Let the Games Begin!

Day 8 – February 7, 2014

This is it! Opening day has arrived, with the Opening Ceremonies taking place tonight. And for me, a relatively easy day with an afternoon start and some venue training. I know, I’ve been at the venue for several days now, living dangerously not knowing anything about the place or the rules. I’m still not sure how I’ve managed.

Up to the venue, and I had a little time to take some pictures.

Lots of interviews still going on.

This is the entertainment tent that was just erected.

I then met up with Maria (the cross country coordinator) at the workforce check-in room at the venue. Here she is on the phone. She does a lot of this.

While I waited, I took a look at the map that showed where everyone was from, which had filled up a fair bit since I had seen it last. The most interesting ones are the pin off the northwest coast of South America and the other one that looks like it’s in Antarctica.

A group of about 10 or 15 of us met up, including Kaupo, several Italians and others from various countries.

These two lovely young ladies ran the training session.

The one with the toque spoke much better English. The one without the toque did most of the training (and talking). Yeah, there are a lot of things that I scratch my head about here. Toque girl started with the intros, asking each of us to tell us who we were, where we were from and what made us decide to come. I was actually a little excited to share my story. The four Italians spoke a bit about themselves, and then that was it. We moved onto the presentation. Huh? Did she think that we were all Italian, and they were becoming a bit of a bore perhaps? I don’t understand.

Oh well, onto learning about Laura. It was not named after my high school girlfriend, but rather a local mountain river. The two venues, biathlon and cross country, were completed in 2012. It is the largest of all the sites, responsible for 25% of all the Games medals.

And then a few rules about things like radio protocol, how to present ourselves, and also about social media, blogs and what we aren’t allowed to post. Oddly enough, I have already inadvertently forgotten a lot of that section (in the interest of keeping my blog interesting, in case you were interested). Darn it all anyway.

One of the things she spoke about was the stray dogs. You probably heard that they’re everywhere, and it’s true. Here are a couple heading out to the local minimarket to pick up some kibbles.

And they are way up here at the venue too! In the cold and snow, several hundred metres up a mountain!

They are all quite tame but definitely a danger to skiers at the venue, should they get onto a course while athletes are going by. We were asked to report their location if we spot them at Laura and assured that they will be sent to good homes.

Finally, we were told that they may from time to time get some spare tickets in for volunteers for some of the other events (all right!). And if we head down to Shayba Arena this evening, we would be able to watch the opening ceremonies there (presumably on some kind of big screen television). All of our names had been given to somebody there. I decided that I would head down there since that would be where all the excitement would be.

That evening I get to Olympic Park. I try to go to the main security entrance but was told I need a ticket. Okay, perhaps the other entrance that I went through the other day. Into the park and off to find Shayba. I try to go through one entrance and am sent elsewhere. I start heading around the park, asking directions along the way. Eventually I arrive at the back of Fisht Stadium, where the ceremony is taking place (a good 45 minutes later, some time after the ceremony has started). There’s a big crowd there being kept back by security.

I manage to find someone that speaks English and they explained that they had just been through the same thing. They may have been handing out tickets earlier but Shayba was full. Or perhaps they were giving away some tickets to fill empty seats but they were all gone. Regardless, things did not look good for Dirk to see anything tonight.

While I was there talking, some fireworks went off on the roof of Fisht suddenly, scaring the living daylights (nightlights?) out of me!

Oh well, I had seen the dress rehearsal. I could hang around for the final fireworks and then get home well after midnight again. Nah, forget that. Time for a few pictures before heading back. Here are a couple of the more impressive buildings – the Bolshoy Ice Dome and Iceberg Skating Palace.

A couple of other interesting buildings were nearby.

And, finally, the soon to be lit torch.

Day 9 – February 8, 2014

Many things in the volunteer village are improving. I am told that we now have Wi-Fi for the internet, although I’ve already bought a USB modem that gets me access through the cellular network. They’ve now put automatic door closers on the dining hall doors since people tended to leave the doors open. We now get jam and butter with our meal, which I originally thought was for the (already greasy, sweet) crepes, but they must be for the bread.

Some things still need to be improved. A few days ago we ran out of toilet paper. These things happen, especially with ten people in a room. So, off I went to the registration/info desk to find out where I could get some more. “We ran out; we have none,” says the nice girl at the table. Seriously?!? I looked at her incredulously. Apparently we were expected to purchase our own until they restock. I explained to her that this is a basic need that should be supplied. Well, a phone call later and I’m told that I could go pick up a roll at the warehouse where we picked up and exchange our sheets. Of course I asked for a second roll, which took a while to find.

Apparently two rolls wasn’t enough to get me through the TP drought. I check at the warehouse. “We have nothing.” Back to the registration/info desk. “We have nothing.” You cannot be serious. It has been several days! Another phone call and now we’ll get some tomorrow.

Oh well, up to the venue for my earliest start yet – 8:00 a.m. I followed these local beverage providers up (this one’s for my Coke truck driving friend, Troy).

We met in a room in the wax trailer complex. I noticed that Bermuda has a skier(Tucker Murphy), believe it or not, sharing a cabin with Boznia and Herzegovina.

Just like in Vancouver 2010, there are two main race courses – a red course and a (more difficult) blue course. They are a maximum of 5 km each but can be adjusted to various distances by using cut-off trails. Today’s race is the women’s 15 km skiathlon. They ski two laps of classic technique (with the tracks) of the 3.75 km red course, change skis in pit boxes in the stadium, and then ski two laps of free technique (i.e. skating) of the 3.75 km blue course.

This is the stadium with the long row of pit boxes stretching the length of it in the middle. The picture was taken from the final corner into the stadium.

If you looked at the red course carefully, you may have noticed that it crosses itself at one point. No, this is not like the figure-8 car races they use to have at the PNE fair. They use this tunnel.

One of the tasks we had to do today involved shovelling the snow along the edge of a retaining wall so that it was flat allowing more room for snowmobiles to travel. One of my team members worked a little too hard.

When all the hard work was done, we were able to watch the competition. We had to put on a different jacket though since we were no longer officially working. Yep, we were real Olympic spectator types now, even getting our faces painted!

Pictures with the mascots!

Okay, I have no idea who that lady is. But hey, she looked cute with the mascots.

I found a spot along the end of the stadium with these lovely people.

I pull out my Canada flag cape and hang it on the fence. I’m not the only Canadian watching though.

Off go the forerunners, who pre-ski the course before the race to make it better for the racers (particularly on snowy days) and also as a ceremonial protocol of sorts.

Filming the event, we have the low sky cam…

And the high sky cam.

The race is under way and the crowd is ecstatic, chanting “RA-SEE-YA, RA-SEE-YA…” (Russia, in Russian) every time a Russian skier departed. And other nationalities cheering on their own countrymen (especially the Norwegians). It was so exciting to be there!

We had three Canadians skiing today, all of whom placed in the middle of the pack.

After the race was over, I put on my cape. Well then suddenly everybody wanted pictures with me. “Photo with me?” “Russia. Canada. Hockey. Da.” I felt like a Canadian superstar ambassador of some sort!

One lady even gave me a Russian toque!

Of course I was nowhere near as popular as the Norwegians and their Viking hats!

And I spotted this girl in her mascot hat, which all the kids here seem to like.

Apparently they also like Coca Cola and gold medals.

On the way back to the gondola building, I was stopped and interviewed briefly by an OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) crew, asking my impression of the Games and filming my Canada flag cape. And the entertainment tent was now in full swing!

Notice the canon? That’s to be used on those that don’t applaud.

And there was more to top an already fabulous day. After I finished dinner, someone made an announcement in Russian. Several people go running up to line up, the way that Russians tend to “line up”. Interesting, I though. So I mosey on over. “Does anybody speak English?” One lady did and explained that tickets for the 3:30 p.m. women’s 3000 metre speed skating tomorrow were being handed out. I had a shift that afternoon but worked my way into the line-up anyway in the hopes that I could change my shift. There were enough tickets that I got one and Maria’s response to my text was that of course I could change to the morning shift. SCORED!

I’m feeling very Olympic today!