I want to tell you that nothing can prepare you for the marvel of having the Olympics hosted in your own city. Nothing. Regardless of whether you are a fan or not.
Besides the alarming construction of new buildings, the first clue that changes are afoot is the transformation of downtown. Familiar buildings are suddenly foreign.
A gigantic digital clock will also be set up in a prominent location in the downtown core. In our case, three years prior to the Opening Ceremonies.
Excitement will build when the tickets go on sale for both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the various sporting events. A piece of advice for you. Write down your Olympic ticket site password. Keep it in a safe, memorable spot. I remember the absolutely delightful few minutes in our household as we managed to get through to the ticket site only to be asked for our password. None of us could remember it. Panic swelled as the time allowed on the site lessened. Just as we were about to time out my daughter shrieked suggested a thoroughly implausible suggestion. Bingo. We were in.
Also be open to learning a new sport. All of the popular skating, skiing and high-profile hockey game tickets go quickly. That’s how we managed to snag curling.
It was wondrous. We instantly learned a new language. “Hacks, hogged stone, shot rock …” Four years later and I’m still fluent.
A hockey fan? Rest assured you can get tickets. Maybe not to the thrilling Gold Medal final – which you can experience over and over on videos such as this:
but you will be able to get tickets to other games. Like us. We were up in the nosebleeds for a German/Sweden game.
An Olympic experience like no other.
The one thing I cannot stress enough about having the Olympics in your hometown is the spirit. It begins the minute you step out your front door. Those neighbours to whom you rarely speak? They’ve suddenly found their voices. Everyone wants to chat as you walk to the bus stop. Of course you’ve put your car into storage for the complete duration of the Olympics experience. There is absolutely no need for it; you’ll be whisked to your event via the specially-built-for-the Olympics subway line or on one of the zillion cars added to the existing line. No worry about a wait. Those cars will be arriving at timely 30 second intervals. Once aboard, be prepared to chat. With anyone. In any language.
Be prepared to also develop a sudden fondness for pins. Yes, Olympic pin trading is an Olympic experience in itself. Anyone remember this chap?
We met one gal who stuffed her pockets with Olympic trading pins and spent her days riding back and forth on the skytrain (our subway version) handing them out. To complete strangers. I still have the one she gave me.
Don’t worry about ticket remorse. Should you find yourself unable to get tickets to anything, rest assured. There are the medal ceremonies. Anyone can get tickets to them. In terms of an Olympic experience nothing says spirit like the medal ceremonies. It is here, usually at the end of the day, that the winners receive their medals. I loved these. Mind you, my throat swells when I watch a televised version of a complete stranger from another country singing their national anthem as their flag rises above their heads, so I’m a sucker when it comes to seeing it live. Absolutely nothing like it. An added bonus? Riding on the skytrain minutes later and finding yourself standing next to that athlete. Yes, the one who just received her gold medal. And she’s still wearing it! Magical.
The surprisingly best part of an Olympic experience?
An overwhelming surge of domestic pride. Canadians are a quiet, reserved lot usually. We are proud of our country but it’s a quiet pride. The Olympic experience changed that. I shall never forget standing on the rental condo balcony with my two visiting Aussie pals and suddenly hearing endlessly random and spontaneous outbursts of “Oh Canada” wafting up from the streets far below. It was absolutely unforgettable.
My strongest recommendation regarding an Olympic experience in your hometown? Be prepared to spend very little time at home. There is just so much happening elsewhere. My particular favourites weren’t the sporting events I attended but the unpredictable never-ending fun that happened after dark. Something to do with the Olympic cauldron and something to do with souvenir purchases … I’ll save those gems for my next post.
Enough about my Olympic experience. I’m curious about you. If you were here in 2010 – is there something you’d like to share about your Olympic experience? Or perhaps you have certain things that you’re hoping to see in the Sochi games? If you’d care to share, I’d love to hear.
This post was crafted as part of the Finish the Sentence Friday link-up that is held each Friday by these four fabulous hosts: Kate’s Can I Get Another Bottle of Wine, Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic, Stephanie’s Mommy for Real and Kristi’s Finding Ninee. There were two sentence prompts and I chose “I want to tell you…” I could have vlogged this delight however due to just typikel woefully lacking technical skills (which come to think of it would be a splendid blog post) I was forced to do it old school. Maybe next time.
26 Responses
Although I have never quite experienced the olympics in my own hometown, I loved hearing about your experience with this and seriously sounded like an amazing thing to have indeed experienced. Seriously can’t even imagine, but truly sounded amazing to me 🙂
It is Janine – everyone here is posting 2010 pics on Instagram and tweeting their memories. It’s actually really cool.
Wonderful post Kelly ! Brought back so many memories of 2010! While we didn’t actually attend any of the events, we loved going into downtown to be part of it all, and listen to the many languages being spoken on our streets, and the happy crowds of people. It filled me with so much pride hearing how much people enjoyed it all !
So true about being filled with pride. It was the most wonderful time, no? I loved just sitting and having coffee and watching it all. We were very blessed.
I’m jealous. The Olympics are magical and amazing and I’d LOVE to see them. I’m jealous that you saw them live. So wonderful.
Sorry to make you jealous Kristi. However have to admit it was wonderful!
OMG!! I would be like one of those fainting goats, I think, if the Olympics came to my city! I LOVE all things Olympics. So to be able to go and watch events and medal ceremonies??! Shut the front door!!
That would be a dream come true!
Hahaha! One of those faining goats … Yes, it is kind of like that! Have to say it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing…
Those look like wonderful memories. Atlanta hosted the Summer Games in 1996. We went to a baseball game. Unfortunately, the Atlanta politicians made a mess of things. I actually remember being embarrassed by the whole thing. I think the venues were nice and the competition still the same. And it was pretty cool to be able to walk a block and a half from home and see the marathon runners as they flew by.
Ohhh that must have been special seeing the runners zip by! Summer Olympics must be so very different from Winter, eh? We had our “special moments” here as well when things didn’t go as planned however on the whole our organizing guys did manage to do well.
That would be very cool to be right in the middle of is all!
It is. You try and soak it all up when it’s happening however you realise 4 years later that you could have done sooo much more!
I can only imagine how cool it must be to be a part of the Olympic experience. I’d love to go one day, but the venues aren’t in North America until at least 2022. Enjoy watching the opening ceremonies tonight!
Thanks Dana – I will. 2022 will be here before we know it, I suspect. I cannot believe Vancouver 2010 was 4 years ago. Truly.
So awesome! I’ve always wanted to see the Olympics live. Thank you for sharing it. I always fondly called the mascot for the 2010 games “tofu man”. The trading of pins reminded me of a Simpsons episode where Lisa gets obsessed with them. As for me, Gracie Gold trains at the rink I skate at. To see her on the podium would be totally awesome. Evan Lysacek also trained at my rink so you never know. Even though I’m not all buddy buddy with these skaters, I still feel proud that I skate at the same place they do, despite me being nowhere near as good as they are.
Wow – that is so cool that you skate at the same arena! Thank you for sharing that! Tofu man? Hilarious.
I had a wonderful experience when the 1996 Olympics were here in Atlanta. I watched the cauldron from my front yard. I went to 14 gold medal events and never had any trouble. It is right, people were very happy, very gracious and very helpful. I didn’t have any trouble getting around – and it was fun to take mass transportation. One of my favorite things that happened here was the High Museum of Art putting together a terrific exhibit that symbolized the five rings – it had Rodan’s The Kiss, The Scream just for starters – I went to it 3 times and still look through the catalog. Okay – one time I had to wait outside an hour because Bill and Hillary were taking it in. I loved the public art that was around town – particularly the van that had flags made of sand for every country that bordered the Atlanta ocean – the trick was, they all had ants in them, and the flags changed every day – I kept checking them out. I was an explorer in my own city those two weeks!!!!
You could see the cauldron from your front yard? Magical. How great that you saw The Scream – it’s my sister-in-law’s fave. And The Kiss, too? You nailed it with the explorer in your city – that’s exactly how I felt. Thank you so much for sharing this Vickie. I loved hearing your point of view!
Kelly, I have to confess that before your posts, I was not a heavy-duty Olympics person. But you’ve kindled my interest and I’m looking forward to Sochi.
Well that is very cool! I do hope you enjoy it.
Kelly, I’ve never been to an Olympics. It’s on my list. The state of Colorado turned them down year ago (can you imagine?) and now we are trying to get them back. My fingers are crossed. It sounds incredible.
Oh I do hope Colorado gets them. What a wonderful experience for you! I’ll cross all my crossables ine hope that you do.
I am so jealous! Apparently Chicago was such a poor choice for the summer olympics that we were eliminated first. But Sochi, well that place is AWESOME!
Someday, maybe before I die. In leap years. Maybe.
Loved hearing about your experience!
Hahaha! Yes, Sochi must be just AWESOME if they overlooked Chicago. Hope you can make it to one – leap years or not. Amazing how everyone here is once again chatting about “our” experience of four years ago. I had a lovely chat with a woman in line yesterday at the grocery store. So its still working its magic.
You got to see an Olympic gold medal?? In person??? How cool is that?!?! We were lucky enough to attend the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. My husband’s folks lived in suburban Atlanta at the time and hosted the whole family for two weeks that we will never forget. The spirit, the incredible athletic talent, the pageantry of the medal ceremonies… There is nothing like it. I volunteered for two years with the committee trying to bring the Olympics to Chicago. It was heartbreaking to hear the announcement that Rio, not Chicago, was chosen as the host city for 2016.
That must have been such a heartbreaker Mo. Any chance they’ll resurrect the bid? Your Olympic experience sounds very like mine. It’s sure magical isn’t it?