Thursday - Race Makeup Day

This should have been a day off, in fact, (boy, I could really use one!), but since the afternoon run of the Ladies' Slalom was called due to fog yesterday, it was held today.

So, that meant the usual 5am wake up time, arrive at the base at 6:45am for breakfast and our Gate Judge Crew meeting , uploading by 8, all in position by 9, and race started at 10. Again, I was positioned only a short distance up from the finish, which really adds to the spirit of the experience, as you can hear the roar of the crowd, and see the country colours all being proudly waved in the wind - just great.

One of the tricky things about this being a televised event, is that we are supposed to try to stay out of the camera shots as much as possible. Now, the course Maintenance Crew, Slippers, and coaches can easily shift back, but the Gate Judge must have a clear sight line of the whole gate, i.e. from the base of one pole to the base of the other, so when the above crowd slowly and reluctantly slid back closer to the fencing, (we were on the course at this point, not behind any fencing), I just stood my ground and said, "If I move I won't see my gate, and I have to see my gate." So it's no wonder that that was the day that while watching the CTV News that evening back at the chalet, I saw myself - many times! I'm sure you've seen thousands of "Blue Jackets" while watching the Olympic coverage. Gate Judges are recognizable in that we wear a light blue large pinnie over our jackets, that actually say "Gate Judge", which makes it easy to spot yourself on screen!

Slippers who side slide the course after almost every racer, to keep it hard and smooth, wear purple pinnies, and those on crew who check Accreditation, and prevent the public from entering race areas are Stewards, and they wear green.

A story about a Slipper...these men and women have to be awesome and powerful skiers, as they spring into action once a skier has passed, side slide a few gates as fast as possible, and then scoot off to the side of the course, before the next racer comes screaming down the hill just 40 seconds later. I started chatting with one of the Slippers, and found that she was from Latvia. When I asked if she was a racer, she said that she was - she is on their national team, but didn't qualify for the Olympics, so she signed up as a volunteer on the Slipping Crew so that she could be here, up close, to support her teammate. When I asked how the teammate is doing, she told me she had been disqualified before she even started - poor girl - all this way, only to be wiped out of the competition by her boot being 0.5cm too high off her ski. Isn't that awful? Apparently, she was devasted - of course. But, anyway, that will give you an idea of the quality of skiers we have slipping the course. And, we have many former racers on the Crew - I met two former alpine skiing Olympians today actually!

With only one run to do (and even less racers than yesterday, as several had been disqualified for missing gates or wiping out), that meant we were all wrapped up by midday, and it was time for what else - skiing time!

I'm so lucky to have made a good friend in Garth, one of the Stewards who very patiently was my ski instructor this afternoon. We video taped Garth doing it right, and me doing my "best". It should be very interesting to watch when I get home - I'm sure I'm not going nearly as fast as I feeel I'm going.

Dinner out with my "adopted" Crew at a restaurant turned into the "Swiss House" for the Games - rediculously expensive, but we had a nice time nonetheless. We made our way to the Medals Plaza, as this was the day that Canada had won the Ladies' Bobsled - everyone went nuts for the team when they came out, and we all proudly sang O Canada as our flag was raised. The Germans all sang for their winners, and there was a great group of Chinese who sang for theirs. The unbridled patriotrism is just so uplifting.

My virus was starting to really take hold. Cough! Cough! So, I made my way to the bustop pretty early, but on the way...there was an interview just about to start at the CTV booth, and hey, where there's a TV camera and a Murphy...got my plastic Go Canada Go sign out of my backpack, positioned myself in the shot right bang between the interviewer and the interviewee (it was about the Ladies Giant Slalom), and whenever that little red light came on, I opened and closed my sign, moved it up and down and all around, and when the interviewers arm went up, I went down - it was hilarious - all these strangers and I just cheering away for the fun of it - I really never thought I'd do that - remember, I had left my friends already, but the opportunity was just too perfect. Well, when I got home, and the CTV news came on, we all watched the intereview excitedly, and howled at this smiling Smurf, playing to the camera in between the host and her guest - did any of you see it?

Got Steve Podborski's (one of the Crazy Canucks from the '88 Olympics) autograph, and one of the Irish Skiers - Maya (forget her last name) - on my Accreditation. Did I mention that I rode the bus home to the Athletes' Village with the whole Irish team the other night? Of course, they were very friendly. For those of you who are wondering - they have a Bobsled men's team, and two female Alpine skiers. Every time they pass during the race, I shout out "Erin go Brah!" (Ireland for ever!). They really appreciated my support every time I ran into them - we see all the skiing athletes all the time, walking to and from the lift, riding up the Gondola, at the top, at the Athletes' Village etc. I was only too happy to encourage them, as they are pretty atypical Irish athletes, and let's just say the streets aren't full of Irish flags.