Les Olympiques

Yes CJ, its story time with Gerry once more.

As I have stated in previous posts, I am very pan-Canadian. There are 3 Canadian Olympic cities, and I have lived in all 3. I was born in Montréal and used to walk to school, through 3 feet of snow, uphill both ways… Sorry, wrong story.

I was 17 when the Olympics happened in Montréal. It was a very special time. There were all kinds of events happening throughout the city, but what I remember most was all the tourists. Montréal is a very tourist friendly city and it wasn’t a shock to see tourists, but the volume and the influx were astounding.

I do remember running into a multitude of accents, in both languages, and I think my knack for identifying them was honed during the 1976 Olympics. Some were easy; French from Germans versus Moroccans, or English from Scots or South Africans. Some were very hard; English speaking Finns and Swedes.

As far as getting into the Olympics, I was 17, so I did not have the wherewithal to buy tickets. I do remember asking a scalper in front of the Forum, with a pair of tickets in the reds, how much he wanted for tickets to see Nadia Comaneci, 2 nights after she received her first perfect 10’s. He told me $5000, and when I commented that $2500 was a little steep for a ticket, he told me it was $10,000 for the pair. I turned around a relayed the story to my friends, and at story’s end, he had already sold them.

I lived in Calgary, just not in 1988. I was living in Ottawa, so I did not have much of a connection to the games, save for what CBC brought into my home. The legacy in Calgary includes Olympic Plaza in the downtown, the Olympic Park (which figures into directions into anywhere in the North West), and world class sledding and ski jump runs. (I purposefully did not mention Montréal’s legacy because I’m writing a blog, not a book)

Living in Vancouver, we have been bombarded by any and every story anyone could possibly write about the Olympics. I have no idea how many times I have read, seen, and heard stories about Canada being the only host nation to have never earned a gold medal on their soil. Blah, blah, blah…

A Canadian gold in Canada is not the most important thing about the Olympics, but it is nice. Yes, this is written in the present tense. As I write this, I have just finished watching Alexandre Bilodeau collect his gold medal. It was very inspiring and moving. I think the whole country was cheering for him yesterday.

Almost as inspiring as Shane Koyczan’s “We are More”. Nita & I were incredibly moved by his performance, and awed by his words. I spent the weekend trying to figure out who he was, and if I could locate a book written by him. Chapters lists “Visiting Hours” at $17.05, but “Temporarily Unavailable to Order New”. They do have 5 copies in their used and rare section, but they range in price from $50.46 to $105.11. I wonder how much they listed for last month?

As far as I am concerned, the Olympics are about events that touch us and the memories we carry from these great parties. Once everything is said and done, and after all the taxes are paid (I think Québec finally paid off 1976 a few years back), what is most lasting is what we take away in our memories.

I will always remember being thrilled that Greg Joy received a silver medal in Montréal for the high jump. You see, at the time, our expectations were to host an excellent event and party. Getting a medal was just icing on the cake. I’m fairly certain Greg Joy wasn’t disappointed about not getting the first gold medal for Canada on Canadian soil. And I remember the media at the time being overjoyed that we had actually received a medal.

In 1988, Elizabeth Manley, the darling of Ottawa, was awarded the silver medal. Figure Skating judging at the time, at the Olympic level, was almost always decided beforehand. The favorites, Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas both performed poorly, but the judges somehow managed to still give Witt the gold. We knew Manley was cheated by rigged judging, but she put in a gold medal performance in our hearts.

And lastly, I think Alexandre put in a phenomenal run which was thrilling to watch. But my memory of the race will always be Frédéric’s reaction at the end of the race. He knew his brother had put in a gold medal performance, and you could see it on his face and in his reaction.

So my Olympic memories will always be that lanky guy in those embarrassing red short-shorts missing the bar 3 times at 2.25 meters, the little blond who burst into tears because she knew she skated her perfect program, and the slam poet who almost made me cry. But I know that I will always remember the love and devotion of the brother who couldn’t, and how it inspired the brother who could, to do it.

Go Canada, Allons-y!

For a different version of Shane's "We are More", please see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsq68qRexFc