For the last two weeks Vancouver has been shown off at it’s very best. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time there, take in a couple of events and revel in the tremendous atmosphere created by something this big going so well.
There were problems early on, obviously the death of Nodar Kumaritashvil on the opening day will not be forgotten. However the luge track had been given the green light by everyone relevant and there are plenty of candidates to blame for the death of the Georgian slider, the organizers, to me, seem to be a far down the list. With a little hindsight it’s easy to say the track was too fast, but this is supposed to test the best in the world.
Then there was the minor failure of the Olympic caldron during the opening ceremony along with the usual transport issues that seem to plague every Olympics, perhaps every event of this scale. However I’m willing to wager the problems with getting around will be far worse in Delhi for the Commonwealth games in October.
There are still one or two questions to be answered as we head into the final few days. Most notably for the hosts is Mens Hockey, this is clearly the big one for most Canadians.
Team Canada and their NHL stars never hit the ice until the fourth day of the Olympics, for many Canadians that’s when the games really got underway. One newspaper columnist suggested that the country would trade everything else won as part of the “own the podium” campaign for the one gold that matters most.
After comprehensively out playing the Russians yesterday, Team Canada faces Slovakia for a place in the final on Sunday. If the Semi finals go to form they will play the USA for the gold in a rematch of the group game of only a few days ago.
While the “own the podium” campaign has not gone exaclty to plan, as a Canadian citizen (thanks mum) I want nothing more than to see the men pick up gold. First there is the small matter of Slovakia…
