I witnessed today, on Valentine's day, the first Canadian gold medal on winter Olympics, won on home soil. The best Canadians did, was silver (5) in Montreal 1976, and silver (2) again in Calgary 1988. In Vancouver, everybody has been waiting for the first gold.
I expected Manny Osborne - Paradise or Robby Dixon to win men's downhill, but mother nature didn't allow ski daredevils to do their race. I expected Alberta's Jenn Heil to win last night, and she won the silver. Couldn't expect gold medals from biathlon or luge racers, nobody really did.
I knew there was another chance on Cypress today. Super strong free style Canadian team was a great contender, but it is not a team that would win the gold - it had to be one person to win it. That person had to survive all the pressure and even more, to beat the best of the best, defending Olympic champion, who is from Canada, but chose to compete for Australia.
I must say I was skeptical.
When Alexandre Bilodeau finished his 24 seconds of his final run, there was this feeling that something big could happen. And when judges decided that he was in front of defending Olympic champion, it was so hard to wait for the last racer, who was leading after qualifying race. Guilbaut Colas failed in his attempt to dethrone Alexandre, and that meant that Canada won its first gold!!!!
Audience and all fans went nuts - there was so much energy and instant celebration. I can only imagine how was on Robson square.
There was this warm feeling, and happiness - as K2 was conquered. All dreams and wishes became true. I am not a stranger to similar events, but this was super special. When you throw yourself down, on this super steep slope full of moguls, and you have to keep your rhythm, and control your speed, and when you have to execute two demanding and technical jumps, and all of this in less than 24 seconds - you have to be very special person.
I remember how in preparation for this Olympics, and even before, Alexandre would always talk about his family and his older brother, Frederick. He said how his brother has always inspired him, every day, and how he has learned so much from his brother. This wouldn't be unusual or strange, as we get inspired by our family, but in this case, this fantastic bond between brothers, inspires even more, and should teach us so much.
Frederick has cerebral palsy, and has been living with this disease for many years. People who suffer from it eventually lose their motor abilities. Alexandre would say how his brother "still walks", even though he was not supposed to. He also said how his "brother inspired him when he didn't feel that he wanted to go training. How could you quit and not to do it when you are given so much, when you can walk?"
It is true that people take so much for granted. They are lazy and spoiled. They even fail to get up from their couches. So many of them are useless, as they haven't used any muscles...People complain every day, they are never tired of complaining. They don't understand how many chances they have every day.
Hopefully they will learn something from Frederick and Alexandre.
This was another special, emotional day in Vancouver. Gold finally came home.
