Olympic Exhaustion

I have a new name to replace Mommy. For the next 11 days, please refer to me as "Zommy". That would be Zombie and Mommy combined to form what I have become while watching the Vancouver Olympic Games.

This is Olympic snowboarder Ben Kilner of Great Britain. If a picture could capture how exhausted I feel by the end of the day I think this would be it. I have no idea if he is exhausted, but it looks like it!

I am tired for many reasons...mainly because the coverage of my said passion (speedskating) has been moved from primetime coverage to wee-hours of the morning coverage. I have many issues when it comes to the coverage of these games by NBC, but I will save that soap box moment for when I can put my thoughts down in a coherent sentence or two. Just know this viewing fans...you are not alone in your frustration.

So a quick recap of what I could see through a few blinks last night:

Men's Long Track 1000m Speedskating:

Give the USA men some props! All 4 skaters finished in the top 10! What a great night on what has been slow "worker" ice at the Richmond Oval.
10th went to my friend Trevor Marsicano, who looked great last night! I watched the replay again this morning because I missed seeing most of his race as my eyes were darting from TV screen to my laptop as I watched his splits. It did not prevent me of course from screaming and clapping my encouragement of "Come on Trevor! Go Go Go!" Very, very proud of him!
7th went to Nick Pearson who also skated an amazing race, one that he should be very proud of!
3rd went to Chad Hedrick who gritted through the 2-lap race with quite the fight.
1st went to Shani Davis for the first ever back to back gold in the 1000m! Shani knew what he needed to do and he went out there and did it. Congratulations!

Short Track Men's 1000m & Relay Semis:

Both Apolo Ohno and JR Celski moved through to the 1/4 Finals. Apolo looked very fluid and easily qualified. JR had a little more work cut out for him. After sitting in the back of the pack he made his move to the front and stopped in third. With two laps to go, JR tried to move into second, but NO! The door got closed on his opportunity. So what did JR do? He went on the outside for a brilliant pass and made it across the line to join Apolo for his place on the line for the chance to make it to 1000m Finals.

The relay lived up to utter chaos for teams to place in the Finals. Simon Cho, Travis Jayner, Apolo Ohno and JR Celski made up the USA team. After Team Italy took out Team France, Team USA and Team Korea only needed to stay upright to secure their place in the Finals.  Italy ended up with a DQ (Disqualification) and France was advanced for the Finals which will be skated against USA, Korea, China and Canada.

Women's Short Track 500m

Ok..this will be a soapbox topic. NBC, why are you not sharing the love for our USA Women Short track and long track skaters?? We want to see them too!

I watched the 500 heats on the computer this morning and watched Katherine Ruetter skate wire to wire in her race skating a 43.834, which gave her an Olympic Record to savor- for a little while at least! The USA did not make it through to the A-Finals, but skated very well!

Katherine's OR was later broken in the very next heat by Meng Wang of China (43.284).

I briefly woke to watch the Final race in the Ladies 500m and could not believe the lead that Meng Wang had over the field. She is like the Women's version of Apolo Ohno. She is fast and furious! I thought I may have been dreaming that race, so I once again viewed it on replay. I was not in dream land- Meng really did have that big of a lead on the field.

The race ended with Meng Wang (CHN)-Gold, Marianne St. Gelais (CAN)- Silver and Arianna Fontana (ITA)- Bronze.

If NBC listens to the masses, then I will be as happy as St. Gelais (below) when I can stop holding my eyelids open with toothpicks to watch some exciting racing!

For now, "Zommy" is going to take a nap and get some much needed zzzzz's.

 

"Oh, Canada!" Providing Olympic Firsts

I have been glued to my television for the past 3 days hoping to soak in as many Olympic moments as possible and have been treated to many incredible stories, especially those that have happened for the first time.

Here are some of the Highlighted "Firsts" that I have found to show the true spirit of the Games and the incredible athletes that are living the dream:

Nordic Combined: Not sure what this sport is? I wasn't quite sure either until I watched it for the first time yesterday. I was in the middle of watching online stats on the Womens 3k speedskating event (more on that later) and TV coverage of this event at the same time. I found I was cheering simutaneously for two completely different sports at almost a rabid pitch! I did a little homework this morning and found that this event is ski jumping and cross country racing combined in the same day. The athlete soars from the ski jump and earns points for style and length of jump. The total points earned will dictate the starting position in the 10k cross country ski course, which loops through a stadium and up steep hills through the woods and back to the stadium. I did not know the names of the athletes that were pushing their bodies to the VO2 max with each loop, but their struggle to climb those hills and position themselves just right for the finish line sprint completely drew me in. I was screaming at my television screen "GO GO GO GO GO GO!" The outcome? After being passed at the last moment on the finish line,  Johnny Spillane (USA) earned a Silver medal, a first in Olympic history for the USA in this discipline. Truly amazing!

Pairs Figure Skating: I enjoy seeing the fluid motions and grace of figure skating. I found myself drawn in to yet more athlete's stories last night as I watched the short program of Pairs Figure Skating. The first couple on the ice was Shen Xue & Zhao Hongbo (CHN) who set the bar so high for those that followed. With the highest score ever given in the short program of 76.66 no one came close to their near perfect performance. When you see something magical, you know it, even if you don't follow the sport on a regular basis. This will most likely be the couple's (in real life too) last Olympic Games and hopefully the first time they will acheive Gold, a color that has elluded them for 18 years.

Most of you who read this blog know that I kind of like speedskating. (Haha) There were quite a few firsts happening here in both the Men's & Women's races. What I  realized for the first time: I have a love/hate relationship with NBC and the coverage of this sport. Hate:They claim to offer coverage of speedskating and when tuned in for 5 hours, not one bit of coverage until primetime rolled around and even then it was of 1 race pair! (Hint NBC: in the women's 3k, the three American skaters were back to back of one another. You could have at least shown that much.) Love: They are offering replays of the races online, some in their entirety. Click Here to see video.


Men's Speedskating: In the Men's 5k race there were a few firsts. My friend Trevor Marsicano skated his first Olympic race. We were screaming at the TV "GO TREVOR!" and jumping up and down. My son dryly said to me afterward "Mom, he can't hear you." My reply was "Yes he can!" A very proud moment indeed.
 
But I must say, hats off to Sven Kramer (NED), for skating a gutsy and fantastic race to his first Gold medal. Sven threw it down and skated a 6:14.60, a new 5k Olympic Record! To see him clear the barriers and leap into the sea of orange-clad Dutch fans and embrace his family was amazing. However, once again, NBC and their reporter missed the mark by showing their lack of speedskating knowledge by asking Sven this question after returning from his family: "Can you tell us who you are and what you just won?" Truly a first.
 
Women's Speedskating: In the Women's 3k, Jilleanne Rookard took to the ice in her very first Olympics. I could only watch the online splits (as indicated above) as Jill skated a great race. What I didn't realize, until seeing the replay of her race was that she slipped in her final lap and somehow saved herself from crashing, finishing 12th overall! Amazing!
 
However, the 3k Gold medal went to Martina Sablikova (CZE) in an outstanding time of 4:02.53. Her technique sent her to the record books by awarding her country the first medal ever in the sport of speedskating. Her joy was so overwhelming that the fans in the Richmond Oval joined in her celebration cheering her on as she skipped with her country flag draped on her shoulders. 
 
Men's Short Track Speedskating:  Apolo Anton Ohno (USA) secured silver in the 1500m final after two Korean teammates took eachother out in the last corner before the finish. The Bronze went to J.R. Celeski (USA) who competed in his first major competiton since sustaining a severe injury to his leg in September. What a way to begin your first Olympic Games!
 
Men's Freestyle Moguls: This post could not go without this acknowledgement. Canada has made no bones about stating that they want to "Own the Podium" at these Winter Games. Canada has hosted the Summer Olympics in Montreal, and Winter Olympics in Calgary and has not won a single gold medal on home turf.  Last night, Alexandre Bilodeau (CAN), ended that 34 year old quest for home soil gold in 23.17 seconds. The only word I could say was "WOW!" I am not a skier, but I could even tell that this guy was smoking down the mountain as he pounded his knees into each mogul and soared through the air with flips and turns.
 
If these first few days are any indication of what is to come, I will be a hoarse, happy, heaping mess by closing ceremonies.