Opening Ceremony, Gold medals, and skating – oh my!

Hello Canada!

Our dry spell is over!  Hello!  Canada has won it’s first Olympic GOLD MEDAL on Canadian soil. Congrats to Alexandre Bilodeau, his family and the entire Canadian Men’s Moguls team!!!  I know I was watching as Bilodeau came down the hill – my heart in my throat… then the French competitor messed up and it was over!  Amazing!!  What a brilliant run and a brilliant story.  Read more about Alexandre Bilodeau, the first Canadian gold-medal winner of Vancouver 2010 here.

Next, as a 2010 Torch Bearer, I feel the need to comment on the, in my opinion, absolutely stunning Opening Ceremonies.  Ok, ok, let’s get the technical difficulties out of the way and say: YES the 4th arm did not raise.  But, c’mon guys, it was an otherwise flawless show and the technology was amazing!  The field?  The flying people?  The light-up polar bear?  Nelly Furtado?  Amazing.

And, you know, on top of the breath taking technical/theatrical aspects of Vancouver’s Opening Ceremonies, I personally felt that the way the aboriginal groups of Canada were treated was a highlight.  First, the cultural integrity and, more importantly, the cultural differences presented in the ceremonies were both beautiful and tasteful.  It’s a common misconception that “Canadian First Nations Peoples'” are all the same – they’re not and the Vancouver Opening Ceremonies, in my opinion, really show cased that. Moreover, the way the torch was finally lit (though I have a semi-issue with ex-Canadian Wayne Gretzky being the final torchbearer), despite the difficulties, I was emotional. For many of us, this is our first Canadian games and I think we need to savour the moment. We are all apart of it… controversy or not.

I’ll keep this last bit quick: my personal favorite winter sport is Figure Skating. Last night was the Pairs Free Skate, after the Short Program on Sunday, and it was brilliant. Two lovely Canadian couples made it into the top 10, including Cody Hay & Annabelle Langlois (who skated to “Requiem for a Dream” in their short program).  Their throw-triple-flip on Sunday night was perfection (search YouTube, it’ll be there soon I’m sure!)

Watch the Men’s Short Program tonight @ 5:15PM MST

Wanna find something to watch? check the online Olympics schedule @ CTV

Missed something? Check here for video clips and links to pretty much everything aired.

Also, greatest condolences and respects to the citizens of Georgia and the family and friends of Nodar.

GO CANADA!!!