On Behalf of Canada

So have you been watching the Olympics? I felt I needed to write something about this since it's my country that is hosting.

First, let me speak about the Olympics themselves. I personally love the Olympics. I greatly admire the athletes and the time they devote to their sport. I feel a small fraction of the devastation they must feel when they fail to meet their goals or feel as though they've let their country down. In a society which projects a narrow, cookie cutter image of what physical fitness looks like I appreciate how Olympic athletes show true physical fitness in all its many shapes and sizes. As an individual who struggles with body image I always have a sense of peace and satisfaction seeing athletes who's bodies are similar to my own.

Not unlike any other Olympics, there has been a great deal of protesting. Being anti-poverty and anti-globalization isn't a bad thing. I'm not convinced that vandalizing cars or smashing store windows accomplishes this. It seems misguided and ineffective, at least as far as the goal of the protest is concerned.

Truthfully, I did not watch all of the Opening Ceremonies. I taped them and fast forwarded through the dull parts. We thought Miss A might enjoy watching some of them. She did. She was especially excited when Sarah McLachlan performed "Ordinary Miracle" from Charlotte's Web. Also, being the brilliant child that she is, she recognized the part when the messy haired kid who appeared to be running through a prairie wheat field which was projected on the floor and then started flying through the air as being total crap. That's my girl. Sadly, this was the part which was supposed to represent the particular area of Canada where we live.

I was both amused and confused by the 'Ravers' all dressed in white which lined the aisle when each countries athletes entered. I found them very distracting and also ridiculous. I tried to find video of it for those of you who did not experience the wonder yourselves but no dice. I'd be curious to know who thought that was a good idea. However, I thought K.D. Lang's performance was pure brilliance. I would kill to be able to sing those sliding notes she can. Being a huge fan of both Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash I totally approved of them being chosen to be that last of the flame carriers. I don't blame either of them for the terribly awkward facial expressions they continually made while the waited for the technical difficulties re: lighting the dang cauldron to either resolve themselves or for someone, anyone, to tell them what the crap they were supposed to do now. I'm going to link this article because it's far better writing than my own and it's also very amusing.

While looking for video of the ceremonies I was horrified to find one of pictures compiled from the luge accident, including one of the poor young man as the paramedics worked on him. I felt compelled to leave a comment for the person who posted it telling them I thought it was in poor taste and that if I was the athlete's mother I would be horrified to discover that someone posted something like that for any reason. As for the accident, I think there is obviously great risk of bodily injury or even death in that particular sport. I sincerely hope that it was not caused by a fault in the track/human error and that it was just a freak accident. Either way, I would hate to have been involved in the construction of that track and I wouldn't be able to feel at ease until all competition on it was complete.

As for the weather. It is laughable. Vancouver is notorious for getting terrible, unpredictable weather. Choosing Vancouver to host means choosing potentially awful weather conditions. Why is anyone (in this country) surprised by this?

In any case, on behalf of Canada I hope that the remainder of the Games are safe, fun, and a demonstration of good sportsmanship and incredible athleticism that they should be.