Golden moments for Canada

 KARA GRANT
The Guardian, February 15, 2010

I watched on the edge of my seat at Canada Olympic House in downtown Vancouver with room full of Olympians, family and friends. The room was filled with tension, hope and incredible awe as the athletes flew down the slope at Cypress, riding the fine line of speed, control and for Alexander Bilodeau, an Olympic Gold medal in Men’s Moguls. The cheers were deafening as everyone celebrated first his incredible descent, and then the moment when the final skier was scored and we realized that Alex had won Gold and in doing so, made Canadian Olympic History. It was a shinning moment in what promises to be a ground breaking Olympic Games.

Atlantic Canada's Leaders welcome the World at Atlantic Canada House

I kicked off the weekend with the Opening reception at Atlantic Canada House Saturday afternoon. Already there were thousands of people milling around taking in the action around the city. There was a line up around the building to get into the very popular Atlantic Canada House. East Coast hospitality was at its finest and in addition to some culinary delicacies, we were a treated to a performance of Come on in! Songs and Stories from Atlantic Canada. Each of the four musicians worked magic, bringing our culture and heritage alive through pictures and stories of their own lives and of course through their music. The images were vivid and bright and very fitting. I’ve been raving about the show to every soul I’ve met over the past couple of days, but no doubt the brilliance of the artists will speak for itself in the days to come.

Premier Dexter of Nova Scotia applauds Sarah Conrad, Snowboard athlete competing at the Winter Olympics.

As an added bonus for those of us in attendance at the opening, Premier Ghiz, Premier Dexter of Nova Scotia and the Honourable Peter MacKay, the Minister of National Defence, also originally from NS, were called on stage to give a short demonstration on the wooden spoons. Very entertaining to say the least! As the show wrapped up, we were also treated to a reminder of why we were all in Vancouver in the first place. Sarah Conrad, a snowboard athlete from Nova Scotia, was called up from the audience for a big round of applause. Watch for Sarah in the Ladies Halfpipe on Thursday. My day was far from over as I headed off at full speed for Pacific Coliseum and Short Track Speed Skating.

 I considered myself incredibly lucky to be there in person and I was not disappointed. Short track speed skating is fast, furious and prone to upsets.

Short Track start for men's 500m on February 13

Several top Canadian athletes were competing and I witnessed first hand the disappointment of favorite Charles Hamelin being edged out by Apolo Anton Ohno who managed to stick a skate blade past Hamelin, literally at the finish line of the men’s 1500m semi-final and thus knocking second ranked Hamelin out of the final. On the other side of the coin, I celebrated with the hometown crowd as Team Canada advanced to the final of the Ladies 3000m Team Pursuit.

The days are a blur of motion and emotion. The sun in shinning in Vancouver today and the possibilities are endless. I’ll continue to follow our Olympic Athletes and in between events I’ll hit the streets to take in elements of the Cultural Olympiad.