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2006/02/25 Stéphane à Turin - samedi 25 février 2006Games Chronicles – Torino 2006
“The glory of victory and the agony of defeat” (ABC’s - Wide World of Sports) The past several days since my last update have been exactly what I have always expected of the Games, and how I have often described them … an emotional roller coaster. The sound of the famous ABC sport television show “Wide World of Sports” and the vision of that ski jumper falling off the side of the jump have come to me several times of the past days (No I don’t believe that ABC will attempt to out-bid NBC for the broadcast rights to future games), given the crazy things that have been going on around me, and that I have been experiencing first-hand. Cindy is Golden… Wins 4th medal… It goes without saying that working with the long track speed skating team here in Torino has, despite the very busy schedule and the numerous demands, an incredible privilege. The fact that Cindy has done so incredibly well at this games (4 medals), and has finally gotten the recognition she deserves is also quite amazing. Being at Oval Lingotto for the women’s 1500m was amazing – Kristina came out and blew everyone away by 2 seconds, and then in the next pair Cindy topped that by another good margin… everyone in the rink followed the lead of the Dutch and greatly supported some great skating. The Canadians in the house were proud, many of us with tears in our eyes. Although we had (up until her medal ceremony the other night) heard “Oh Canada” 3 times, I was never there in attendance at the venue or in the medals plaza – like you I had to suffice to watch the events and ceremonies on TV. Attending the medals ceremony for Cindy’s gold … hearing ‘Oh Canada’, singing along with other Canadians, watching her on the podium… was very special especially given my role with the team and the relationship I have established with her over the past 12 months.
CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES… Games, the Italian way… Had I sent you an update several days ago it likely would have been very negative – alas I stuck with the idea of never sending email when really pissed-off. See a theme here in at the Torino Olympics has been change…See normally when one arrives early for the Games, we expect to have security tightened the day of the Opening Ceremonies, have a few things adjusted in the first couple of days, and then everyone seems to settle into a routine – this has been my experience at past Games, whether they be Olympics, Pan Am Games, or Canada Games. Here in Torino, the Italians do things on their own schedule… yes the events are on-time, but sometimes other things take a bit longer. In my particular case, things went a little off the track on 18th… See TOBO (Torino Olympic Broadcasting Org.) and the IOC decided to begin enforcing a rule that affected all of the press attachés at all venues. This rule essentially restricted access to the Mixed-Zone (the area adjacent the field of play where the media get their work done) for press attaché, team leaders and coaches. See many journalists know little about Olympic sport, and thus coaches are often requested for interviews when the journalists haven’t done their homework. In the case of long track while restricted available of the athletes, the coaches have been a great resource to the journalists… no one was pleased with the situation. Suffice to say that the TOBO representative I spoke with was cordially welcomed to the Olympic Games on day 8 of competition and reminded that all had been working fine up until that point. Then a day later, after press attachés at mountain venues in Sestriere essentially went on strike, the IOC changed their rules again given the complaints from broadcasters and journalists that they didn’t get to talk to the athletes they wanted to. The kicker is that the rules changed at all venues except at Oval Lingotto – just my lucky day!. To make matters worse, they also changed on the 20th, our access within the field of play area. Bottom line is that things are working, but it’s is really a shame that once again decisions are made without consultation with the athletes, coaches, the teams themselves… or the broadcasters who are responsible for a high percentage of the IOC’s revenues. The home stretch… With just a couple of hours until the final event for long track (the women’s 5000m) and just about 28+ hrs from the closing ceremonies it is good to see the end in sight. Everyone here is very excited about the possibilities of the next several hours – with Clara, Kristina and Cindy all having a chance at top 6 it could be an interesting night. With Cindy favoured to being named flag bearer for the closing ceremonies, it will be a busy time for all of us and my phone will be ringing a few times tomorrow… We are planning ahead as much as we really can, but the fun in these situations is getting to think on my feet and negotiating with the team, the athletes and the media how we are going to make everyone happy. Canada –“a winter sport power house...” I know that many Canadians are disappointed that Canada is not involved in the gold medal game, and has actually been booted from the tournament – this is indeed disappointed. But my hope is that people at home realize that this is Canada’s best showing at a winter Olympics, and that we have 10 fourth place finishers so far in addition to the 6 gold, 8 silver, 5 bronze medals (I think those numbers are right but then again it’s been a crazy week). The Torino Olympic Winter Games has been a great demonstration of what Canada can do, and will continue to do. Just imagine what it will be like when we host the Games in 2010! Heck when NBC is quoted as saying that Canada is a “winter sport power house”… you gotta wonder if they can admit it, maybe it’s really true… even for us humble yet fickle Canadians. MISC I wish I had more time to write about the other things going on behind the scenes, the clothes trading, the demands for pins 50times per day, the fact that the there are still so many things that make me go “hmm…?” in bewilderment, but I must go…
Enjoy the rest of the Games and I look forward to sending an update from a small café in Nice France where I’ll rest and recuperate from this adventure for a couple of days.
Ciao , Stéphane 2006/02/21 Stéphane à Turin, Les chroniques des Jeux, 2006 02 17Games Chronicles – Torino 2006 Hanging-out with the long trackers - silver lining to long days… sunset appeared to be golden… (ok ok, c’mon I know this was ‘fromage’ and entirely cliché, but heck… why not…) I just got back to the village about 30 minutes ago after attending the event ceremonies at the Torino Olympic Medals Plaza… The police escort to the venue was interesting given the traffic realities and the driving habits (read bad) of the Italians. Upon arrival, it was quite a show and also quite exciting to watch these ordinary Canadians, who are amazing people, and also just happen to be the very best Canadian skaters, and the 2nd best in the entire world, receive their due recognition. Believe me, some of us in the front wanted to start singing “Oh Canada”, but we all know we should be more respectful … be more Canadian… Having been in Torino for 16 days, today was really the
first day that I’ve had a bit of a break. There were three
training sessions today, but no racing. The logistics related to
attending medals (shuttle convoy to event, tix for family and friends, reception
downtown, media requests to coordinate within a 30 minute window, and then some
athletes coming back to the village) took the evening (left village at 6pm for
an 8pm event and returned at 9:45pm), but most of the morning I had to catch-up
things… I even got to work-out today… (watch-out Steve and Spencer, this fat guy
will certainly be sucking your wheels when we are riding in
March). Tomorrow and Sunday are certain to be busy given that Jeremy races in
the 1000m, his last event of the games. I have received a number
of requests for Jeremy and Saturday night and Sunday are the first real
opportunities for him to deal with them all. This being said, the
1000m will see four Canadians step up to the line… and although I may be a bit
biased now that I’m living on the west coast, take my advance, watch for Denny
Morrison… this boy could just put him stamp on the event here at the Games, and
prove that his podium finish here in December was no fluke. Although many of you likely keeping your eyes on the medal ranks
(Canada currently has 11 – tied for 2nd overall total medals), here
are a few other numbers for you to consider:
2006/02/13 Stéphane à Turin, Rapport numéro 4 - 2006 02 13Photos par Stéphane - Équipe Canada/Team Canada - SRC - CBC - COJO Turin - CIO - Vancouver 2010 Klassen’s Bronze first medals for speed skaters! Cindy certainly went for it last night at Oval Lingotto – from where I was standing it was as if I could see the lactic acid accumulating into her legs… Although most would agree she was hoping for more than bronze she is very happy to have stood on the podium last night. German favourite Annie Friesenger nearly caught Cindy and missed the podium by only 0.02 seconds. And ultimately from the team’s perspective Cindy beat all the skaters she was expected to beat… only challenge is that the two Dutch skaters had the best races of the day. In just a few short hours from now, and only about 800m from where I am sitting in the athlete’s village, the Men’s 500m will begin. Jeremy, Mike and Brock are entered for Canada and given the hype around Jeremy’s dominance in the sport it is certain to be an interesting day – note that Jeremy has won over 57 World Cup medals, more than any other male in any sport. As for cloning myself, I have not yet been able to figure that out here in Torino and so I will have to have someone else attend Medals Plaza with Cindy tonite… kinda sucks that I won’t be there, but most of us here are after all focused on performance and so it’s more important that I be at the Oval… I know from the short messages I have been receiving from home that most of you are enjoying the Games – all the best over the coming days. Things certainly are going to get busy here… enjoy the TP (Team Pursuit) on the 15th-16th – a great event that is really fun to watch. And for those who have asked for the link to the photos: http://2006gameschronicles.myphotoalbum.com/
STÉPHANE DELISLE stephane_delisle@hotmail.com Canada Meets the World this Winter... Note de Gérard Delisle 2006/02/12 12 fév. - Rapport de Stéphane à TurinStéphane Delisle, Attaché de presse, Patinage de vitesse (longue piste)
Radio-Canada (patinage de vitesse, longue piste) 2006_02_12 Games Chronicles – Torino 2006 THE GAMES HAVE BEGUN!!! And we’ve got more medals to come! Well where to start since I last provided an update. Let me start by sharing that the Olympic Games is full of fun little unexpected surprises and this emotional roller coaster is just about to crest the summit of the first big hill. To those who have been sending notes thank you, they are much appreciated. And to those who have been checking-out the photos on-line, rest assured there are more to come (and no, please don’t think that I posted them there to sell them… ignore all those ads). The first of my unexpected experiences in Torino was with the OC (Opening Ceremonies). Having removed my name from the draw given the fact that I’ve marched before, I was content with hanging around outside as all the team got together to meet the buses for the event. But sure enough at the last minute one of the SS-LT team therapists suggested that we put on “all our kit” (OC apparel) for our planned trip to the Canada Olympic House to watch the event with parents, friends and other Canadians. We had a complete blast walking down the streets of Torino and taking the tram with this crazy outfits on. Just imagine four guys completely decked-out in this white and red gear – we looked completely out of place in Italy, recognized by some as the fashion capital of the world. The kicker for the evening however was a truly Canadian experience. After hanging out at COH for a couple of hours enjoying beer and pizza with some colleagues from VANOC, when Renee suggested that we go play road hockey outside the BC/Canada Place located just 5 short blocks away. We took no time to ponder this idea and within 10 short minutes were walking into the log cabin in downtown Torino asking to “borrow” the ball hockey gear (they have games every day from 3-5pm). The sight of 15-20 Canadians playing ball hockey in a semi-light paved area outside the log cabin was very fun. Jonathan Gatehouse from Maclean’s magazine score the first goal and the team made of primary of the whites was down 1-0… image the 4 of us running around in muk-luks, sheerling hats and those long heavy coats (we were sweating like crazy in no time). But the Hbc gear must have inspired our team… our goalie, stood on his head to stop nearly 20 shots in our short game… not easy to do in the dark with so many people running in every direction around you. 20 minutes from it’s humble start there was a small team of us who had won our little game 4-2 and we shared an uniquely different experience that many of you can certainly relate to. The other surprising thing that has happed to me here in Torino is that I’ve taken up smoking! Yes really it is true! So I can no longer give my mom and siblings lectures of how bad the cancer sticks are for you as since my arrival I have likely smoked a half-pack a day. The reality on these comments is that everyone everywhere seems to be smoking and we just simply can’t seem to get away from the second hand smoke. From transportation volunteers, to access volunteers, they smoke anytime anywhere… I’m hoping we don’t have to explicitly mandate that Olympic venues be smoke free in 2010! Smoking everywhere… We have an expression at events that we are in “Games mode” and it’s kind of interesting as this comes from the pace of things, the fact that time disappears and communicating clearly when people may be under stree is very important. Well the games also presents its own surprises. The fact that they closed the pedestrian bridge from the Village to the MPC and the Oval for 3.5 hours for a visit from the Italian Prime Minister without warning certainly put a kink in our plans to get to training – not much of a problem for me, but the athletes and coaches certainly had to go to plan B of taking the OCOG transportation. My colleague Noemi who is the press attaché for snowboarding was so sick upon her arrival in Bardonechia that we had to isolate her in a hotel room so as to not get the snowboarders sick – Although we did have someone else manage the media requests for the team during this time, Noemi was up and at it in time for the start of competition. And just in time to help out with the Freestyle Skiing medal yesterday. See the morning of Jennifer Heil’s gold medal moguls run, the press attaché for freestyle Michele broke her ankle and had to be airlifted for surgery - all is good with her now… Team work here has been great and so far we have managed to figure things out as they have come at us. The speed skating team is doing really well… great performances yesterday with Arne Dankers finishing 5th in the 5000m – a personal best finish ranking. Today Canada has another serious chance at medals with Cindy Klassen, Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves competing in the 3000m… It’s going to be a long but very interesting day. I’m going to get back to the details on this end to ensure I’m ready for the races this afternoon… all the best for now! If anyone is interesting in some fun art related to the Games check-out : www.visa.ca/voi/ egreetings.cfm. Ciao Stéphane STÉPHANE DELISLE Canada Meets the World this Winter... 2006/02/07 Jeux olympiques 2006, Turin - 10 au 26 février 2006Jeux olympiques, Turin (Italie) 10-26 février 2006
Équipe Canada/Team Canada - SRC - CBC - COJO Turin - CIO - Vancouver 2010 Mon fils Stéphane Delisle est attaché de presse au sein de la délégation canadienne à Turin. Voici quelques nouvelles de Stéphane, en date du 3 février... Games Chronicles – Torino 2006 - Stéphane Delisle Global Village… the world really is a small place, and we’re all fortunate that it’s getting smaller. The journey from Vancouver and arrival at the Torino Olympic Village yesterday was for me, quite straight forward. No real issues which is what we normally want on such a long trip. As for some of the staff here… well some arrived 8 hours later than planned due to fog in Munich or missed connections. Once here at the Torino Village (there are a total of 3 villages) however things are great – the staff and volunteers have got pretty much everything ready to go for us. And really when one things about it, it really is quite impressive. I mean c’mon, I got into this funky shaped metal box, and 10 hours later had arrived on another continent. A showed a keen volunteer wanting any Canadian pins we could spare my accreditation and within 2 minutes he had validated my accreditation and I was officially arrived and ready for the Games. Sure enough, my room is ready, I get settled-in, the 8 or so long-track team members and staff who have arrived eat dinner and then I connect to wireless internet in the village office to find Jane on-line from NYC… interesting. Today our team was the first to go through the “outfitting” process. This is like Christmas in February where each of the team members is presented with a bag full of gear… the 2006 Olympic Team is getting more items than any previous team… and the athletes are quite stoked about the stuff they are getting. Now here’s the challenge… the clothing was ordered and shipped from Canada by freight in July ’05…most of the athletes had not met the selection criteria and were not named to the team until November/December, some still have not been finalized. So by trying everything on, making a few exchanges, and then having altered what they can’t exchange most every member of the team ends up looking great! The snowboarders that went through this afternoon certainly had a lot of fun making sure their stuff “fit just right!” And the tailors… Ram and Anna are wizards! Ram has been travelling to games with the team for over 20 years… (someone’s gotta write a book about this guy!). The rest of the team arrives over the coming days, and things will get busier for me as the media arrives and decides to start about issues beyond the general stories about the city’s preparedness, and the ‘numbers’ of the games (#s of athletes, pounds of chicken, pairs of shoes for volunteers, gallons of fuels for volunteer shuttles, etc.). Given that things will pick-up quickly, I did take the time today to check things out in the village and will today check-out the venue again, as well as get downtown to the medals plaza as well as the Main Press Centre. My stroll through the village today found me in the ‘entertainment room’ – essentially a large games room. Sure enough Dutch skater Beorn Nijenhuis, (originally from Canada – more here) was sitting in-front of a speed skating video game and not having much luck figuring things out. I wouldn’t say that I know Beorn, but that we’ve seen each other at previous events… sure enough within a few short minutes, we had a volunteer teaching us how to play and we were laughing our butts off, given that we truly sucked. For those that know me and my lack of interest in video games, this is no surprise… As for Beorn, he’ll stick to doing what he does best, and that’s speed skating with his feet and not his hands. A strange and unexpected moment at the games… So I’ve got some photos to share and will try to upload more as the games proceed. I have to thank Spencer for lending me his digital SLR (I owe you buddy!). Check-out the on-line album at: http://2006gameschronicles.myphotoalbum.com My dad also recently sent me a fun link to some photos (see: http://www.radio-canada.ca/Turin/albumsphotos/01historique/01.shtml). Fear not Anglophones, a picture is worth a thousand words in any language. And upon review, I ask you, it is a coincidence that Canada appears in ALL hockey shots? And for photo #47, I have fond memories of that night in SLC and that flag of mine that has been captured in so many photos… And here’s a link for those teachers out there, or those of you who know teachers… Canadian Olympic School Program Launches Turin 2006 Unit for Grades Four to Six - With the excitement building as Canada prepares to go for gold this February, the Canadian Olympic Committee has launched four new fun-filled Turin-themed lesson plans. The activities are focused on the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and meet language, math, physical education and art curricula. For further information on the Canadian Olympic School program, or to obtain the Turin 2006 unit, please go to www.olympicschool.ca. I’m off to get more details organized for the days and weeks ahead as once this things get going, there won’t be much time to do anything else but run with it…
All the best, Stéphane
PS – and for those who were involved in the curling event we hosted in December or visited my place over the last weeks, rest assured that one of the first things I did upon getting settled-in my room was to hang that flag for all to see! Now that’s a small world… STÉPHANE DELISLE Canada Meets the World this Winter... |
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