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Friday, February 5, 2010

The Village is Getting Busy

I'm writing today's blog sitting in the volunteers dining hall in the Athletes Village decompressing after my shift. It is in a temporary structure but it is comfortable. We get all the coffee we need (good for the graveyard shift) and we get fed when we work over mealtimes.


On Wednesday, we had a real treat as we got to eat in the Athletes section, as part of their test for the Village opening. What a great facility the athletes have. They have food stations serving almost every kind of cuisine you might want: Asian, Italian, North American (grilled), salads, soups, smoothies, McDonalds, etc. The smoothies were the best and they were from McDs!!

The official Village opening was on February 4th.  Rick Hansen, the Man in Motion, helped to cut the ribbon.  The photo above was taken at the grand opening.

With the athletes arriving, the Polyclinic was quite busy today. We doubled our staffing and even still, we were kept hopping. There were lots of tours as the IOC and NOCs (National Olympic Committees) officials and support staff wanted to confirm the services that we offer.

One of the busiest areas is the therapy area - physio, massage, accupuncture, chiro, rehab and more. Interestingly, we have to keep it secure as many countries might spy on their competitor athletes, discovering injuries and tender areas.

Overall, you would be impressed with how Canada has organized the Games but probably shocked at the overall cost.

One of the perks of volunteering is that I get to attend the dress rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies next week. There is much speculation over who will be the final torchbearer and light the flame, and many think it will be Wayne Gretzky but my money is on Terry Fox and his mother. With the technology available today, it would be easy to make Terry light the flame. The person has to have international recognition and with Terry Fox runs being held around the world, he qualifies in spades. Is there a better, more heart-wrenching story? And, don't ignore the fact that NBC has a huge say....I think they would want the drama of Terry.

Well, I have a few days off and plan to visit the Olympic Headquarters for pin trading, at the downtown Bay department store. There was one man in the news who had 20,000 pins. Amazing.

See you.


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