Well, this is the first of my series of thoughts about the different events that I had the opportunity to attend for the XX Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.They won't be in too much detail, but will be in the form of random thoughts about my experiences surrounding the events.
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- First "real" time making the long journey to Torino...not bad. A train delay in my connection in Italy (should have known - not in Switzerland anymore), but made the experience more interesting as I had to divert from my plans on how to get to the rink from the train station.
- Met Ken Congemi and Mitch Moyer (American coaches) while waiting in line to get through security. They were super nice and we chatted for awhile about skating, the direction it is going...you know, the typical banter. Would have loved to chat with them more, and really grill them about stuff, but the line moved quickly, and they were seated in a different section, so we couldn't meet up later. AND felt super bad that they had to watch from the stands because of the limited credentials allowed in the pit.
- The Olympic Guidebook that I received along with my tickets (which I memorized cover to cover) lies. You can definitely bring in a backpack and food too.
- Security into the venue area entails putting your bag through the x-ray machine and walking through the metal detector thingy and then having a wand waved at you if you beep.
- I was pretty giddy after getting through security...I think it was finally hitting me that I was there and the fact that I was chatting with the coaches just made me more excited...after being by myself on a train for such a long time, talking and meeting such nice people was so great!
- My seat was pretty good, but was envious of those people below.
- I expected the venue to be a lot bigger. It was the Olympics afterall, and venues on TV always look so big. Also, from a spectator's point of view, even the best seats are pretty far away from the ice surface.
- The interior of the Palavela has a certain bling quality to it. So exciting!- Why are the stands so empty? Thought figure skating was supposed to be a popular event!
- Met the husband of Gayle MacLelland (Skate Canada). Can't believe all the people I'm meeting! Chatted for awhile...swapped stories...learned some inside info.
- Spotted the CBC and NBC booths...and the commentators sitting in them! Barb Underhill and Paul Martini. Dick Button and Scott Hamilton. Tee hee!!!- Inoue and Baldwin...throw triple axel!
- Met and chatted with Marilyn Chidlow (Skate Canada). What came out of the conversation may all just be talk, but still made me very happy that night. And boy...she's petite!
- Surprised to see Shen and Zhao in the competition...thought they were out for the season!- Yeah for the Canadians!
- Totmianina and Marinin...wow.
- Sure glad that the shops stayed open until midnight on this date.
- Was disappointed to see how sleepy the Olympic host city is...on a Saturday night!- Medal's Plaza is pretty fun.
- Lots of people sleep in train stations waiting for their train the next morning.
- I can do it.
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You know, it was the little things that night that I got really excited about. Sure I was watching some great skating, but things like: meeting people in line and in the stands, seeing the commentators that I'd only seen on TV before, watching a warm-up, seeing some of the famous coaches by the boards...you'd think that seeing the actual skaters would have done it for me too, but surprisingly, they weren't the stars of my night. It was all the other things.
-logo courtesy of www.torino2006.org
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