People of the Games

The Winter Olympic Games have brought thousands of people to Vancouver and I’ve been able to meet a ton of amazing people during my adventures over the last couple of weeks. I thought I’d profile a few of them here and make a few other posts as the Games progress.

Lindsey Anderson

One thing that has struck me is how many people have directly and indirectly contributed to the Games without being an athlete or in sport at all. Lindsey works for Nk’Mip Cellars which is one of the official suppliers of wine for the Games. Nk’Mip is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated winery. Based in Osoyoos, she is a participant in a mentorship program that has been helping people in her community get training in various aspects of the winery business. She is very excited to be a part of the Games.

Kristy Richards

During the press conference after the Women’s Moguls, Kristy heartfully described her run the day before in contrast to the medal winning run her teammate, Jenn Heil had. She fell about half way through the run, lost a ski and then collected herself and completed her run with an amazing jump on the second half of the course. You don’t get more Canadian than that!

Eleanor (Mackenzie) Miller

While waiting to board the train in Whistler to go back to Vancouver, Rebecca & I stopped off at a little pub. We sat a large table as the place was pretty empty. It was about an hour until the big Switzerland vs Canada Men’s Hockey game so people were trickling in. Next thing we know, Eleanor and her friend Marge ask if they can sit down at our table. We say sure and then Marj mentions that Eleanor is a former Olympian. Turns out she had competed for Canada in the 1952 Summer Games in the 100m and 200m races in Helsinki and had participated in the Opening Ceremonies rehearsals in Vancouver. She proudly wore an Olympic (temporary) tattoo on her face and a commemorative Olympic scarf around her neck that was given to her by the City of Vancouver. She was quite a character and I’m glad I had a chance to spend some time with her.

Team Spandex

Also while in Whistler, I came across these crazy people that were roaming around in spandex uniforms, posing for ‘sexy pictures’ and getting a huge crowd of people around them, interacting with them and of course taking their picture with them. I have no idea who they were, but they were awesome.