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| Dr. Jenn DC, and Dr. Bruce MD, hanging out in the clinic |
And I will get back on that "promise" of trying to stay on top of this, here it is:
I haven't been home a week yet, and I have had no crash, no jetlag and am still high on adrenaline! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!! I really wish that I could have posted daily during the Olympics, but I cannot believe how fast time flies once the racing starts! It's absolutely nuts! I have had the experience of a lifetime and it was even more than I could have imagined!
HIGHLIGHTS:
Working in the COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) Polyclinic- for sure one of the unexpected highlights of the trip. I was invited along with the other therapists of other sports to treat my athletes in the COC Health & Sciences Centre. It was great to have this facility right there in the village below where the Canadian athletes were living. They had all the equipment a sports therapist could dream of and of course treating right there with the best of the best was pretty cool. (soo cool in fact that I could sing..in front of the b-ball coaches..unknowingly.. right Tanya ?). Connecting with the nations top sport med docs and surgeons was also pivotal for my career, for them to see what I do and chat about techniques and injuries, I was in chiro-heaven!!
The Canadian Clothing/Swag- I was very surprised to be included in "Team Canada" so much that I too received a "swag bag". Full of t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, jackets (including the famous jean jackets), flip flops and other goodies, I was pretty darn happy to be a recipient of one of these!!
-The Entire Village Experience- From the gi-normous dining hall where you could get any type of food your heart desired (including McFlurries from the McDonalds!) to the gym where they had the best of the best of any exercise equipment you could ever dream up, to all the different country houses decorated up in their countries pride and colours it was the experience of a lifetime to get to spend time there. I also got to check out the whole Polyclinic on a tour with Dr. McCormack which was super cool. Security was pretty strict, nobody without accreditation was allowed in. Day passes could be obtained, but these had to be requested in advance and each country had a limited amount. You betcha our stuff was scanned via airport x-ray machines on our way in the village. Walking around and seeing Athletic superstars everywhere was pretty amazing as well! There was also a running "loop" that apparently I did miss out on, but stuck to running my own "village loop" with CCA prez Jacques Landry a few days.
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| Our room in the village. |
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| The outside of the Velodrome |
-The atmosphere of the track- I love being at the track on a normal day, the camaraderie is usually pretty awesome among staff and riders from all different countries and this was the same but different. There were MORE volunteers, MORE fans, MORE excitement, MORE seriousness, MORE rules, MORE secrecy, MORE tension, MORE TV cameras, MORE excitement! Our jobs were the same, but the stakes were higher.
-The BRONZE MEDAL won by the Women's Team Pursuit-of COURSE this was a highlight! These girls impressed the HECK outta me during this tenure. With the format of the racing being changed from regular world cups, the girls had a bit more stress physically and mentally than usual. I was lucky enough to be right trackside when the girls beat Australia by mere tenths of a second, and got myself on the TSN highlight reel by being one of the people that the coaches grabbed to hug when we experienced that moment of pure happiness and excitement! The excitement of this experience carries on as the girls lives have been changed dramatically from this experience.. and I LOVE that I get to watch this happen for them, many doors are opening!
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| Pretty much my favourite Olympic Photo |
-The EMOTIONS- the highs AND the lows, the tears of heartbreak, and the tears of joy! I was pretty much on a high the ENTIRE time in London. I was trying so hard to soak up every single experience and encounter that I came upon in the village. I tried hard to keep a journal to record all these experiences so I could compare them with Olympics to come. It was though, for sure an emotional rollercoaster when it came to the racing of my athletes. I spend SO MUCH TIME with these guys that I really am vested and connected hugely to their performances. The Women's Team Pursuit was an obvious high, but there were tears when friend and patient Zach Bell, didn't do what he was capable of, and what was necessary for him to walk away from there with a medal. There were also tears with Tara Whitten's fourth place finish in the women's omnium after making an error in the elimination race. Experiencing that elation and heartbreak in the span of a few days was pretty crazy, but such is life, and these experiences and emotions will play an important part in shaping who I am.
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| In front of Wembley Stadium, where the women's gold medal soccer game was to be played. |
-Being a Spectator at Events: I was really lucky that I got to see: women's marathon swim, the women's gold medal soccer game, Men's mountain bike, men's marathon, race walk and all the track cycling! I am not sure that I would have been so adventurous to catch all these events if Kev hadn't shown up in London, so I am thankful that worked out. What better way to see an Olympic city, than in all it's Olympic Glory. We also hit up some of the "Live Sites" and enjoyed all the things that the Brits had set up. (like the nighttime ferriswheel ride, big screen events, free food and drinks!)
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| You never know who you might run into in the village! |
CANADA HOUSE- Again, luckily, being an accredited staff member, I could go there whenever I wanted to. Obviously we were too busy to go there until AFTER the girls were done racing.. but I was hooked!! Olympians galore, free food, free products, free drinks, big screens with CANADIAN coverage of the Olympics. After discovering this cool place, We hit it up multiple times after that. It was located in BEAUTIFUL Trafalgar Square, smack dab in the middle of downtown London! When a Canadian Athlete would win a medal, there would be a celebration of that medal, with some of the dignitaries speaking, a video shown, the athlete's coach and the athlete of course would speak. We tried to see a few of these, as they captured what the Olympics were all about!
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| Kev and I using some tricky self photography to include Big Ben in the photo |
-Kev showing up and allowing me to experience the excitement of the OLYMPICS - It was never planned that Kev would come to London, there were too many unknowns, how much time I would have, how busy it would be etc. But when his lacrosse team, the New Westminster Salmonbellies, failed to make the playoffs for the first time in Kev's career, he decided to take a gamble and make the trip. Well it turned out perfect, with the exception of the first day and a half, I got to hang out with him a fair bit. It was great that he got to finally meet the people that I spend a quarter of my life with, and also that he got to travel and be at the OLYMPICS!! Not that I was taking it for granted for a minute, but he was more caught up in the Olympic Spirit than I anticipated. (He's usually a pretty steady-as-it-goes kinda guy).
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