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.