The Last Day of the Olympics

It is the last day of the Olympics and time to go home. It went so fast but it is time to go back to my real life and leave behind this happy place. Yesterday, as we strolled through the mall, we could tell that the air was beginning to change. There were fewer international flags, fewer people and the energy in the air had started to shift back to the way Whistler usually feels. There is a bit of a sadness to see the world change back to "normal" but such great memories will linger long after we get home.

There were 2 events left at Whistler yesterday. The men's slalom where more than half of the field DNFd (did not finish). The course took some of the best competitors out, including Ted Ligety and Bode Miller. Left standing at the finish line were:

1. Giuliani Razzoli from Italy
2. Ivaica Kostelic from Croatia
3. Andre Myhrer from Sweden

One by one, the racers fell on the foggy course, leaving course workers to clean up the mess, to try and keep the course in relatively decent shape, but they couldn't keep up with the snow, the fog or the crashes. The Weasels had their hands full, and the race was soon over. This is Whistler. The conditions especially at the bottom are marginal a lot of the time. There has been no new snow in town except a trace one day this week that melted by 7:30 am.... and now it is over for the slalom skiers.

The US had a great day on the 4 man bobsleigh hill. Steven Holcomb and his crew in the USA 1 sled won a gold medal. It was the first time a US bobsleigher has won in 62 years. He and his team were ecstatic as they realized they had won such a prestigious honor, and broke such a record. Congratulations to those brave and hard working souls who took hours upon hours of their life to obtain such a reward.

And now the games are finishing.....But there is something more to share about this trip that I have not talked about yet.

I've kept very quiet who we were staying next to. The house next door held the Norwegion men's ski team. We could identify Aksel Swindal (yes he won medals), Kuetil Jansrud, who was in the hunt for medals, and Lief Haugen. I actually identified them my first week here as they drove past in their VANOC issued vehicles. Those are the vehicles that have access to all of the parking lots that are closed to the rest of us, and either belonged to teams or managers from VANOC. Every morning of a men's ski race, I would hear them leave somewhere between 6-6:45am. Nearly every afternoon, I would see them come home, in their ski boots and skis, with gear etc. I really didn't want to disturb them. This neighborhood is very quiet and peaceful, and I wanted to make sure to give them privacy.

Sure, I thought about going over and saying hello, since I know some Norwegian, and to let them know that I am also a ski racer, but I could imagine their blank stares, like....so what...your an old ski racer.....and you're invading the little privacy we have....so decided against going to talk to them.

Last night, at 3:45am, the Norwegian team had a car load of girls serenading them. I was awakened out of a dead sleep with 3-4 young voices singing to the top of their lungs, some kind of Norwegian song that I couldn't catch the lyrics of. Even if it was English, I wouldn't have been able to understand the lyrics because they were screaming the song...loudly. In the background was their car stereo that was playing some kind of rap song as they yelled. They were able to complete one serenading song, and start another one. Suddenly, the singing stopped as soon as it started, and the car drove off quickly as if they were chased off by someone.....

It dawned on me that in my sleep, I had heard cars coming and going all night, but kind of put it out of my sleepless mind. It was the last night of the Olympics, and the Norwegians were celebrating their accomplishments and good fortune. I didn't mind losing a bit of sleep since this is the last night, and they've been great neighbors up to this point.

I hadn't talked about this any earlier in my blog because privacy is of paramount importance here. All around us were living people who were driving the VANOC issued cars, and I'm not sure where everyone was from, nor did we do any further snooping. People deserve their privacy, as much as we do. I was able to identify the Norwegian ski team when they would drive by and looked up their pictures online to confirm...and yes...it was them. As I write this at 7:00 am, I am certain they are still sleeping. I don't hear a thing from them as I sit here. We can usually hear them either talking in the driveway, or hear their cars coming and going. But, today, there is nothing, except maybe the sound of snoring...

So, this is it....the end of a little over 2 weeks of a journey that has brought excitement, sadness, adventures, joy, and grief. It is all the Olympics should be. The sports were beautifully done, there were bone crunching crashes, there were people laying it all out on the line to be the best in the world, and they didn't disappoint.

The time has come to transition back to my life in Seattle, to my favorite Safeway stores. It is time to drive the same lane of I-5 from work and back. It is time to sit at my desk and round with attending physicians and interns.....which in and of itself is very interesting work. But it is different than the worldliness of sharing 2 weeks with people from everywhere, who come to share a piece of their lives with others coming to a different world. Although we have been to Whistler on a number of occasions, there will never be another time like this, and I know it. I knew it when we were walking the village and observing and participating with others. In the conversations that were sometimes in English, some Norwegian and Swedish, some in broken German since Rod can speak a bit of German. Everyone wanted to try and communicate in some way, and I don't think there are many places in the world where there is the desire to try to communicate with others like this. I've enjoyed the people, the athletes, the environment, the shopping, and the big screen TVs everywhere so you don't miss one run of whatever is running.

For those of you who have been following and reading, thank you for your encouragement and comments. It has been great to give a glimpse into such an interesting time in life when there is turmoil around the world. I've loved sharing the goodness, the sadness, and the excitement of what I've seen. I know not everyone desires or has the opportunity to experience this kind of event, and if in some little way, you were able to see something you haven't seen before, or were perhaps able to feel something special from what I have written about, then all of this typing was worth it. Thank you all for your kind words and to Rod for finding my typos and letting me know if there was something he couldn't understand. This has been perhaps the best experience of my life....