Well,
THIS was worth getting up at 3 in the morning for... and not just
because of the woman who came in a couple of seconds out of the lead,
placing low, but who kept cheering, then went up to the camera and said,
"I'm proud of myself!"
**SPOILER ALERT**
Thirteen
one-hundredths of a second is almost nothing. But ZERO hundredths of a
second IS nothing! The temperatures have been above freezing every
day, wreaking havoc with all of the snow sports (ask Shaun White). They
tried to fix the women's downhill course by sprinkling some sort of
salt that flash-freezes the snow on it, but everyone is having trouble
with the sun and shade and the texture(s) of the snow. A few wipeouts,
one of them really bad. And with all of these variables, and the fact
that they had different times on the hill and took different lines down,
the skiers from Switzerland and Slovenia are TIED, at 1:41.57. ZERO
one-hundredths of a second. And not just tied — tied for first. Tied for
Gold medals, the first ever tie for Gold in an Alpine event.
The guy who makes the medals just started crying...
Showing posts with label gold medal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gold medal. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Bilodeau
But by now you've all seen it, right? Men's moguls? If not, then **spoiler alert**...
Remember when Canada had never won a gold medal on home soil (despite hosting two other Olympics), then Alexandre Bilodeau came along in Vancouver 2010 and had a perfect run... if you're Canadian, you still couldn't believe it, you knew there would be something that the viewer-at-home couldn't discern as a flaw that would put him in 2d place... then the score went up, and you screamed and jumped up and down and hugged the dog because he wouldn't high-five you?
The first thing Bilodeau did was find his brother - his best friend and his inspiration - to hug him. His older brother was the only Bilodeau sibling not to ski on the Canadian team, because his CP made movement more challenging for him. In all his work and training, Alexandre has looked up to Frederic for inspiration, a reminder to never give up. So, when Alexandre won this historic gold medal, the Canadian Prime Minister was there to shake his hand, but he put that handshake on hold until he could find his brother.
Canada just became more proud of Bilodeau the more they learned about him, and Frederic is a hero in his own right now. Bilodeau says that when he goes out alone, no one recognises him. When he goes out with Frederic, everyone comes up to them. To talk to Frederic.
Yesterday, Bilodeau put in a horrible run in the 20-man quarterfinals, coming in 8th. That can be written off as a fluke, but you know that it doesn't bode well. In the 12-man semis, he moved up to 3rd place. If you're Canadian, you're thinking, "Hey! That's still in the medals!" But in the 6-man Final (in which 3 of the 4 Canadians were still competing) he went out there and had that perfect run, the one he had in Vancouver that made us all afraid to hope. But this time we didn't hope: we knew. We knew that Canada CAN have nice things. And that awesome kid who made Canadian history four years ago won Gold again, bumping his teammate MIkael Kingsbury to Silver. And the first thing he did was find his brother.
Now that he's poised for a flood of endorsements, he's retiring. To work in his Dad's accounting firm. I love that guy.
Remember when Canada had never won a gold medal on home soil (despite hosting two other Olympics), then Alexandre Bilodeau came along in Vancouver 2010 and had a perfect run... if you're Canadian, you still couldn't believe it, you knew there would be something that the viewer-at-home couldn't discern as a flaw that would put him in 2d place... then the score went up, and you screamed and jumped up and down and hugged the dog because he wouldn't high-five you?
The first thing Bilodeau did was find his brother - his best friend and his inspiration - to hug him. His older brother was the only Bilodeau sibling not to ski on the Canadian team, because his CP made movement more challenging for him. In all his work and training, Alexandre has looked up to Frederic for inspiration, a reminder to never give up. So, when Alexandre won this historic gold medal, the Canadian Prime Minister was there to shake his hand, but he put that handshake on hold until he could find his brother.
Canada just became more proud of Bilodeau the more they learned about him, and Frederic is a hero in his own right now. Bilodeau says that when he goes out alone, no one recognises him. When he goes out with Frederic, everyone comes up to them. To talk to Frederic.
Yesterday, Bilodeau put in a horrible run in the 20-man quarterfinals, coming in 8th. That can be written off as a fluke, but you know that it doesn't bode well. In the 12-man semis, he moved up to 3rd place. If you're Canadian, you're thinking, "Hey! That's still in the medals!" But in the 6-man Final (in which 3 of the 4 Canadians were still competing) he went out there and had that perfect run, the one he had in Vancouver that made us all afraid to hope. But this time we didn't hope: we knew. We knew that Canada CAN have nice things. And that awesome kid who made Canadian history four years ago won Gold again, bumping his teammate MIkael Kingsbury to Silver. And the first thing he did was find his brother.
Now that he's poised for a flood of endorsements, he's retiring. To work in his Dad's accounting firm. I love that guy.
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