Olympic Parties – The Big Ending
March 2, 2010 at 12:54 am by Cat Barr
Filed under Articles (published), News, North Shore Outlook
All the medals have been given out and the athletes have gone home, but the memories will live on forever. The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics were clearly one of the best star-studded parties this town will ever see and it was wonderful to have been part of it. O Canada – thank you for making us proud.
01 – West Vancouver’s Don DeCotiis and daughter Marianne come out to support the Face of Tomorrow Gala which featured Canadian rapper K’Naan.
02 – Gala sponsors (and West Vancouverites) Sofia Somani, left, and Alexis Palkowski pose with Face of Tomorrow’s socialite/founder Kasondra Cohen, daughter of famed Army and Navy heiress Jacqui Cohen.
03 – Robson Square was the place to be to meet athletes like North Vancouver’s gold medal snowboarding gal – Maelle Ricker.
04 – Beaming in the golden afterglow of her media interviews, Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor shows off her first place prize.
05 – Former gold medal Olympic speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan, left, seen here with guest Patty Nees at the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night, got a chance to re-light the flame at the Closing Ceremony after that Opening Ceremony glitch.
06 – American skier Bode Miller, left, wanted a medal in each colour – and he got all three. Seen here with Olympic party impresario Craig Stowe, he and his entourage enjoy a night off at Canvas Lounge.
07 – After a disappointing start, the Canadian men’s short-track team came back with a vengeance and were more than happy to smile for the cameras at a special celebratory interview.
08 – Seen here at the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night, VANOC CEO John Furlong is undoubtedly ready for a long winter’s nap.
09 – Rock 101 FM’s Bro Jake “The Champ” Edwards, left, welcomes celebs, athletes and VIPs like Roy Nees, to the Commodore’s Manitoba Social night.
- -
By Catherine Barr – Feb 28, 2010
As seen in print in the North Shore Outlook on March 4, 2010
Sadly, the games have ended. But our lasting images from the spectacular Olympics will definitely be the wonderful and safe partying that dominated Robson Street. These are a few of our favourites from Robson Street a few hours after the Canadian mens ice hockey won the gold medal.
In the eyes of most Canadians today, Canada truly does "own the podium". Fourteen gold medals; the most gold ever in a winter Olympics and the most gold ever won by a host country!
During one of the performances at the Olympics closing ceremonies, Comedian Catherine O'Hara poked fun at how Canadians say "sorry" alot. Well, let's not apologize for truly owning the gold! Yes, we have shown the world that a large country with diverse cultures and backgrounds can come together; whether it is on public transit or just out on the streets, singing the Canadian National Anthem. Yes, we have shown the world we can laugh at ourselves (nice touch by closing ceremonies producers playing off the opening ceremonies mechanical failure).
Now we can show the world Canada is at the top. Canada is the best. We are a nation of winners and "I believe..." this experience has transformed us forever!
Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada’s Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames
Own the Podium dream over. That's that's the head line that read in a CBC / National Post article on Feb. 22 2010 And certainly there has been a lot of talk about Canada's uncharacteristically bold statement and the public declaration of its Big Hairy Audacious Goal: To be a world leader in high performance sport.Own the Podium or OTP, quite clearly set its goals for these 2010 Games as follows:
Place first in the total medal count at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Place in the top three in the gold medal count at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
OTP has been for more than a commitment to Athletes is has been our battle cry to the world that we intend to dominate these games. That's why it was like an elephant left the room when Canadian Olympic Committee CEO, Chris Rudge, said Monday that Canada wasn't going to finish first at these Games. Our National Pride was beaten and the media attention around it didn't do our top contenders any favors.
But I'd like to take the opportunity of looking at this program, which is at risk of being unfairly seen as a failure simply because of its own wildly optimistic measure, through a different lens. I think if we look at the entire context, we'll see that OTP and our Olympic Team has been a HUGE success.
Limited Time First off, OTP has only been in effect for 5 years and with limited funding of just $117 M. "The limiting factor here was time," Roger Jackson, the CEO of OTP, said in an interview Friday. Own the Podium did not have enough time to guide a solid amateur up to international level, he said, and so the spending was focused on athletes who were already "in the system," and especially in sports with an already deep talent pool, such as curling and hockey.
Limited Selection Ratio The other factor that I have never seen acknowledged anywhere is country population and the selection ratio we have to draw from. Let's put this in perspective and take a look a the populations of Top competing countries in these games. Here are the Top 10 in Population in order:
China 1.3 Billion population, 20 % of world Population
United States 309 Million 4.5% of world population
Russia 142 Million 2.1 % of world population
Japan 127 Million 1.9% of world population
Germany 82 Million 1.2% of world population
France 65 Million .96% of world population
UK - GBR 62 million .91% of world population
Italy 60 Million .90% of world population
South Korea 50 Million .73% of world population
Ukraine 46 Million .68% of world population
Canada isn't even on the list. Simply from a population perspective of nations participating in these games Canada isn't even in the top 10. For the purposes of this post I'm not going to get into the funding, politicism or retirement incentives that many countries offer its top athletes, I just want to look at the talent pool to draw from. Simply from a selection ratio perspective Canada is at a huge disadvantage with a population of just 34 million.
At the time of this writing Canada is sitting number 3 in total medal count (21) and is sitting in 1st Place for Gold (10) ahead of the USA and Germany (tied at 8). The games aren't over yet and we are guaranteed at least 3 more medals and are contention for Gold for each. If you look at the limited time frame of the OTP program, our small population, limited athletic funding, and focus on "athletes already in the system" I think it's a fair statement that OTP has been a Huge Success.
Let's return briefly to the original vision and Mission for OTP:
Vision
For Canada to be a world leader in high-performance sport.
Mission
To lead the development of Canadian sports to achieve sustainable podium performances at the Olympic and Paralympic Games
If those were the goals and you look at the results we achieved, I'm proud to scream out Go Canada! -We Do Own The Podium!
Keep it up and with a continued commitment to develop and nurture yet undiscovered talent, we will own the podium for many generations to come
Howard Olsen is President of High Output Training Systems and is one of Canada’s leading sales performance experts . He is on the Board of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and every year his perspective shifting keynotes and profit producing training programs help thousands of business people and their companies positively impact their bottom lines. For more information visit high-output.com and HowardOlsen.com Follow Howard on Twitter @howardolsen
Hasn't this been a party? Everyone I speak to says the same thing. The Olympic experience is so far above anything they could have imagined. Yes, there are long line-ups and packed skytrains, endless security checks and people everywhere you go. It's an opportunity to be meet new folks and to renew old friendships and celebrate as a family. Last night I gave directions to three women from Langley who hadn't been to the downtown core for at least 10 years! Welcome and I hope you come back soon.
As the games wind down, it's time for all of us to personally thank the folks who made our party possible; the bus drivers, the smurf volunteers, the policemen, traffic control and yes the folks who manned the endless security checks. Anyone I've forgotten?
My challenge to you is to take the time to chat up and thank three people each day who made it possible for you to enjoy the games. Okay, don't chat up the bus driver while he/she is driving, but don't forget to shout out "Thank You" as you exit the bus. It's a Vancouver thing.
See .. wasn't that easy? And you're going to meet the most amazing people.
Bonnie Sainsbury is a Social Media Strategist and co-founder of Duet Media who's thankful for all those folks who helped make her Olympic experience as great as it has been.
One of the biggest attractions at the Olympics this year has been the Zip Line over Robson Square. As part of the Province of BC'sOlympic entertainment siteZip Trek EcoTours has offered up a truly once in a lifetime experience for locals and tourists alike.
A friend and Twitter colleague Stephanie Cameron and I decided that we needed to experience it and bring some other Twitter folks along with us. Actually we thought that misery loves company and if we have to line up better to make it a party.
So at 7am Friday morning I was joined by J Holtslander, PurpleLara and co-conspirator Smuttysteff. We all arrived with coffees in hand and Smuttysteff treated us to some good old Tim Horton's. We hoped a 7am line up time would guarantee us prime placement in the first few runs of the Zip Line. Wrong! The first crazies in line had arrived at 6am with thermal blankets and a thermos of coffee.
Lara Jay Steff and Marc
So there we were 7am and approx 50+ ppl in front of us. Over the next couple of hours we made a few trips to the Blenz at Burrard and Robson to refill coffee supplies + bathroom breaks. As well we started to get to know some of our neighbors all were local Vancouverites that had been enjoying the Games and the excitement but had yet to Zip across Robson Square. Just behind us was a father and daughter that had tried twice before but unfortunately had tried to line up later in the day.
After 4+ hours in line we are now at the front and are up next. Smuttysteff gets interviewed by the CBC on what' it is like to wait in the lineup both for radio and for their web platform. Way to go Steff! With only minutes to go before we proceed up to sign releases and get into our harnesses we get a message from a Twitter colleague Mat Wilcox that she is at Robson Square and wants to photograph us as we continue our journey.
It was at this time that Steff decided to tell us that she was deathly afraid of heights. EEK! Here's Steff's personal recount of the journey about overcoming her fear http://www.smutandsteff.com/2010/02/did-it.html
So as they say a picture tells a thousand words so here is the remaining story of our Zip Line experience. All pics are courtesy of Mat Wilcox. See you on the other side
Lara Jay Steff and Marc
#1 Marc & PurpleLara
#2 Smuttysteff coming back from a P break
#3 We are the next group up
#4 goofing off in line
#5 Steff being interviewed by CBC radio
#6 I’m tweeting she is being interviewed
#7 now it’s a video for CBC – Steff is a star
#8 the view behind us is a one hour wait
#9 we are up! on way to sign releases
#11 that’s what we are gonna ride
#12 Marc and Steff making our last will
#13 two thumbs up we are ready
#14 Steff’s fear of hights is getting to her
#15 one step at a time U can do it Steff
#16 we did it we are off
#17 I tried to do running man but focused on holding on instead
#18 we are almost there
#19 Jay and Lara’s turn
#20 and they are off
#21 wait I wanna go back haha
#22 look at that Jay go!
Was the lineup worth it? YES! I’ve heard thanks to the Province of BC that they are seriously considering extending the Zip Line during the March 12th to 21stParalympic Games as well. Go BC!
Marc Smith is Vancouver based event planner and will be reporting daily on various events happening around Vancouver. http://twitter.com/amuseconsulting
I'm Canadian, but I wasn't a hockey fan until tonight. My friend Barbara came in from White Rock and we'd originally agreed to go to Heineken House in Richmond. She arrived at Waterfront Station a little later than she'd planned. It's 45 minutes before the Canada-Russia hockey game - we made the decision to head into Gastown. My twitter buddies has let everyone know the bars and restaurants in that area are almost empty.
Not a half a block away there's no line-up at German House. How can that be? Inside the place is busy, but we're able to find two seats right up front of the two-story screen with a sound system that rattles windows two blocks away. Everyone is happy, there's a table of Aussies whooping it up at the next table - we're all becoming fast friends.
The hockey game starts and the room errupts ..
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two tables over, a hockey fan has his Sasquatch costume from last Halloween under a red hockey jersey. Girls keep pestering him for photos with him .. Who knew a hairy Halloween costume would be a chick magnet?
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone around me is an expert .. they know what icing, offsite are .. they can referee the game better than the officials ..
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Russians did score a couple of times .. three actually .. we all boo'd. As I became a more experienced fan I realized this happens when the players allow the puck to stay in front of their net. Canadian players got control of the puck again.
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is fun! The Canadian players can do no wrong .. I notice there's no fighting in this level of play .. stopping the clock is frustrating to a new fan like me. Let's get this over with .. isn't it obvious Canada is going to win?
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The intermission is awfully long .. I guess the players need some time to rest and get a pep talk from the coach. We're in the third period now and the Canadian players seem to have forgotten the thing about not letting the puck stay in front of their goal for any length of time. Luongo is a good goalie .. everyone at the table says it was a good decision to start him. I agree.
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know whether we scored in the third period or not. It's all a blur to this new hockey fan. Fans are getting frustrated that the Russians seem to have the upper hand. No-one is moving around .. we're all glued to our seats ..
HE SHOOTS - HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 .. 9 .. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. The place goes crazy!! We sing O Canada .. there's much hugging and high fiving .. there's a run on the bar .. I think I have the hang of being a hockey fan.
This post is a part of a photography project we at Nordica Photography are doing throughout the Games. It's called Faces of the Games, and essentially we are taking pictures of various people everyday that have a connection to the Olympics. Everyday we pick a different theme, so there's quite an eclectic collection of faces starting to build! You can read more about the project here.
So here's a tip to all cities of the world who are seeking a way to experience an influx of rad streets artists: Host the Olympics. Simple eh?
Vancouver is buzzing right now with all sorts of wicked and ridiculously talented street folks, and they sure as heck weren't here before the Games strolled into town. Of course we (as in Vancouver) had a wide array of street artists pre-Games, but the people working the streets right now certainly have upped the ante.
Alas, here are a few of our favourites. And for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary: Stick around after the Games buskers and entertainers! You add a great lifeline of excitement to the city!
Taking a walk with a friend enjoying the beautiful Vancouver sunshine we stopped at the local UPS Store on Nelson & Cambie to mail off a package. We walked in to a sea of video cameras from two local TV stations and a large group of regular folk with cameras. What did we walk into? A scandal maybe at the UPS Store?
Even better, we walked into what turned out to be an impromptu media scrum for star Indian Olympic AthleteShiva Keshavan. Upon asking and following up with further research when I got home it turns out that Mr. Keshavan was the worlds youngest Luge entrant ever to participate in a Winter Olympics (Nagano 1998).
Shiva Keshavan being interviewed at UPS Store #209
Shiva Keshavan with his Fiance and the UPS Store team that supports him
The Manager of the UPS Store # 209Mr. Paramjit Teja, who is known to the Keshavan family as “Uncle”, was instrumental in arranging all the hospitality needs for the friends and family that travelled with India’s Winter Olympic Star. Part of the entourage was 6 “super fans” from Italy that have followed and supported Shiva in his Olympic Dream since his performance in Torino’s Games in 2006. the energy in the store was quite a buzz.
I was lucky enough to capture almost 6.5 minutes of the interview between Shiva and the reporter from Shaw TV. I apologize for the sound quality but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. So please watch and enjoy. I was 5 feet away from an Olympic athlete days after his competition. What a great experience!
After the interview Shiva was asked what his plans for the rest of his stay in Vancouver consisted of. He said " I have two other colleagues/friends from India that are here to compete and I will be at their side and in the stands cheering for them and giving them all the support and wisdom I can share from my 4 Olympic experiences". An answer was truly worthy of an Olympian.
Marc Smith is Vancouver based event planner and will be reporting daily on various events happening around Vancouver. http://twitter.com/amuseconsulting
You have to see this from my perspective, a Prairie kid who grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada at my Dad's knee. It was a regular occurrance - part national sport, part social occaision with friends, and part necessity too, I suppose - what else do you do when it's 40-degrees-below-zero and you are miles from town?
And here I am today, in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, in the Caprice Lounge on Granville Street to watch another kind of "Hockey Night in Canada" game. This is a much bigger party....with a couple of hundred other people, many creatively dressed in 'fan attire' and lots of Canadian flags and clothing in red.....watching the Canada-Swiss game on a very big screen! What a difference a generation makes, eh?
It was a great evening, even for the non-hockey fans in the crowd (you're a good sport, Bonnie!) who were there waiting for Guy Kawasaki's appearance later on - check out Twitter, it will all make sense then. From "scoreless tie" to "Canada leads!"...to OVERTIME NERVES......the tension built, the crowd enthusiasm grew, the flag-waving exploded....until overtime ended and the score was still tied 2-2!
What do we do? Well, I didn't know the answer to that until it happened: after one scoreless 5-minute overtime period, the ruled dictate a Shoot-Out! Not quite the O.K. Corral, but exciting none-the-less, the Canadian and Swiss stars took their turns.....1 -2 -3.....the goalies win, the score stays tied........so the goalies are changed and Canada's Sidney Crosby gets a second chance. As the famous commercial says "He shoots - he scores!" and the room went wild! Cheering, smiling faces, much hugging and slapping of backs, toasts were raised and flags were waved!
Marc Smith, of Amuse Consulting, took the mic and we all stood and sang a rousing chorus of 'Oh, Canada', and it all seemed 'right', and a bit surreal. Outside, the party on the street was wild; every possible patio location on the strip was full of people celebrating something - and even those not hockey fans were caught up in it all.
Wasn't that a party?! and the night was still young......
I asked a student recently if he used Twitter. His response was that Twitter was useless and he preferred Facebook. I asked the student next to him the same question and she replied that she uses Twitter all the time and connects her Twitter account to her Facebook status updates and enables geo-tagging to update her location to Twitter – she was in the 9th Grade.
This week has been exciting in Vancouver, a number of events shaping this city with thousands of tourists, dignitaries, police and locals bumping into one another.
I bumped into Tony Hawk the legendary skateboarder today; he’s much taller in person than on television.
I used this event to ponder how many people were conversing via social media at that given moment, sending pictures, updating Facebook and Flickr while trying to absorb all the action occurring around the Winter Olympics.
In this moment, I recognised that the world was literally everywhere and their homes were incredibly open and connected to the moments we were all experiencing. I recalled my conversations with those students and feared that their exuberance and connectivity may not be creating the same happy moments in the long term.
Who was following their tweets or status updates?
Who was reviewing the pictures without knowing the person who was uploading the content in person?
I have been delivering a message of online privacy awareness for the past few years and I have seen fantastic results in my work but I reviewed my thoughts today the same way I do every day, in a proactive and protected thought process where I minimize my risk of becoming a victim.
I invite you to take a look at www.pleaserobme.com - A website designed to review content on Twitter and Foursquare that purposely reveals how a person makes their world vulnerable, where they welcome a number of paths to becoming a victim and where our social networking world has taken a disturbing turn.
I have always challenged my audiences to review their habits and comments online and look at the vulnerability they are becoming available to. Although this website is delivering a tongue-in-cheek message, it has shown the world a very scary possibility for the social media we love and at times abuse.
If we lock our doors, cancel newspaper deliveries, let the neighbours know we’re out of town and ask for a mail pick-up, what happens when our children post to Facebook and Twitter that we have left the home and won’t return for a week or a few days, or even a few hours for that matter?
February 17, 2010 | Posted by greysquare photographics
Probably one of the best things to do during the Winter Games 2010 is to just walk around downtown Vancouver. This evening, the first evening of men's hockey, I had the chance to do just that. It is incredible to feel the energy in the air and to hear the shouts of glory from every goal scored.
On this evening we started, a friend and I, from Waterfront Station and headed west. Go west, young man, go west. (Or, in my case, woman.) Our first destination was the Olympic cauldron. The first time I saw the cauldron in person was during the day on Saturday. I must admit that seeing it at dusk is probably the best time. It is magnificent. I am proud that Vancouver gets to keep this symbol because it is a beautiful piece of art and, coming from an art college graduate, that is saying something.
Cauldron by greysquare photographics
Of course a hop skip and jump from the cauldron is the floating Olympics rings in the harbour so we photographed that as well. Maybe not as magnificent as the cauldron but impressive non-the-less because of what it represents.
What I found really fascinating photographing in this area was the way people were trying to all get the 'good' angle yet were very nice about the whole thing; taking turns and helping people out by taking stranger's portraits. It is amazing what can bring the people of the world together.
I just had to take this next shot because in Vancouver all our cranes seem to get in the spirit of any occasion and the Olympics is quite the occasion to celebrate. I wonder if this happens in the rest of the world.
Celebration Crane by greysquare photographics
From here we headed on to Robson Street and found it had a 'few' people there. This is nothing unusual and I am enjoying having the street closed to traffic during the evening. I wonder who I have to talk with to lobby having this a regular thing on the weekends? I noticed the hot dog vendors are doing excellent business and I am happy that they are making good money with their wares. I know we all have our favourites and I am sad when ‘my’ vendor isn’t there.
Robson Street by greysquare photographics
At Robson Square we went down stairs, under the street, to see what was going on. There are performances happening there every night on two stages. We happened to catch the Richmond Academy of Dance and their tap dance performers.
What Robson Square is most popular for is the ice skating which is surprisingly very inexpensive. I think it is $3 for rentals! We had just missed the mascot skate which would have been fun to see. I have always wondered how anyone can skate in one of those costumes. It is quite a large rink and has excellent viewing potential if you want to bring the kiddies but not skate yourself.
Richmond Academy of Dance by greysquare photographics
The Usual Suspects by greysquare photographics
Ice Rink by greysquare photographics
Free Skate by greysquare photographics
Once we were done photographing at the rink I realized I had not yet spent the time to photograph the count down clock donated to Vancouver that is on the other side of the Art Gallery. So we headed over to Georgia and had a great time photographing there. The fountain is all back lit and made for some fun shots and the clock is now counting up from the opening ceremonies. I wonder if it will count down to the paralympic games then count up during those games as well.
By now we were chilly so we headed over to Blenz on Granville just north of Georgia. Mmmmmm, soy chai latté!
Olympic Clock on Georgia by greysquare photographics
Vancouver Art Gallery by greysquare photographics
Backlit by greysquare photographics
Pacific Centre Polar Bears by greysquare photographics
Once we were properly warmed we headed south on Granville to check out the lit art between Georgia and Robson. I am loving those lanterns! Every time I see them I feel joyful. They are so much fun and people love stomping around on the lantern tree base because it makes so much noise. The last time I was at the lanterns I remember it vividly because Alexandre Bilodeau won gold for Men’s Freestyle Skiing. The cheering in the streets was so exciting and filled the street with such energy that it was contagious. So, those lanterns are etched in my memory forever.
Lanterns by greysquare photographics
Odd Signage by greysquare photographics
Lanterns by greysquare photographics
Art by greysquare photographics
Lanterns by greysquare photographics
Lanterns by greysquare photographics
I had a great time tonight and I look forward to doing the walkabout this Saturday up at Whistler.
GO, Canada, GO!
This was certainly something special and Goddamn emotional if you want to get right down to it: The Olympic Torch being ran through the Musqueam Reserve.
The Musqueams are one of four First Nations hosts for the Games, and what a special group of people. We've never really experienced seeing such a sense of community before, and likely never will again.
Here are some photos from the rainy evening with a brief description of what's going on in each picture.
This flag is the flag of the Musqueam Reserve. It's gorgeous and the teal colour is rad (also their official colour!)
This is Larissa and her sign says something along the lines of "My Mother's a Star!". She's beautiful, eh?
These young fellas were taking in the special evening and waving the Musqueam flag with pride!
The best part about this whole experience was probably the fact that it truly was a family-orientated evening. How adorable is this beautiful young girl eh!
Yep, the police were everywhere. That goes without saying these days in Vancouver!
The look in this mans face as he gazed at the torch was pretty cool. Definitely a proud man, and even prouder perhaps of the contributions of the Musqueams!
The torch stayed lit even though it was raining! This women struck the most emotions with people it seemed as people went ballistic with applause when she started her run!
This was quite an adorable look on the ladies face. This was just before it was her turn with the torch, and you could see the excitement in her face!
This is a band member of the Musqueams giving a riveting speech about the contributions made by aboriginals to the Games. He spoke in his native tongue as well as in English!
The looks now turned to the man with the torch, as he looked at the women as though to say, "This is what we've been waiting for! Are you ready!"
And, the flame has been exchanged. Pretty special moment. And in case you didn't recognize him, the man in the red Hockey Jersey is Vancouver's Mayor, Gregor Robertson.
This is the same lady at the end of her run as she passed the flame along to her relative. They were both very emotional about this, and it was pretty darn special.
This man was all smiles about the whole affair, as were most. His toque and jacket were very, very stylish we might add!
This really says it all, eh? The Musqueam band really showed how intense and tight a community the are with the crowds and enthusiasm that surrounded the Torch relay. It was incredible to witness the emotions of all who gathered, and to think that the Olympics are only just starting! What an exciting month to come!
If you read Shane Gibson’s earlier Metro-Blenz News Squad post, you probably learned that the Irish House’s soft opening was an absolutely fantastic evening. It was a loud, fun-filled and jam packed Irish House, and we managed to capture a few photos from the night.
March 7, 2010 | Posted by admin 
Categories: Catherine Barr | 
Tags: Cat Barr, Olympic Parties, Winter Olympics | 
No Comments »
