Homage to Vancouver 2010

Well, it’s been an emotional two weeks. And a fun two weeks. I don’t remember ever having been so consumed by a Winter Olympic Games. Then again, I don’t know if I’ve ever tuned in as much as I did these past 16 days. My sister asked the other night while we were texting commentaries back and forth over Ice Dancing, “What are we gonna do when this is over?” I’ll be missing them for sure, but at least I’ll have no more reason to stay up ‘til 3am watching reruns of ‘great moments of the day’.

Before that nail-biter hockey game yesterday, I caught Cris Collinsworth sharing his list of Top Five Highlights from Vancouver 2010. First of all, how does one come up with only five? He managed, and I agreed… (but, I have a list of my own as well).

 CC’s Top Five:

#5. The opening ceremony. Beautiful.

#4. Shaun White. Wow. This kid is something.

#3. Men’s Nordic Combined. An awesome display of guts and human power.

#2. Apolo Ohno. Another awesome display.

#1. Joannie Rochette. This woman, absolute grace.

My Top Five + a few:

 #5. Small countries doing well. It was awesome, even though they didn’t win it, to see my dad’s home country, Slovakia make it to the Bronze medal game in Men’s Hockey. It truly made me smile seeing so many athletes from far away places put up such good fights against the big guys.

#4. The Humility. I know, I know—never judge a book by its cover. It’s hard not to, especially when we’re talking about athletes who for most of us have little part in our regular lives but around the Olympic Games splash magazine covers, air and radio waves, cereal boxes and billboards. They’re used to fame and they know they’re good, so how far-fetched is it that they might not be a little full of themselves. What a sweet surprise to witness Lindsey Vonn’s gold medal run in Women’s Downhill and the aftermath of her great performance. The screams of utter joy, her nearly choking on tears in the post race interview and the embrace with her coach and husband. Then there’s Shaun White, the adorable flying tomato. The hair, the smile, his love for his country, and a great spirit—all just added bonuses on top of his unbelievable talent. And then who could forget Johnny Weir, with his frilly costumes, his love of all things Russian, his program entitled, “I Love You, I Hate You”, the personalized pillow and the red rose crown. He’s not only a unique individual but one with class to stand up to so many unkind words.

#3. US v Canada Hockey. So it didn’t end with a gold for USA but… we got the silver! And it was an awesome effort. First to get to the final round, then with 24.4 seconds left, to tie it 2-2. We didn’t give up without a fight…and it was nice for the Canadians to end on such a high note.

#2. Our Neighbors. How touching to witness the pride of the Canadians, every mouth singing at each of their gold medal ceremonies. The broadcasts showed such great hospitality the people of Canada showed not only to us, but to the world.

#1. The inspiration. Certainly we remember the sadness with which the games began, when it was announced that the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed in practice. As heartbreaking as it is such a tragedy took place, I think of the young man following his dream and making it to the Olympics. To me that in itself makes him a winner. Like all of the athletes at the games, whether gold or last place, they made it there. All throughout the games, as sappy as it sounds, I was reminded that that is what life is about. To find what it is that makes you tick and go for it. Whether it’s wanting to be a Olympic bobsledder or, like me, a writer of novels (though that will never land me on a Wheaties box), it’s a dream, and dreams are meant to be followed.

As for the rest of my favorites…

  – Kim Yu-Na’s elegance

  – Tessa and Scott’s gold

  – Mary Carillo’s late show

  – Evgeni Plushenko’s attitude (so entertaining!)

  – Biathlon’s skill

  – Alexandre Bilodeau’s win

  – Julia Mancuso’s Visa commercials

  – Joannie Rochette’s grace

     and yes,

  – all those beautiful, healthy bodies!

Who Ever Knew About Gander?

Yesterday, in the middle of the Saturday afternoon Olympic coverage, I happened to catch a piece by Tom Brokaw about a little town in Canada called Gander. I searched for a link of the video and at finding nothing have decided to send a request to NBC to air it again. In the meantime I will try to retell it here, though Tom told it so well; this surely won’t even compare.

Gander, population just under 10,000, is located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The story starts on the morning of September 11, 2001 and continues for the several days that followed, when the town was given a rare task or even test perhaps, at being neighborly. 

Moments after the planes hit the World Trade Center, North American airspace had to be cleared and all transatlantic planes heading westbound to the US had to be redirected to land immediately. 39 of them touched down at Gander Airport unloading 7000 people, who for the next four days were stranded with the clothes on their backs. Heightened security procedures were not allowing anyone to remove luggage from cargo.

For the town of Gander, the first issue was to find accommodations for the flood of unexpected guests. With all of the hotels combined, there were still only 500 beds. So, the schools and legion halls opened their doors. Next it was transporting the guests from the airport to the temporary shelters. There was bad news on this front, because the best option—the school buses—were of no help; the drivers happened to be on strike.

That’s when the kindness began. The mayor got on the phone explaining the quandary, and within minutes, the drivers put down their fight, got in their buses and started driving. Next it was food. And then blankets, and toiletries, and clothing and prescriptions. The people of Gander had to pull together. Local television and radio stations announced the need for assistance and soon residents started pouring in with support. Stores opened, letting people come in and take things off of shelves without paying. Pharmacies filled emergency prescriptions free of charge. Strangers offered their homes for stranded guests to take showers. The outpouring of generosity was overwhelming and for the people of Gander, it was seemingly second nature.

While the stranded guests mourned for their country, their Canadian hosts consoled them. One elderly couple worried for days whether their son, a New York City firefighter was alive or not. A Gander woman walked with them to church each day to pray.

When the airports opened up again stranded guests were in tears leaving their hosts-turned-friends. The common reaction was that after such a display of evil, people’s faith in humanity had been restored thanks to the people of Gander. As a token of appreciation for the hospitality they were shown, the stranded guests started a scholarship fund that has since raised nearly $900,000 and had assisted in sending 11 high school graduates to college.

Having been in New York on that horrible day there was little aside from the tragedy that I focused on in the aftermath. I certainly had no idea of the goings-on in Gander. I am so glad I happened to catch this piece Tom Brokaw did, and though my eyes were far from dry and I felt great sadness being reminded of 9/11, I felt happiness at such a heartwarming story of neighborly kindness.

Thank you Gander. Thank you Canada.