Olympics

Olympics was Originally Posted on February 12, 2010 by lavarock

I am watching the Winter Olympic opening and parade and wanted to pass along a few observations.

Certainly Canada’s opening is a bit different than the last Olympic opening, but each site wants to show off their country and history, and I liked it quite a bit.

The ceremony certainly had its sad segment when the Georgian athletes paraded; having lost a member of their already small team. All of the athletes have to have that death in the back of their mind. Some of the other athletes also wore black armbands in tribute.

Sitting in my VCR box here is the Olympic opening for Los Angeles (I forget the year) and I also have some footage of Atlanta.

Speaking of Atlanta, I was working the night of the Olympic bombing with a view of the park, way in the distance from my office window. I watched helicopters and listened to the news that night. In a slightly different vein, that night I was building my first website which I named MyHawaiianSite.Com. That site is still available (updated often in the past and rarely now).

After the bombing, Atlanta residents were encouraged to come on down to the Olympic venue to show support to the athletes. Officials were worried that visitors would leave and not attend. I came down the night they allowed people back in, not really enthusiastic to be there but decided that I could in fact show up. One thing I noticed were the many vendors outside (which some called a 3rd world flea market). I stopped into a booth and was able to hold a swimmers gold medal and was given an Olympic pin. I attached it to my shirt and entered the village. Almost instantly, someone approached me and asked to trade my pin for one of theirs. Pins are traded and bought and sold; at the time for $5 and you could use them for purchases of food or drinks if the vendor wanted your particular pin. In hindsight it was neat.

I have a few pins, a volunteer badge and a few patches that say “Atlanta Police”. I don’t know if they are real, but were cheap enough. Perhaps one day I’ll offer them on Ebay. The pins I have are a 3 pin group of Atlanta Security.

I could have attended as a real volunteer and seen some of the competitions and have mixed feelings. Yes, it would have been an even neater story to tell now, but I also may have happened to be there during the explosion. As it was, as I walked through the park I saw a fence and began to lean against it to see what people were looking at. I discovered that it was a memorial site. I felt a slight shiver.

Still, it was a pretty neat experience and if you have a chance to go to an Olympic game, please go and have fun. If you have an opportunity to help, I also encourage you to do so.