Opening ceremonies was amazing! Words can't describe what it felt like hearing the entire US team chant "USA, USA" in the waiting areas- it was amazing! The day was a long one, it started out with breakfast and then I rushed over to the P&G House, where they did my make-up and made me look fabulous all for free!!! Then I rushed back to the Vancouver Olympic Village for lunch and to quickly get dressed in my white pants before heading out the door to meet Vice President Joe Biden and his family. It was amazing to meet him, and his speech almost made me cry. After meeting VP Biden, the we waited...
And waited, and waited, and waited...
During the wait, people were trading pins, and because I didn't know about this big pin trading tradition, I didn't have my pins! However, our physio, Jason Ross, had a pin and asked me to trade it for him- for something really good. I went on a mission- and traded it with the one athlete from Ghana- the Snow Leopard- which I consider a big achievement for the night. While I didn't have pins to trade- fellow brakeman Emily Azevedo and I spent a good majority of the evening collecting as many US signatures as we possibly could on flags and other items- which allowed us to meet a lot of people from all the U.S. sports- so many great people and great stories!
Finally, we lined up to walk into the stadium. We were in line for what seemed like forever! And even though our Ralph Lauren gear looked great (the white pants looked much better than expected), we were SOOO HOT!!! Those wool sweaters were furnaces! We were burning up! They offered us water, but no one wanted to drink cause we didn't want to go to the bathroom!
Finally, they started calling the country names and we were almost ready to roll out. Being the United States, we were one of the last countries to come out, shortly to be followed by host nation Canada. We all tried to strategize where to stand to get tv time- everyone like little kids so excited! The big winners were the ones who stood by the snowboarders and Shaun White, definitely should have been more strategic- but I'm super glad I walked in with my pilot Erin Pac, I was so happy to share that moment with her after all we've been through.
Walking through that stadium was nothing short of amazing. Walking up the ramp all you could see was thousands of people and bright lights- I imagine that's what entering the gates of heaven looks like (if it were on an earthly scale)- it was beautiful. We were so excited and I never wanted that walk to end- but it did, but luckily the show was amazing too.
Elana,
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me. My name is Brian Parsons. I graduated several years before you from Lithia. I was just checking out FB and somehow came across a picture of you and your bobsled partner in the full Olympic get up. That is awesome! I've often wondered how folks end up in the sports that they compete in. It's really neat to see a familiar face representing your country, your state, your city and your savior on such a global scale. It was funny to read about your experience with the pin trading. While going through college I did a lot of freelance graphics work designing IOC pins for several smaller countries and no one quite understood what they were for when I tried to tell them. God Bless and Best of luck in the winter games. We're routing for you back home.
In Christ,
Brian