Day One on the Biathlon Site- My Olympic Dream Stolen

Read my earlier blog for the start of my Olympic Dream gone sour.

My first five days as a biathlon official for the 2010 Olympic were tough but fun. Day one, I woke at 4:30 am had a small snack and at 5:05 left our trailer parked in Squamish. A very kind friend offered us a parking space near the "HUB". Otherwise I would be joining those poor Smurfs, standing in the rain waiting for a local bus, after walking for up to a mile.

We parked close to Walmart (the HUB) and waited in line for the 5:40 am bus to WOP (Whistler Olympic Park). Why not just have the bus go directly to the site? Is that too difficult? No. Instead we get to WOP at 6:40 am, embark and head into security. No Smurf enters Smurf land without an invitation. Right? Then we pass through the workforce tent where many smiling volunteers check us in, give us a meal ticket, water and newsletter. Then we wait in line AGAIN for a shuttle that takes us to the biathlon site. Then it is off to work.

We arrive along with about 70 other exhausted volunteers. The sun has not breached the horizon as we spread out to the various worksites and begin moving V-boards into place to set the course, maybe paint targets, or rake snow. Like Smurfs, volunteers are, with few exeptions, smiling pleasant little people. In fact they are very much like Smurfs because they bounce about as they rush to do whatever is wanted and although they look and pretend they are young, like Smurfs they are over 100 years old.

Day one at the site involved a test race to hone our skills for the big day. I worked with Big Jim Smurf who is excellent. He looked over my shoulder as I consolidated the numbers, because the system that is used leads to errors. We had no errors.

Day two was a work day and also the Opening Ceremony so hubby Paul and I left early - only a normal 10 hour day, not 16 hrs. I gasped when the final cauldron failed to rise up. Good grief, after all the money spent, can't we ensure the Ceremonies will be fail safe. Waynes ride through downtown Vancouver in the jeep was too long, too boring and a cauldron behind barriers is just security over-kill.


Feb 13th was our first competion. Let me repeat, the first Olympic competition many of us had ever been involved in. I did not work with hubby Paul or realiable Big Jim. I was teamed up with a new recruit, one of the Smurfs from Maine. Part way through the race, I heard my caller, say "Bib 78 out", meaning that skier 78 had left the penalty loop. I immediately alerted my caller that the number had been missed when the skier passed. I wrote 78 down on the bottom of the page, including the time and the bib number of the racer next to 78. Not really an error, but this was later going to be used against me. He had a great deal of experience and was a former Salt Lake city official. However, he told me he had never worked the penalty loop and told me he hoped he was not responsible for the error. I don't think it is a good idea to bring in new officials for an Olympic event or to change the way we worked one day before the the Women's Sprint.

Race over and all the numbers confirmed, we went quickly to work on setting up the targets for the training session. My favorite job is working with Happy Smurf. He is a big French Canadian who looks after the targets. He never changes the way we work and he makes certain we look perfect when we march out to take remove the paper target.

In his thick French accent he tells us: You walk quickly to your target. You stop in front of your target. You don't move. I tell you, "TURN RIGHT". You turn right facing your target. You don't move. I say, "Pick up your target" (TARgit). You pick up the target and you don't move. I say, "Right Turn" . You turn right. You don't move. I say quick march. You go Left, Right out of the target area. There are 2.5 billion people watching you and 6,000 in the stands so look good. I love Happy smurf, his consistency and his good humour. There is much to enjoy as a volunteer but as you will see if you keep reading this, there can also be mistreatment and dispair.

We are just half way through my volunteer experience. I started the blog in medias res (in the middle of things) with the false accustion. Stay with me and we will see if this unfortunate issue is resolved.

My Olympic Dream Stolen

I am an Official on the Biathon site - someone with forty years experience in officiating. Despite my age and a tendon injury, I was always willing to help on the site, shoveling snow, raking, sweeping, changing targets, setting out the course markers, even picking garbage up if needed. My primary job was recording the Bib numbers as they circled the penalty loop. I am good at my job.



I left the Biathlon site on Feb. 16th after 6 tough days working as much as 16 hrs a day. I sobbed all the way home, saying over and over, "It is so unfair, It is so unjust". I had been blamed for errors made by a team member and I was removed from my position. I am devasted, but my Olympic experience began quite differently.



I will start with Feb. 10, the rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony. We were due the next day at 7 am at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP). We are super organized couple. My husband Paul is also an official and for the past many years we've worked together on races. We had the car packed ready to drive to Squamish following the ceremony. To hasten our exit we parked in North Vancouver, took the wonderful Sea Bus to Waterfront and the efficient Sky Train to BC Place.



Volunteers each received a ticket to the rehearsal and could purchase one extra ticket. We invited our daughter and daughter-in-law. They arrived looking fabulous. While I am short, old and a bit round, they look like models. But I did not look too shabby because I was wearing my stand out, brilliant torquoise uniform. It was very trendy until thousands of people showed up everywhere, dressed in the same outfit, and earning us the name "Smurfs".



These are comical small blue creatures first introduced in 1958 and prominent in the 80s. Our Chief of Range at the Biathlon, is Papa Smurf, after one of the original TV characters. Others will be named according to their character flaws and strengths. Most Smurfs are happy, helpful and wonderful ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of others. However, there is always a wicked Gargamel in the village of Smurfs. Google that.



Back to the ceremony. We arrived well in advance, climbed up and up to the top row of BC Place (a painful experience for me and my injured right leg). But we were all in a great mood. My favorite part of the ceremony was the warming of the polar ice cap and the disappearance of the polar bear. The Sun did not report this as a Global Warming image but I was quite certain it was. What a brave and creative production director. Then Bryan Adams (my fav pop star) singers Nellie and Sara performed (my daughter's picks). What could be better? Well maybe KD Lang looking cool and singing in that throaty voice. You know she came to my home town in Whitehorse in the 80s before her rise to fame. She sang in a crowded bar and I was too busy with job and children to attend. My ski friend, Duchene, who also played for the other side, raved and raved about this new singing prince(ss).

The evening was wonderful except maybe the attendance of the Teflon pm. My beautiful daughter-in-law did not boo but instead mumbled 61 % of us did not vote for you and now you put your cronies on the supreme court and the unbalanced rights and Democracy Board. Give me a Break!