Archive for February 28th, 2010

I’m going to admit it.  While I wasn’t a cynic when it came to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver,  I was cynical.  It seemed the last thing we needed, in the midst of challenging times, was an opulent, elitist production.  I even felt a chord of resonance when I saw the bumper sticker reading  “Health Care Before Olympics.”   But that was before…

That was before my daughter - the same girl who tells her fitness-professional-mother that she hates exercise – started attempting double axels in the living room.  Completely inspired by the unbelievable guts and grace of Joannie Rochette, she wants me to enroll her in figure skating lessons.  This is not so unlike me, who after watching Nadia Commenci in 1976, spent the remainder of the summer vaulting over a sawhorse in the back field.

That was before Clara Hughes , won yet another Olympic medal, and proceeded to donate her $10,000.00 Bronze Medal bonus to the Take a Hike Foundation for troubled youth in Vancouver.

That was before discovering how Canada’s Five Female Biathletes decided to take control and positively impact their own success through the creation of the Bold Beautiful Biathlon Calendar.

Our goal is to empower and inspire women and girls by expressing the beauty of a healthy, athletic body. The net proceeds will go directly towards funding our expenses leading up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

That was before Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir floated across the ice to win Olympic Gold in Ice Dance.  And as amazing as their performance was, the victory ceremony was even better.  Unlike the typical lip syncing of the Canadian anthem, complete with inevitable flub up, these two, Moir in particular, belted out every word perfectly, enthusiasm visibly oozing out of every pore.

That was before sitting on the edge of my seat, which happens to be a 55cm exercise ball, desperately hoping Canada would score in period four of the Gold Medal Hockey Game.   Thank God for Sidney Crosby from Cape Breton. 

That was before singing Oh Canada at the top of my lungs, with pretty much the entire country, during the Hockey Victory Ceremony.  My childhood memories huddled around a black and white TV with poor reception watching Hockey Night In Canada with my brothers, flooding through me.  I know its corny, and its cliche, but I have never been so proud to be Canadian.

These are the role models and inspiration for my daughter’s generation, and I couldn’t be happier about it.  I don’t support how much it costs to stage these grandiose events, but I do think they are a shining example of preventative health care through inspiring us to be more active and challenge ourselves.   And while I don’t like the name “Own the Podium”, I am amazed at the impact of investment in Canadian Sport, and sincerely hope it continues.

I’m curious.   Have the Olympics inspired you?  In what way?