provided with food courts, lounge areas, merchandise stores and even massage therapists! I was blown away by how massive the centre was; we got to visit 2 floors of the centre, but there were at least 2 more. And to organize the building they had it themed as the West Coast, with the main hallway names the "Straight of Georgia" and the rooms with names of islands such as Galliano. I can't remember the number of people they said were employed at the Press Centre, but I know it was a massive number and would have blown your mind. And the amount of money they must spend on uniforms alone for the employees, must be outrageous. I asked our tour guide whether all the TVs and such were donated by sponsors or if they were bought. They said that all the TVs were bought by VANOC and after the Games will be sold for cheap prices. It was crazy though how many TVs there were in the centre. They need to have a lot so that the media can be watching several events at once to cover all the necessary events, but I was just amazed at the numbers (and the size). Our tour guide said that the sponsor companies which have separate little booths in the centre have a contest to see which company can get the best quality images up the fastest onto the TV screen in front of their office. Apparently at the Beijing Olympics they could get the photo of someone winning gold up on the screen within 5 seconds. Impressive! It just shows you how great technology is getting these days, and how much they are affecting the Games.



Now I thought the Press Centre was amazing, and I couldn't imagine the organization and money involved in it. But if you think about it, that is only one small aspect of the Games. And then you start looking on the big scale of the Games and if they're spending that much money on media alone, think of every other aspect of the Games, and that is what blows my mind!

History in the Making

The naming of the Canadian Olympic Cross-Country Ski team took place a few days ago. The roster consists of 15 skiers including a visually impaired skier, Brian McKeever. It has always been one of Brian's goals to be the world's first winter-sport athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. His dream has now officially come true, and the 30 year old from Canmore is ecstatic!

Brian is a decorated Paralympian and is known all over the world as "the guy to beat". McKeever won two golds, a silver and a bronze at the 2006 Paralympics in Torino. And in December, the 30 year old won the 50-kilometre race at the Olympic qualifiers which was a key step towards qualifying for the Vancouver Games.



Brian has an condition of muscular degeneration called Stargardt's disease. His vision is less than 10 percent and all of that is peripheral vision. He has described his vision as "seeing the donut, but not the Timbit." When competing as a Paralympian, Brian is guided by his brother Robin, but in able-bodied competitions, he is on his own.

We are so proud of our Canadian skier, this is a huge accomplishment and will go down in history. We wish Brian the best of luck in both the Olympic Games and the Olympic Games!

Olympic Line Up and Running

Yesterday was an exciting day for residents of Vancouver. It was the opening of the brand new Olympic Line, which is a line of 2 streetcars that runs between the Olympic Village and Granville Island. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the grand opening, it was quite an event!

We got there at about 9:00am in hopes of getting on the first ride which was at 9:30. We were probably about 30th in line, I was expecting more people to be there already, however some of the people had been lined up since 4:30 that morning; crazy! It was a really nice atmosphere at the event, everyone was wearing their Olympic Mittens, and their Canada wear. And everyone was sporting a huge smile which was great to see. The weather was just perfect, it was nice and warm, and not a drop of rain. They had live music, the Olympic and Paralympic Mascots, 15 ex-Olympic and Paralymic athletes, and many other important people such as the Mayor and a representative from Bombardier.

We were given a certificate for being the first riders on the streetcar, which made me feel pretty special. But what was even better was when we got on the streetcar; it was absolutely gorgeous! It was such a quiet and smooth ride. The inside and outside of the streetcar looks just fabulous. And you have such a gorgeous view, with windows from the roof to the floor. Vancouver is such a beautiful city, and the Olympic Line really demonstrates it.

The Olympic Line is just a trial, with the streetcars being lent to us from Brussels, Belgium. It plans on running for 60 days, but there is a lot of debate over whether is should remain here afterwards. I suggest that you go and check it out, it is completely free, and runs from 6:30am to 12:30am 7 days a week. If you enjoyed your ride and want the streetcars to stay, then you can send a letter to the City of Vancouver letting them know that you think it is a positive change for our city. If we get enough interest, we might be able to keep them.

I think the Olympic Line just fabulous for our city. It is really Eco-friendly running on a natural source of electricity. It is going to help clear up the roads in such a high density area. It will cause less cars to have to park in the very busy Granville Island where there is so little parking space. It will save people time and money. And it will be one step closer to creating a green Vancouver!


Here I am with the 2010 Mascots!

In need of change..

Why is it that there's no womens ski jumping in the Olympic Games? And why is it that in women's hockey they are not allowed to hit? And the women have to wear full face masks when the men don't? None of this makes sence to me... Canada is supposed to be a country of equal rights. I understand that these rules are set by the IOC and Canada really has nothing to do with it, but shouldn't someone have said something about these rules a long time ago. The Olympic Games are the largest and most prestigious sporting event in the world, and you'd think that by now they would have equal rights for men and women. Thay should be setting an example for the world to follow, but I guess not.

Paralympic Athlete of the Day Paul Rosen is Canada's 49 year old Sledge Hockey Goalie. Rosen started playing hockey at a very young age, however after a serious injury playing the sport, Paul was unable to compete. He spent many years with infections and unbearable pain until his lower leg was finally amputated at age 39. During his recovery, Rosen took up sledge hockey, he showed a great deal of talent in the sport and made the National Team. He competed in the 2002 Winter Games and the 2006 Winter Games where their team took home the gold. Is that a success story or what?
In 2007 while at an autograph session with fans in Toronto, Paul's gold medal was stolen. During a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, commentator Don Cherry told the theif to drop the gold medal in a mailbox. The medal then turned up at a postal sorting station in Toronto and was returned to the goalie.

Twenty Five..

Today is 25 days until the Winter Games. I don't think I've ever been more stoked about anything! Just 25 days, less than 600 hundred hours and under 36,000 minutes until the spotlight is on Vancouver. People from all over the world will be tuning into Vancouver. It is going to be one amazing event, I can not even wait!

Speaking of 25, has anyone else been collecting quarters? I must have looked at at least 3 RBC's around Vancouver, and every one was out of their coin collectors cards. But I was determined to find one, so next stop was Petro Canada who also have the cards. Luckily at our first Petro Canada stop they had some! My brother and I were so excited! We had already been collecting the coins, but now we actually have something to put them in. Every day when my parents get home from work we ask "Did you get any quarters today?" We are so into it, that sometimes we even get into fights over the coins; that's dedication (or just sibling rivalry). Anyways at the moment I have 8 out of the 17 coins. Apparently the two loonies are a rare item, so I'm hoping to get lucky and find them.
If you are interested in collecting coins of your own, you can get the Collectors Card from any RBC or Petro Canada, that is if they are not out. It is a really fun way to get excited about the Olympics!

Anti- Doping

"Real sport is pure human energy.
Real sport is trust and respect for the system.
Real sport is respecting yourself and your fellow competitors.
Real sport is competition on a level playing field.”

This is one of VANOC’s motto's.

Keeping this in mind the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is introducing a new world class dope-testing. Olympic and Paralympic athletes in any sport can be expected to be chosen for doping control anytime and anywhere during both the in-competition and out-of-competition times. VANOC expects to take up to 425 tests during the Paralympic Games alone.

I feel that this is going to make a really good impact on the Olympic Games. Not only will this enforce that absolutely no performance enhancers will be permitted, but it will also help to inform kids that drugs aren't the way to go to become a professional athlete. Children and teens all over the world are going to be watching these games, and it is important that they know, that real athletes don't use drugs. The athletes are role models to so many young people out there, and whatever they are doing, people will follow. So that is why I think Vancouver's dope-testing will be a positive influence on the Games as a whole.

Olympic Athlete of the Day: Leader of the Canadian biathlon squad and two-time Olympian Robin Clegg. The 33 year old from Ottawa is currently in his seventh season with the national team. Clegg has continued to dominate on the World Cup circuit. Clegg will be joined on the men's team by Jean-Philippe LeGuellec, who is making his debut on the senior squad and David Leoni of Camrose, Alberta, who made his Olympic debut in 2006. The Olympic Games are not new to Clegg, but competing here at home should be a great experience for him!

Pray to the Snow Gods

I was a little disappointed to hear about the closing of Mt. Seymour, my local mountain. This closure was due to an obvious lack of snow and poor weather conditions. It has definitely not been the best season for Vancouver ski hills, but I was still enjoying my time on the mountain. Having a seasons pass and only being up the mountain three times is a little sad. This closure, however, is temporary, and will hopefully re-open soon when the conditions improve. But Cypress Mountain is in a different situation, it is now officially closed to public until after the Olympic Games. Cypress staff and VANOC agreed that it was the best thing for the Winter Games which are just around the corner. Stockpiling snow at higher elevations is one way that they have been taking extra precautions; to make sure we will be good for the 2010 Games. West Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain is hosting the moguls, parallel giant slalom, halfpipe, and ski cross (which is making its Olympic debut in 2010.) Closing the mountain was the responsible thing to do, in order to make sure we are ready to host the best athletes from all over the globe. And now that they have closed the hill 2 and a half weeks before expected VANOC can start preparing for the Games early. On their to-do list is fencing, the installation of warming tents, way finding signs and “Look of the Games” banners around the venue. Although Cypress only has a mere 175 centimetre base of snow. They are hoping we will get a dump or two of snow before the Games begin. And at the moment Whistler Mountain is looking like it will be in fine conditions. Keep your fingers crossed, and pray to the weather gods!

Paralympic athlete of the Day: Sonja Gaudet is a member of the four person wheelchair curling team. Alongside Sonja is Ina Forrest,
Jim Armstrong at skip and Darryl Neighbour. Canada's coach Wendy Morgan confirmed that there would be two males, and two females on the team. Sonja Gaudet of Vernon, B.C. was born on July 22, 1966. The world-class curler is a Paraplegic and this is how she explains the accident “Without even knowing or remembering exactly how things happened – I found myself in the hospital being told that I had sustained a spinal cord injury after my horse reared up and fell over backwards with me still on him!” A huge part of Sonja's life prior to the accident was athletics, and she was not going to let the misfortune stop her. She then learned how to ski, play tennis and basketball, swim, and bike. And eventually, she was introduced to the brand new sport of curling, where she qualified for the National Team, and even won a gold at the 2006 Torino Olympics! She is a great leader and ambassador for the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Event which raises money and awareness for spinal cord research. Sonja has a huge passion for sports and curling, but Sonja is a wife and mother of two kids and she says her family’s health and happiness is number one!

“I try to keep in mind that there is always a positive side to everything and everybody – as hard as that is to find sometimes – its worth searching for!” -Sonja Gaudet

ONE MONTH TO GO

I can remember in the summer of 2003, my family and I were sitting in my Uncle's living room when we heard the news. Vancouver had won the bid; we would be hosting the 2010 Winter Games! At the time, I was thinking 'why would they announce it so early, they don't happen until 2010'. But now looking back, where did the time go? Those 7 years rolled by so fast. Now everywhere you go there's Olympic banners, signs and advertisements. And every morning on the front page of the news is a new Olympic story. If you look back about a year ago, you hardly heard anything about the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but now, everything is Olympic related! At every family dinner, the topic of discussion is the Games, and at school with my friends we're talking about Vancouver 2010. No matter where I am, or what I'm doing, the 2010 Games are on my mind.

Looking back to 2003 when I never thought I'd see the day that the Olympic Games were only a month away. Well that day is today!


Olympic Athlete of the Day: Speed Queen Mellisa Hollingsworth, the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the sport of Skeleton. The 29 year old is from Eckville, Alberta and grew up as a cowgirl on a ranch. Melissa has been competing world wide in the sport of skeleton since 2000. She has been dominating this season on the World Cup circuit, and is strong medal contender for Canada at these Winter Games! Outside of sliding, Hollingsworth also enjoys horseback-riding and volunteering. She does all kinds of charity work, and she is a motivational speaker inspiring young athletes to follow their dream. Melissa Hollingsworth is more than an amazing athlete, she is just an all around great Canadian citizen!

Change of Plan for Patrick Chan

It is not unusual for professional athletes to have coaching changes, but with 5 weeks until the Olympic Games, this one has people curious. Patrick Chan the Canadian figure skater has split from his coach of 3 years, Don Laws. Patrick Chan prefers to train in Colorado Springs, where there is a specialty coach for computer analyzing. Meanwhile his coach Don Laws has taken on a full time role at the West Palm Beach skating facility. This commitment makes full time training very difficult, and it would be pretty impossible for it to work out. The National Championships start on Monday, January 11th, in London Ontario, and I suspect the media is going to be all over Chan. The young athlete is at the top of his game right now, people are saying this is the best he's ever looked, but it will be interesting to see how he copes with the mental and emotional aspects. With only 5 weeks to go you'd think they could have waited until after the Winter Games, but I guess they had to do what was best. So I wish Patrick Chan all the best of luck. Having a home crowd, is probably going to be great for him too!

Paralympic Athlete of the Day: Andrea Holmes is a 27 year old from West Vancouver. She was born without her lower left leg, but that didn't stop the young girl from playing sports. When Holmes started got older she started to see less opportunity for her to continue sports, so she began to give up. Then in 2002, while watching the Salt Lake City Paralympics, she was inspired by a one legged skier. She then had her mind set on going to the Paralympics, and nothing would get in here way. She competed in the 2004 Athens Paralympics for long-jump where she placed 8th. Now Andrea has moved onto skiing, she is not guaranteed a spot on Canada’s Paralympic alpine ski team, but that is her goal. She's been working at it for a while, and with her motivation and ambition, I have absolute faith that she will get there.

Raise the Torch

The Olympic Torch Relay is a symbol of peace, enlightenment and brotherhood. Torch and relay races were very important parts of the cultural festivities surrounding the Games. These events had deep ritual significance, which is still respected in the Olympic Torch Relay today. The first ever Olmypic Torch Relay was at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games, but the first Winter Games Torch Relay occurred in 1952 in Oslo, Norway. Since then, the Torch Relay has been a huge part of the Games, and each relay reflects the hosting country's culture.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch was initially lit in Olympia Greece on October 22, 2010, but the actual Torch Relay began on October 30th in Victoria, British Columbia. From Victoria, ir went out to Eastern Canada and is now making it's way back to the West Coast. Today is day 73 of the relay, and today the torch traveled from Regina to Swift Current, Saskatchewan. The torch travels approximetaly 300 km every day. So far the torch has travelled over 33 000km, visited about 800 communities and had 8 300 torchbearers. Before the torch reaches its final destination of Vancouver, 12 000 people will have had the opportunity to carry the torch, 1000 communities will have cheered it on as it passed by, and it will have traveled 45 000km, coast to coast along this beautiful country. The torch relay organizers have put in so much effort to make this relay special, and unique from any other torch relay. They have got creative and came up with 100 different ways that the torch will be traveling; some examples include dogsled, chuckwagon, bike, plane, tomato harvester, snowboard, rollerblades, boat, wheelchair, horseback, fire truck, surf board, streetcar, crutches and my personal favourite, Zamboni. We are Canadian! I am proud to say that this is the longest domestic Torch Relay in Olympic history!


Olympic Athlete of the Day: Matthew Morison is a 22-year-old snowboarder from Burketon, Ont. His specialty event is the men’s parallel giant slalom. Morison has been on the World Cup circuit for 4 years now, his first World Cup was in 2007 and since then he has made 10 podium finishes. Matthew has never competed in the Olympic Games before, but when asked about it, this is what he had to say, "It's something I think about every day. It's a huge event. To get a gold medal there can change your life. That was always the dream as a kid. I want to win a gold medal at the Olympics. Everybody does. Obviously I know now how much work it's going to take.” Just last week Morison won gold at the Parallel Giant Slalom event in Colorado, but unfortunately during his qualifying runs he crashed into a net and fractured his elbow. The young Canadian will still be able to compete at the Olympic Games, but will need 4 to 6 weeks of rest, which will really hurt his training.

Paralympic Athlete of the Day: Brian McKeever is a legally blind 31 year old from Canmore, Alberta. Brian started cross country skiing at the age of 3, and loved it. What he enjoys most about skiing is the adrenaline rush he receives when competing. Tragically at age 19, Brian was diagnosed with Stargaard’s disease (loss of central vision). Since then McKeever has not let this tragedy affect him, he has been competing in the blind skier category. Not only does he cross-country ski, but he also competes in Biathalon. The Albertan Skier has competed in two Paralympic Games, 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Torino. However, last year Brian became the first athlete with a disability to ski in an able-bodied race. McKeever’s goal is to become the first disabled athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Brian's vision guide is his older brother Robin McKeever.

Supporting our Athletes

The Metro Vancouver Newspaper recently did a study and found out that only 7 out of fifty people interviewed were able to name five Canadian Winter Olympic athletes. The most often named Winter Olympian was our Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo. It was concluded that most people can name hockey players because they are more exposed to hockey players from TV and nexspapers, but athletes in other sports have much less coverage in our media today. When I heard this, I thought it was shocking! That is only 14 percent of people that are able to name 5 Canadian Winter Olympic athletes. I'm wondering what the results would be like if that was done at my school, I'm thinking at least 40 percent could name 5 athletes, if not more. I guess what this study is showing is that Canadians need to get in the loop. Come on Canada the Games are going to be here in 35 days!

Athlete of the Day: The Winnipeg-native Cindy Klassen should be a name known by Canadians. She is a Canadian speed skater, and at the Turin 2006 Olympic Games, she won a total of 5 medals. Klassen was the first ever Canadian to win 5 medals in a single Olympic Games. And winning a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympic Games makes her the most decorated Olympian in history. Cindy is an amazing overall athlete; before taking up speed skating she competed for Canada in In-line Skating at the 1999 PanAm Games and prior to that she was a member of the Canadian Junior Women’s Hockey Team, and Cindy also competed for Canada as a member of the Women's Field Lacross Team at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. That is quite the diverse range of sports. Cindy is definitely going to be the one to beat at the Vancouver 2010 Games, and hopefully she will bring home another few medals for Canada! Just to add to her small collection of six.

No plans for this weekend?
If you are looking for something to do, here is a really fun, low cost event to get you into the Olympic Spirit. Check it out! http://www.yougottabehere.com/blog/robson_square/winter_festival_this_weekend_at_robson_square

Paralympic Pride

The Paralympic Games are not near as anticipated or as widely broadcasted as the Olympic Games. I know this is bad, but to tell you the truth, before I got this opportunity with Students Live I hardly knew anything about the Paralympic Games. So I'm going to share with you some of the basic must-knows:

The Paralympic Games run from March 12th to March 21st, this is a little shorter than the 17 days of Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games have their own opening and closing ceremonies, they have their own logo, mascot and torch relay. Most of these things are a lot smaller for the Paralympic Games; for instance section A tickets to the Olympic Opening Ceremonies cost $1100, and section A tickets to the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies are $175. That is quite the difference. The Paralympic Games have been around since 1960, compared to the Olympic Games which have been running since 1896. There are 15 events in the Olympic Games and in the Paralympic Games there are 5. Those events are wheelchair curling, sledge hockey, biathlon, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. For the alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing there are 2 categories; standing and sitting. Sitting is for athletes who are missing a leg or foot for example, and the standing category is for athletes who can stand normally, but might be visually impaired.

The Paralympic torch relay is a 10 day journey with about 600 torchbearers, compared to the Olympic torch relay that is a 106 day journey and has about 12,000 torchbearers. The total number of Olympic athletes and officials is around 5,500 while the total number of Paralympic athletes and officials is 1,350. The number of countries participating in Olympic Winter Games is over 80, and the number of countries participating in Paralympic Winter Games is half of that. There are 1.6 million tickets available for the Olympic Winter Games, divide that by 6 for the number of tickets available for the 2010 Paralympic Games. So as you can tell, most of these Paralympic events are not quite as big and extravagant as the Olympic ones.

I think the Olympic athletes are so inspiring with all their talent, effort and determination, they have so much drive to do well and never give up, and for that I look up to them. It is unreal the heart and passion they have for their sport. But then you have to think about these Paralympic athletes, some of them are born disabled, and some are in tragic accidents, but instead of grieving their whole lives, they make the best of what they have. They create goal, and strive for it with everything they have. The Paralympic athletes have so many more obstacles to overcome. Missing a leg, or not being able to see and still being able to ski down a mountain is just amazing!

There's Always Next Year

Tonight was a very exciting night in the world of Canadian hockey. It was the World Junior Hockey finals in Saskatoon. It was an exciting game all the way through, teams Canada and USA looked fairly evenly matched. It was a fast paced game and ended up being fairly high scoring. With only a few minutes left USA was up 5-3, some people would have thought it was over, that there was no hope. But here in Canada, we never let up, after all hockey is our sport, so the boys picked up their game, and scored a beauty! Then we were really running low on time, still down a goal, but that doesn't discourage these players. Not long after goal four, the tying goal is scored. Wow, what a comeback! The buzzer goes to signal end of period, but that's not the last of this game. We're headed into overtime, 5 goals a piece. A Saskatchewan boy himself, Jordan Eberle scored 2 out of the 5 goals in this game, which earned him the title of highest all time Canadian goal scorer in this World Juniors tournament. Eberle is an amazing hockey player, he can always pick up his game when needed the most, he has speed, quick hands and great game smarts. He is also a leader on this young team, as this is his second year with team Canada.

Anyways back to the game. We head into sudden death overtime, both teams are so pumped, and want to win this more than anything, so they come out fast and strong. There were many chances for both teams, lots of shots on net, even some posts and crossbars. One centimeter up, down, left or right, and it could have been all over, but no pucks in the back of the net. With less than 5 minutes left in overtime, Canada gets a really great scoring chance, however an American player picks up the rebound and takes it down the ice. It is now a three on one, and.... I'm not even going to finish this. But Canada ends up with a silver medal. Not exactly the way we would have liked it to end of course, but we have a lot to be proud of! Canada has won this tournament 5 years in a row, this year was going for 6. That is a long streak and is very impressive. We are proud of you boys, you played like champs all throughout the tournament. Anyways, there's always next year, we can take them in their home. We are Canadian, and hockey is our sport!

Bad Luck for Canadian Skiers

Another Canadian skier, Anna Goodman of Quebec has injured herself in Croatia on Sunday; she is suspected to have torn her ACL. That totals 6 injuries in 5 weeks for the Canadian Olympic ski team. All of these 6 injuries have been season-ending injuries, which means that all of their Olympic dreams have been wiped away. John Kucera of Calgary broke his leg at the World Cup Super G in Lake Louise. J.P. Roy and Frances Bourque of Quebec, Kelly VanderBeek of BC, and Larisa Yurkiw of Ontario have all torn their knees. What's with these poor skiers? It's just been a stretch of bad luck for the whole team. It seems like quite a coincidence that it's happening to all these skiers, but hardly any injuries in other sports. Maybe this is proving that skiing is a really dangerous sports, or maybe the athletes are just pushing themselves really hard. Whatever it is, it is bad news for Canada. However with all these injuries, my favourite Canadian skier is still in the running. Manuel Osborne-Paradis is a local to my town, and even attended my high school. He is doing very well right now on the World Cup circuit.(I really hope this doesn't jinx him, and land him in emergency with the rest of the Canadian ski team.) Anyways lets keep our fingers crossed that no one else ends up injured!

2010: Year of the Games

Here I am sitting on the fifteenth floor in downtown Vancouver again, for our second Students Live meeting! We are officially into 2010, an exciting year we have ahead of us. I am looking forward to all the exciting opportunities and memories that this year will bring us. Probably the thing I am most looking forward to is the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. It is going to be a once in a lifetime experience to have the Olympics in my very own town. I am so excited to attend my first ever Olympic event. I can just imagine the atmosphere in the arena as the puck drops, or as the gates open on the hill. We have such a year ahead of us, and I hope everyone is as excited as I am. So get ready for the most exciting winter Vancouver has seen in a long time. 2009 was a great year, and 2010 is going to be even better. Happy New Year everyone!

Olympian Interview

Have you ever wondered what it's like for a former Olympian to have the Olympic Games coming to their city? How do they get involved? Are they attending any events? Find out here in my interview with Olympic gold medalist Kathy Kreiner!