The 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, Canada, ended over a week ago, and I have a few thoughts on it!
1) In the beginning of the Olympics, there were concerns about not having enough snow for outdoor events!
Not enough snow in Canada?
Ironically, at the same time, it was snowing in 49 states of the US (Hawaii being the non-snow state).
Global warming? More like Global Wierding!
2) Being that the Olympics were held in Canada, the Canadian Olympic officials had a slogan "Own the Podium", meaning Canadian athletes should strive to dominate all the Olympic events on their home turf.
In the first few days of the Winter Olympics, Canada was falling behind the medal count, and people were ridiculing the idea of Canada "owning the podium".
I don't have a problem with Canada promoting its "Own the Podium" slogan! [Though I do prefer the US to "own the podium" which is did :) ]
If you're going to compete in the biggest stage of sports, you better have a competitive spirit! You better give your countrymen some pride! You better have the "Own the Podium" attitude!
Striving for the best shouldn't be ridiculed, even if its from the underdog, even if its from your biggest rival!
3) As the Olympics went on, the Canadians were able to get more medals and move up on the medal count!
However, it was the Russians who had dramatic declines this year!
Russia was traditionally a Winter Olympic powerhouse! It was expected for a BIG country with tons of snow.
Yet, they were 11th place in the medal count!
This was so humiliating that the Russian president demanded resignations of Russian Olympic officials!
Now that the next Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia, the feeling is urgent that Russia needs to dramatically improve its winter sports programs!
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/medvedev-furious-at-olympic-failure-1914308.html
4) Sports always come with risks of injuries, even death!
The luger from Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died in a pre-Olympic practice!
That's gotta be one of the worst things in the world! You practice for years to achieve in the biggest stage of world sports and to die just before the games begin!
5) On the lighter side of things, I was happy to see the accomplishments of prominent US athletes.
Speed-skater Apollo Ohno broke the record for the most Winter gold medals by a US athlete!
Skier Lindsey Vonn overcame a shin injury to win gold medal!
Another skier, Bode Miller, who didn't live up to the hype in the 2006 Olympics, finally lived up to the hype in 2010, winning gold!
6) The US hockey (both men & women) were able to make it to the championship game. Unfortunately both lost to Canada!
Even more embarrassing for the US women hockey, the Canadians rubbed it in by smoking cigars & drinking champagne on the ice after the game! It's like a Big Poppa-style rap video on ice!
7) The next Winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia. That town is close to the Russia-Georgia border. Those countries had a mini-war about the same time as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing!
Will those tensions continue!
Hopefully, it won't ruin things in the next show on ice & snow!
