Misrepresentation

Just a quick note as I watch sports highlights in the airport bar. After the under-achievement of Canada's downhill team at the Vancouver Olympics was so critisized Eric Guay comes back and podiums on the last three races of the World Cup downhill circuit. By doing this he wins the world cup title. This just shows you, although a big event, the olympics does not have much bearing on the skill of some of these athletes. Check out this article on Eric Guay and his new title http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Canada+Guay+completely+ecstatic+winning+season+World+super+title/2672052/story.html

On a side note look where Eric is from :) (Surprise surprise Quebec)

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Canada

Quebec: Competing Under the fleur-de-li??

So it has come up, thanks to Quebec Premier Jean Charest, that Quebec wants to, by 2022, compete in the Olympics under the Fleur-de-li.

When i first heard this story i initially thought it was another separatist motion out of Quebec. But upon further research i have found out that it seems to be more so Quebec saying "we actually put an effort into the development of our athletes from an early age. Why would we want to team up with the other 8 provinces and 3 territories when they don't put in the effort we do?"

For this i don't blame them. Quebec puts the effort into developing it's amateur athletes. Foundations such as SportsQuebec have led the way in this aspect in Quebec. They have created sports centers that promote athletics/sports for amateur athletes; in Quebec they care about amateur sports. No other Province puts even close to the amount of effort they do in Quebec.

Only now has the rest of the Country started to realize this, and with the incorporation of the "Own the Podium" they have shown an effort, albeit a small one. It took Quebec born/raised athletes winning near 50% of the medals in both Salt Lake City and Lillehammer before Canada decided to develop "Own the Podium" before the Turin Winter Games. So it is no fluke that many of the medal winners here in Vancouver were French Canadians, it was directly related to this dedication towards development that this Province shows.

Only in Quebec do you see amateur sports taking the lead on sports channels, the headlines are filled with the feats of amateur athletes. Here in Vancouver you would have to push and pull to have amateur sports in the first few pages of the local/provincial papers. We would rather talk about millionaires competing in sports for a paycheck.

While the young men/women out there on their own striving for some sort of funding, can train and work and still bring home medals or even just make it to the Olympics, which has been lost in everything as a major feat in and of itself!

Except in Quebec. In Quebec Olympic athletes are the celebrities. They are supported and encouraged through everything they do, win or lose. Instead our support goes to the professional athletes who already have everything.

All i can hope is that the past 2010 Vancouver Olympics brings forth the amazing work amateur sports can do for this country, and we make an effort to support this lifestyle.

Heart of Gold

So the olympics were here, and anyone who knows me knows this was the greatest time ever. There was nothing that was going to stop me from taking part in this once in a lifetime event. Going day after day from my bed to work to olympic events/pavilions back to my bed, just to do it all over again the next day.

These were the streets of Vancouver every day it was amazing!! Everyone was so positive and just having a great time.

Everyone came together and enjoyed all the sporting events. It was an amazing feeling. (The notion of Vancouver being a "No Fun" city seemed to be lost). Inside the Canadian Pavilion all the earlier knocks it took for being "Ugly" and "Too Expensive" were lost. No one cared about that once inside, we were a group and we watched Canada win it's first gold medal at home!

No matter which country you cheered for you were accepted into the mayhem! Which took the biggest stand in the spot light during the final day as i watched the Canada/USA hockey game with a large group of Americans. After the game was over, fan upon fan come over to them shock their hand and said "Great Game!" This is what the Olympics are about.

Before they started i was beginning to believe that people had forgotten about what the Olympics really stand for. It's not about money, or government, or how much snow is on Cypress :), it's about competition, fair play, and positivity; it's about one Country inviting every other nation into its home, all current political angst aside, for an event that towers over everything.

Through the unfortunate loss of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and all the other ups and downs of this event. We have come together as a city, a nation, seeing the positiveness of strong human spirits. Individuals who show a generation in this city, how much you can do and how much you will be supported in your efforts, by family/friends, your city and the whole country.

So now that this event is over all the nay-sayers will still have their gripes about the cost of it all. But we have to look at these costs and see what they could do. Don't think of it as money wasted, think of the future, the kid who never knew what moguls were before this, the boy who now has a speed skating oval to train in, or the young girl who watched Joannie Rochette's heart felt Olympics and now want to follow in this amazing woman's path. This is what i see the Olympics doing for our community; it was The Greatest thing that will probably ever happen to Vancouver.

2010 Olympics Start

The night before the olympics start. Spotlights are up and Vancouver has never looked so alive!


People start to fill Granville. It will only get worse from here :)



Hudson Bay Company; the center of the madness of Olympic gear.

The beginning......

Where i currently live. North Vancouver. In the mix of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. What resurfaced my desire to capture the beauty that is this region of the world.
Taken from the bottom of Bute; above the Mill Marine Bar @ 9pm.