Sorry it has been a long time between posts. It has been an exciting few weeks since my event in the Olympics, and now I have the time to digest and give you a run down on how things went.
I just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone for all your supportive messages and for following my journey to and throughout the Olympics. It has probably been the most "up and down" few weeks of my life, and I really appreciate all the thoughts and well wishes. It is certainly not lost on me.
(At the Press Centre in Vancouver. Photo: Steve Cuff)
My preparation hit yet another hurdle while training for the event. On the first run of the last training day before the event, I crashed while pulling out of the line, being cautious of my knee. It wasn't a bad crash by any means, but I fell awkwardly onto my elbow, and subsequently separated the AC joint in my shoulder. What can I say... When you're on a roll... You are on roll!
We had a day off between the last training day and the event, while the women's competition was run. I was supposed to march in the Opening Ceremony, but with my body the way it was, I couldn't really spend a couple of hours on my feet and away from ice. I was getting injections of cortisone and local anaesthetic in my shoulder and found that it functioned quite well with the pain relief.
(The Course on Competition Day)
We were blessed with some great weather the day of competition - something the women did not experience the day earlier. It was a warm 5 - 10 degrees, and with the torrential rain the night before the snow was wet, slushy and without any hard base. With my knee taped and braced and my shoulder taped and injected, the training went well, and I was able to hit the jumps and train my tricks for the first time. I snuck in 3 runs in the short amount of training time. The most I had done since I blew my knee 4 weeks earlier. It was intimidating hitting the bottom air with a D-spin for the first time. Normally with a lot of time off snow, I have maybe a slight bit of apprehension, but when doing it for the first time, trying to land on my knee the way it was... I wasn't sure which way it would go.
(Training prior to competition)
Standing at the top, the crowd was huge. The cool thing about moguls is that the crowd can see the whole event from top to bottom. As an athlete, if you lift your eyes from the mogul line it is just a sea of coloured dots 250m down the from the start gate.
(Sami and Dani in the crowd with a killer sign)
(Mum, Dad and Jemaine being interviewed in the crowd)
I was fairly disappointed with my run, and missing out on the finals. I skied slow, and my jumps were not big enough. I made mistakes in the middle section, and at the Olympic level... You cannot make mistakes. I scored somewhere in the 21 points and finished a disappointing 27th.
(Skiing through the middle)
(Jumping the bottom Air)
I am proud of my achievement to make the Olympics, and at the end of the day given the circumstances that was probably the best run I could have managed. It's hard to enter an event, especially one you have been training towards for a very long time, stand at the start gate and feel like you can not show your full ability or potential.
(Waiting for the scores to come in)
After my run, I had to wind my way through the maze filled by media, officials and fans and once getting to the end with a chance to finally digest and think about what had just happened, I got snapped up by the pee-testing guys and had to go pee in a cup.
(With Shirvo at the bottom after my run)
The finals were exciting. The crowd was massive and probably 99% canadian. There were a lot of mistakes in the finals, with guys giving it everything and the snow conditions very catchy and changing all the time. In the end it was Alex Bilodeau from Canada who took home the Gold in front of my team-mate Dale, and Bryon Wilson from the U.S.
(Mens Podium)
The Day after the event, we had to move from the West -Vancouver "sub-site" back into the Vancouver Village. Feeling extremely hung-over from the big night celebrating after the event and surviving on barely any sleep it was no fun task. The Village was great. I had my own two bedroom apartment looking over the water and downtown Vancouver for the first week. The second week Scotty Kneller from Skier-X moved in with me.
(View From My Balcony)
With two weeks of the Games left after my event, I tried to make the most of the experience and see as many events as possible. My family were in Vancouver for another few days after my event, so I showed them around the village and hung out with them amidst the madness in downtown. I saw 4 men's hockey games, the finals of the short track speed skating, men's and women's half pipe finals where I saw Torah win Gold, Skier-X where Scotty Kneller finished 7th, men's super G in Whistler, and a few others. With the athlete accreditation you could go and watch any outdoor events, and apply for tickets to the indoor venues.
(Russia V Latvia)
(Torah winning Gold)
(Mens Super G)
(Scotty Kneller at the Skier-X)
(Shawn White winning back to back Golds)
(Short-Track speed skating stadium)
The nightlife and atmosphere in the city was madness. There were different "houses" set up all over the city, where as an athlete you were treated with free entry and free booze. The highlights were the Molson Canadian Hockey house, the Budweiser House and the free 24/7 maccas at 5am in the village after each night out.
(Stealing Lydia's Gold medal for a minute)
(With Patto, Jacqui Cooper and Johhny Weir at the Bud House)
There was an athlete lounge (dry bar) set up in the Village with video games, pool tables, table curling, projectors, vitamin water bar and live music every day from 2pm until 10pm. It was fun to sit in there and watch the events on the screen with live music in the background.
(Athletes Lounge)
We got to go an check out the Vancouver aquarium and had special access to play with the Beluga Whales and the Dolphins. It was awesome, and everyone around was obviously jealous we were treated to the experience.
(At the Vancouver Aquarium)
(Patting the Beluga Whale)
(Hanging out with the Dolphins)
On the last day of the Games I was lucky to get a last minute ticket to the Gold Medal hockey match between the U.S and Canada. It was much hyped and the whole country stood still while the game was being played out. It was a sea of Canadian shirts, pride and chants in the stadium... And luckily Canada came through with the gold in extra time. I would hate to think what would happen if they did not beat the U.S and win gold.
(At the Hockey with Scotty and Scotty)
(Canadian Pride)
After the hockey we were assembled at BC place for the Closing ceremony. Everyone was pretty relaxed and excited that it was all over. I was a little disappointed, as I was having such a great time, and wished that I could relive my event again and put down a better performance. I guess that all gets churned up and provides a little fire in the belly to go another 4 years to another Olympic Games.
(Closing ceremony team)
The Closing ceremony was fun, and stacked with an all Canadian line up. It was cool to see Neil Young come out and play and feel the anticipation for the Sochi Olympics in 4 years. The crowd was packed with 60,000 people there to farewell the athletes and celebrate the end of the games. It was fun to be at the centre of all the action.
(Marching out)
(Lyd waving the flag)
(Flame about to be extinguished)
(Me and Bud in our goofy hats)
The next day we all packed up and went our separate ways. Some were going back to compete in the final World Cup events of the season, some were going home to relax and go to school, and some (me and Jenny Owens) were going back for Surgery.
(A couple of days post surgery)
After being held up in San Francisco for 24 hours I made it home on March 3rd. I went in for Surgery last Tuesday and had a PCL Reconstruction (with a hamstring graft) and a Lateral Meniscectomy. The surgery went well, and my surgeon was very happy. I was quite sore after, and have been in a bit of pain for the past 5 days. At the moment, I am confined to being in a splint and will be for the next month. It makes it difficult to get around and to begin rehab, but it is all part of it.
(A couple more days post surgery, with bruising starting to come through)
Once I can drive, I will move up to Uni in Canberra and begin my Studies in Sports Science and Sports Management. My rehab will continue for several months and I hope to be back on snow and begin light skiing in 6 months time.
Thank you to everyone for all you support.
.jpg)