Canadian Olympic Updates

Paralympic Torch Relay

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:22:00 +0000

The Paralympics begin in BC on March 12, 2010. The 10-day torch relay begins today in Ottawa then will travel to Quebec City on March 4, Toronto on March 5, CFB Esquimalt and Victoria, BC on March 6, Squamish on March 7, Whistler on March 8, Lytton and Hope on March 9, Vancouver and Maple Ridge on March 10, University of BC on March 11, and in downtown Vancouver on March 12 for the opening ceremonies at BC Place. There is an ambassador delegated to each province who will be carrying the torch and you can view the list of torchbearers on the Vancouver 2010 website.

Summary of Canadian Medalists

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Below is a summary of all of the Canadian medalists in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. We won 26 medals in total with 14 being Gold medals. They are organized in date order.

February 13, 2010
Ladie's Moguls - Silver Medalist: Jennifer Heil

February 14, 2010
Speed Skating - Ladie's 3000m - Bronze Medalist: Kristina Groves
Men's Moguls - Gold Medalist: Alexandre Bilodeau

February 15, 2010
Men's Snowboard - Silver Medalist: Mike Robertson

February 16, 2010
Ladie's Snowboard - Gold Medalist: Maelle Ricker

February 17, 2010
Short Track - Ladie's 500m - Silver Medalist: Marianne St. Gelais

February 18, 2010
Speed Skating - Ladie's 1000m - Gold Medalist: Christine Nesbitt

February 19, 2010
Skeleton - Men's Heat 4 - Gold Medalist: Jon Montgomery

February 21, 2010
Speed Skating - Ladie's 1500m - Silver Medalist: Kristina Groves

February 22, 2010
Figure Skating - Ice Dance/Free Dance - Gold Medalists: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir

February 23, 2010
Skiing - Ladie's Ski Cross - Gold Medalist: Ashleigh McIvor

February 24, 2010
Speed Skating - Ladie's 5000m - Bronze Medalist: Clara Hughes
Bobsleigh - Women's Heat 4 - Gold Medalists: Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse and Silver Medalists: Helen Upperton, Shelley-Ann Brown
Short Track - Ladie's 3000m Relay - Silver Medalists: Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St. Gelais, Tania Vicent

February 25, 2010
Ice Hockey - Women's - Gold - Click here for Team Members
Figure Skating - Ladie's Free Skate - Bronze Medalist: Joannie Rochette

February 26, 2010
Curling - Women's - Silver Medalists: Cheryl Bernard, Susan O'Connor, Carolyn Darbyshire, Cori Bartel, and Kristie Moore
Short Track - Men's 500m - Gold Medalist: Charles Hamelin, Bronze Medalist: Francois-Louis Tremblay
Short Track - Men's 5000m Relay - Gold Medalists: Charles Hamelin, Francois Hamelin, Olivier Jean, and Francois-Louis Tremblay

February 27, 2010
Speed Skating - Men's Team Pursuit - Gold Medalists: Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, Denny Morrison
Snowboard - Men's Paralell Giant Slalom - Gold Medalist: Jasey Jay Anderson
Bobsleigh - Four Man - Bronze Medalists: Lyndon Rush, Chris LeBihan, David Bissett, and Lascelles Brown
Curling - Men's Gold Medalists: Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert, and Adam Enright

February 28, 2010
Ice Hockey - Men's Gold - Click here for Team Members

The Olympic Flower Bouquets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:16:00 +0000

All through the Olympics I wondered what was in the bouquets that were being handed out to medal winners. To me they looked like brocolli and I didn't really find them attractive. The bouquets were made from green spider mums and hypericum berries which were designed and provided by Just Beginnings Flowers and Margitta's Flowers in Surrey, BC. June Strandberg, who is the owner of Just Beginnings Flowers, teaches floristry to women who have left prison, are recovering from addiction, or have been victims of violence. There was a group of 22 women who were trained to put the bouquets together. The florists made 1800 bouquets for the Olympics and Paralympics. The flowers are grown locally however since they are not in season in February, some had to be flown in from Ecuador. I thought there should have been some colour in the bouquets but perhaps they looked nicer in person. Possible allergic reactions had to be taken into consideration when choosing the flowers as well.

Below is a video of June Strandberg and Margitta Schulz being interviewed about the bouquets.

Click here to watch the video.

Saving the Best for Last!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:45:00 +0000

What a fantastic gold medal game yesterday and what a perfect end to the Olympics. It was down to the final 1:30 minutes when the USA pulled their goalie. Canada fought to keep the puck out of their end but with only 25 seconds remaining, Parise of the USA sends the puck into the goal to put the game into overtime. After 7:40 minutes of quick and intense play and with an assist from Iginla, Crosby ended the game and brought the gold to Canada. What a moment for Crosby who at only 22 has won the Stanley Cup and now has won an Olympic Gold Medal. What a career! I have never seen such Canada spirit as I saw last night and I was overcome with emotion and felt very proud to be Canadian at that moment. It was also very emotional to see the soldiers watching in Afghanistan. Its so wonderful that they could be a part of this memorable event.

It must have felt euphoric to be in Vancouver yesterday taking part in the celebrations. I wished so badly that I could be there. Not only did we win the most gold medals for the 2010 Olympics, but we set a record for a country winning the most gold medals ever. I will never forget the Vancover 2010 Olympic games!

The Last Day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:26:00 +0000

I can't believe that the 2010 Olympics are almost over! It's been an exciting and emotional two weeks. Canada has won the most gold medals - 13 in all. Today is another exciting day as Canada plays the USA for the gold medal in Mens Hockey. It should be a great game! After the hockey game is over, the closing ceremonies will begin as the Vancouver 2010 Olympics draw to a close. I think these Olympics have been the most memorable for me. I was a teenager when the Olympics were in Canada last in Calgary, 1988. We didn't have the technology that there is today to follow such an event. With the internet, we are updated in "real time" as to what is happening. The Vancouver 2010 website and the CTV website have been fantastic resources in getting updates. I have enjoyed watching my 8 year old son experience the excitement and competitiveness of it all. He was amazed at what these athletes could do. I am sure he will watch the upcoming Paralympics as well.

Congratulations Joannie!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:22:00 +0000

I am thrilled that Joannie was able to capture the bronze medal last night. She has shown the determination and courage of a true athlete. It may have been the hardest thing for her to do but when she looks back when the shock of her mother's death subsides, she will be grateful that she pushed on. It would be what her mother wanted. Joannie is a strong, classy and composed woman and the support and love of her family, friends, and country will see her through this tragedy. She has made the Vancouver 2010 Olympics truly memorable for me.

Click here to watch her win the bronze medal.

Congratulations also to the Women's Hockey Team for winning gold with a shutout of 2-0. I was very confident that they would win gold.

WAY TO GO CANADA!

Exciting Day Ahead!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:10:00 +0000

Today's attention will be on the Women's Canadian hockey team as they challenge the USA for the gold medal. The game will be a nail-biter for sure! The game starts at 3:30 pm PST, 6:30 pm EST.

Another exciting and emotonal event today will be the Ladies' freestyle skate where Joannie Rochette will be competing for a medal. She currently ranks third in the competition. Coverage will begin at 5:00 pm PST.

Wishing The Best for Joannie Rochette

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:21:00 +0000

It must have been very difficult for Joannie Rochette to have skated yesterday for the first time without her mom watching her. Her mom died on Sunday on her way to see Joannie compete for gold. Joannie was very strong to be able to get back out on the ice and focus on the goal that her mom worked so hard to help her achieve. I can't imagine how she must have felt when she skated onto the ice. The timing of her mom's death is very tragic and my heart goes out to her. During her program she remained composed, landing each jump. The ending was very emotional. She came in third. The fact that she has decided to continue competing shows her devotion to Canada and to her mom's dream. May her mom's spirit guide her through the rest of the competition. Our prayers are with you Joannie!

Click here to watch her emotional performance on CTV.

Joannie will skate again on Feb. 25 at 5:00 p.m. PST. This is a medal event.

The Design of the Olympic Medals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:44:00 +0000

The first thing I noticed about the 2010 Olympic medals is their shape. They are not perfectly round and flat. The surface undulates like waves. I watched the making of the medals on the Vancouver 2010 website and thought I would share that with you. It is very interesting how they designed the medals. It would be such an honour to be a part of the designing process! The medals have captured the uniqueness of our country and I would love to see them and hold them in my hand. I have heard athletes comment that they are quite heavy. Please click the link below to watch the video.

The Making Of the Medals

Dancing Gold!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:54:00 +0000

I am very excited that Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold medal for Ice Dancing. It is the first gold medal ever won by a North American country in Ice Dancing. They are a very young couple. Tessa is 20 and Scott is 22. Way to go Canada!

Watch a clip here!

Men's Free Skating

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:03:00 +0000

Today is a medal event for the men's free skating and I am excited to see who will win this one. I watched Russian, Evgeni Plushenko Tuesday night and I was wowed by his performance. He is fast and always doing difficult moves. He is a strong believer that a quad must be in a routine in order for it to be men's figure skating. He isn't the most artistic skater I've seen but he is fast and powerful. His close rivals are American Evan Lysacek and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi. Canadian Patrick Chan ranked 7th in the Men's Short Program.

Should Hockey Olympians Be Amateurs?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:16:00 +0000

I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning about whether or not Olympic hockey teams should consist of amateur players. It is my opinion that yes, the team members should be amateurs. That thought was going through my head last night when I was watching Canada play Norway. If we brought in amateurs from the minors, it would give us some insight into the up and coming hockey talent and it would give the amateurs exposure. We wouldn't be watching players who were born in Canada but have moved to the USA because they get paid to play for an American team. We would be watching young Canadians putting their heart and soul into the games for Canada and I think this would contribute to a more exciting hockey game. What are your thoughts?

Summary of Day 5 - Daily Host Video

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:08:00 +0000

The following is a summary of the results of Day 5 (Feb. 16) plus a feature on the Atlantic House and BC Hydro Power Smart Village. The daily host video is posted everyday on the Vancouver 2010 website.

Leading Countries of Medals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:15:00 +0000

To date, the USA is in the lead for the most medals won. They have won 8 medals in total - 2 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. Germany is coming in second with 5 medals, 1gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze. France is in third with 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 bronze, Canada is in fourth place with 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze.

Today's medal events will be Women's 10 km biathlon, ladies snowboarding, Men's 12.5 km biathlon, Men's combined slalom, Women's single luge, and Ladies 500 m speed skating. Another highlight of today will be the Men's Canada hockey game against Norway.

Our First Gold Medal!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Alexandre Bilodeau won gold in the moguls finals on Sunday. He is the first Canadian Olympian to win gold on our home soil. The 22 year old is from Quebec.

Jennifer Heil won our first medal in Vancouver. She won silver in the women's moguls freestyle skiing event on Saturday. She was under tremendous pressure to win gold but I think she did a fantastic job and she should be proud to win silver. Jennifer is from Alberta.

The women's hockey team is also on a great start by defeating Slovakia at a record breaking 18-0! Way to go Canada!

Opening Ceremonies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:57:00 +0000

It was so exciting to watch the opening ceremonies last night. There was such diversity in the production which reflected on the diversity of our country in its terrain and its people. I especially enjoyed the performance of Sarah McLachlan. She has such a beautiful voice. The whale light show was also awesome. KD Lang put on a wonderful performance as well and she is another singer that has a natural, beautiful voice. O Canada was performed by Nikki Yanofsky and I liked the style of how she sang it. I thought Nelly Furtado looked fantastic and it was nice to see Bryan Adams performing as well. I feel that the ceremonies brought all of the cultures of Canada together, the English, the French, the Natives, the East Coast, the West Coast, and everywhere in between. The torch returned home from its fantastic journey across our great country and was carried first by paralympic gold medalist, Rick Hansen, then on to two-time Olympic gold medalist, Catriona Le May Doan, basketball player Steve Nash, former Olympic skier Nancy Greene, who then passed it on to the one and only Wayne Gretzky.

The theme was To Inspire the World and indeed it inspired me - I believe! It was such a memorable event. GO CANADA GO!

Of course, the whole performance was shadowed by the death of the young luge athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili earlier in the day. My heart goes out to his family and teammates. What a tragic beginning to this much anticipated event.

Shania Lighting the Cauldron

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Last night, Shania carried the torch in Timmins, Ontario and lit the cauldron around 7:00 p.m. I located this fabulous picture on her website of her lighting the cauldron in -37 temperatures. Despite the cold, she had a great crowd cheering her on! You can also find short videos of her carrying the torch on youtube which were filmed by spectators. Shania wrapped her torch in hockey tape (how Canadian is that?) because she feared it may slip out of her hands otherwise. She has donated the torch and her Olympic outfit to the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins.

Meaning of the Vancouver 2010 Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:57:00 +0000

By now, most people should be familiar with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Logo. Have you ever stopped to think what it actually means?

The logo is a unique design of an inukshuk which is a traditional stone statue used by Canada's Inuit people. Inukshuk (in-ook-shook) translates into "likeness of a person" or "in the image of man". They are built to resemble a person with their arms stretched out and are used as a milestone or directional marker for the Inuit in the barren Arctic. The logo is called Illanaaq (el-la-nawk) and was designed by two graphic artists, Elena Rivera MacGregor and Gonzalo Alatorre. Their design was chosen from over 1600 submissions.

The logo is made up of 5 different stones - green, two in blue, one in red, and one in yellow. The colours represent different parts of the country. The green and blues represent the coastal forests, mountain ranges, and islands. The red depicts the maple leaf and the yellow implies the brilliant sunrises. Below the inukshuk are the 5 Olympic rings - one ring for each continent that participates in the Olympics. The colours derive from the colours of flags from each nation. The rings interlock to show the nations coming together to compete.

The logo is very unique just like Canada and it stands proudly to make our mark in the world.

Torch Update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:40:00 +0000

It is now day 63 of the torch relay with only 43 more days until the games begin. Since I last posted, the torch has made its way through New Brunswick, Quebec, and southern Ontario. Yesterday, I had the fantasic opportunity to see it go through my town. There was a short parade with the Vancouver 2010 van and a couple of floats sponsored by RBC and Coke. The torch went by so quickly that it was hard to get some good pictures but I managed to snap a few and take a short video of it going by. Today, the torch will make its way through Northern Ontario with a celebration in Val d'Or starting at 6:00 p.m. Tomorrow, the torch will be in Timmins with Shania Twain lighting the cauldron. I can't wait to see that and would love to be there in person. Happy New Year!

Day 24 - Olympic Torch Relay

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Today the torch will be in Summerside, PEI for an evening celebration commencing 6:00 p.m. at Summerside Raceway. The torch will travel by horsedrawn carriage through Cavendish, on the same route that Matthew Cuthbert brought Anne home from the train station in the famous book and tv series, Anne of Green Gables. Cassie Campbell-Pascal will ride in the carriage through Cavendish and will continue on with the rest of the relay. Cassie Cambpell-Pascal is the former captain of the Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Team and a winner of two gold medals and a silver medal. She is also a direct descendent of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.

Day 23 - The Olympic Torch Relay

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:13:00 +0000

The torch has left Nova Scotia and will travel to scenic Charlottetown, PEI by tonight. The celebration will begin at 6:00 p.m. at Confederation Landing Park and the torch is expected to arrive at 7:00 p.m. I have included a picture of the Confederation Bridge which spans almost 13 km from PEI to New Brunswick. A construction marvel to say the least! I hope to visit the Maritimes one day. It looks absolutely beautiful!

Day 22 - Olympic Torch Relay

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:26:00 +0000

The torch will make its way from Halifax to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia today. Along the way it will stop in Wolfville for celebrations beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the torch will arrive around 11:30 a.m. There will also be a celebration in Lunenburg this evening beginning at 6:00 p.m. and the torch will arrive around 7:00 p.m.

Day 21 - Olympic Torch Update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:00 +0000

The torch remains in Nova Scotia today and will be travelling to Annapolis Royal, Bear River, and Yarmouth.

Day 20 - The Olympic Torch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:58:00 +0000

The torch will makes it way to beautiful Halifax by this evening. Celebrations will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Grand Parade grounds and the torch will arrive around 7:00 p.m. The torch will be carried in a canoe by Olympic paddler, Andrew Russel. I am really enjoying following the torch on its journey because I am getting reacquainted with the geography of Canada. I have forgetten how vast and diverse it really is. Each province truly has unique beauty.

Olympic Red Mittens

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:43:00 +0000

You can purchase these mittens at the HBC stores such as Zellers and The Bay, and also online at The Olympic Store. I believe they retail for about $10/pair. Net proceeds of the mittens goes towards funding the Canadian athletes. The mittens are selling out quickly so if you really want a pair you should order them now. Of course, you will probably be able to find some on ebay however they may be priced much higher than retail. If you know of another place to buy them, please comment below. Thanks!

You will also find many more souvenirs at The Olympic Store.