Being at the 2010 Olympics as a 24 year old was incredible. One of the best times of my life. I slept on a yoga mat in my buddy's girlfriends basement apartment with 10 other people and it was awesome.
So many amazing memories:
- I remember being packed shoulder to shoulder in some dump bar off Granville and the whole place losing their minds over a curling match.
- I remember having a conversation at a bar with two Slovaks wearing Demitra jerseys who made the trip over. They had an extra ticket to the Russia - Slovakia game that night and I joined them. Sitting in the Slovak section hissing the Russians. Slovakia ended up winning after Demitra scored in a shootout and they went absolutely insane. The guys were in tears. Amazing moment.
- Sitting behind Bob Mckenzie and the crew for the Canada vs. Germany game when Shea Weber blasted one through the net and no one really knew what happened. Everything was kind of quiet and the play went on when Mckenzie actually stood and shouted it was in! Our whole section started going nuts and yelling at the refs to go check.
Yeah....the Olympics were awesome
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to East Coast Flame For This Useful Post:
Here's my luck: I have lived in and around Calgary all my long life except for 1987-1990. I missed being in town for the Olympics and the Cup. And I had to live north of Edmonton.
Being at the 2010 Olympics as a 24 year old was incredible. One of the best times of my life. I slept on a yoga mat in my buddy's girlfriends basement apartment with 10 other people and it was awesome.
So many amazing memories:
- I remember being packed shoulder to shoulder in some dump bar off Granville and the whole place losing their minds over a curling match.
- I remember having a conversation at a bar with two Slovaks wearing Demitra jerseys who made the trip over. They had an extra ticket to the Russia - Slovakia game that night and I joined them. Sitting in the Slovak section hissing the Russians. Slovakia ended up winning after Demitra scored in a shootout and they went absolutely insane. The guys were in tears. Amazing moment.
- Sitting behind Bob Mckenzie and the crew for the Canada vs. Germany game when Shea Weber blasted one through the net and no one really knew what happened. Everything was kind of quiet and the play went on when Mckenzie actually stood and shouted it was in! Our whole section started going nuts and yelling at the refs to go check.
- I remember having a conversation at a bar with two Slovaks wearing Demitra jerseys who made the trip over. They had an extra ticket to the Russia - Slovakia game that night and I joined them. Sitting in the Slovak section hissing the Russians. Slovakia ended up winning after Demitra scored in a shootout and they went absolutely insane. The guys were in tears. Amazing moment
Demitra had an amazing Olympics. I was at the Slovakia/Latvia game and had the same experience of sitting near some Slovak fans who were just beside themselves at the tournament that Demitra was having. It was a really fun game to be at, and more fun for just how much these fans who had travelled so far loved that the Canadians near them knew who he was and cheered for him too.
I hope Calgary gets it. The 2010 olympics were amazing. Casually running into Ovechkin at the Roots store on Robson and getting his picture and autograph was awesome. Going to all the different parties and buildings with people from all over the world. The bars were PACKED and I remember I had a swedish shirt on and was even interviewed by this swedish tv station (always tried to find the footage) and had these swedish girls join us at our table which ended up being a very fun night.
I hope Calgary gets it. The 2010 olympics were amazing. Casually running into Ovechkin at the Roots store on Robson and getting his picture and autograph was awesome. Going to all the different parties and buildings with people from all over the world. The bars were PACKED and I remember I had a swedish shirt on and was even interviewed by this swedish tv station (always tried to find the footage) and had these swedish girls join us at our table which ended up being a very fun night.
How fun?
The Following User Says Thank You to longsuffering For This Useful Post:
I would think new ski jumps might make the most sense at the Nordic Centre...probably aerial too. This makes sense especially considering the 'combined' event that is half ski jumping and half nordic. CNC also has other training facilities that would make sense in the long run.
I'm not sure they would actually need a brand new sliding track. Calgary hosted the World Championships as recently as 2006, and is still a mainstay on the World Cup calendar (it's missed a few seasons here and there, but not in the last few years). It would likely need a facelift, but I don't think a course needs to be as dangerous as Whistler to meet IOC standards.
Not sure if the town of Canmore would be interested, but it could be very cool to build a new sliding track from the Nordic Centre down to town, and perhaps a gondola/chairlift back up to the CNC. Definitely a luxury item more than a need though.
I'm not sure if Nakiska would still meet necessary standards for the downhill, and even if it did who knows how reliable their snow will be in 10 years. I would think the alpine events would need to stay at Louise (although COP could potentially even host slalom now)...
I wonder where they would want to do slopestyle, superpipe and skicross? COP courses would be short and lame, but perhaps more spectator friendly. Louise would be the best unless there are concerns with more events in the National Park, in which case Nakiska would make sense (yet then it is yet another venue to secure).
I wonder where they would want to do slopestyle, superpipe and skicross? COP courses would be short and lame, but perhaps more spectator friendly. Louise would be the best unless there are concerns with more events in the National Park, in which case Nakiska would make sense (yet then it is yet another venue to secure).
Nakiska has hosted the ski cross world cup since 2012, I'm sure they could accommodate ski cross and boarder cross for an Olympic event.
The Following User Says Thank You to mac_82 For This Useful Post:
I disagree with Powderjunkie. Absolutely the sliding track would have to be completely torn down and rebuilt. It doesn't have to be "more dangerous" but it does need to be faster and more technical. Right now it's known as pretty much the easiest track on the circuit by the IBSF.
You mention that Worlds were held here in 2006, yet in the interim I think nearly all of the major tracks have had upgrades and in some cases, significant redesigns to bring them up to par.
Wins port just upgraded the mogul hill at COP to make it a better World Cup stop. We haven't held an aerials event in about 4 or 5 years but I suspect they would do the same to that part of the hill and put the facility right next to the moguls hill.
Rather than a new Ski Jump location I suspect wind screens would be added to the existing part of the hill. There were plans for that a few years ago.
Two major groups in Calgary have been working on this for months. Toronto bowing out opens the door for it, but unless one leading group can emerge, I don't like our odds.
What ticks me off is that when I was sending in questions to the Fan when King was doing his open Q&A upon the NEXT announcement, I was asking just this. "Could NEXT possibly connected with an olympic bid?". Ignored categorically.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biff
If the NHL ever needs an enema, Edmonton is where they'll insert it.
Two major groups in Calgary have been working on this for months. Toronto bowing out opens the door for it, but unless one leading group can emerge, I don't like our odds.
What ticks me off is that when I was sending in questions to the Fan when King was doing his open Q&A upon the NEXT announcement, I was asking just this. "Could NEXT possibly connected with an olympic bid?". Ignored categorically.
Obviously you knew some kind of international sporting event would have to be included to compensate for the massive funding gap King announced when first presenting the project.
Nakiska has hosted the ski cross world cup since 2012, I'm sure they could accommodate ski cross and boarder cross for an Olympic event.
There is no shortage of hills that could host any of the fixed binding sliding on snow events (anything on skis/boards that is not nordic or ski jumping), it's just a question of what makes the most sense (and I would think hosting more events at fewer venues would make more sense overall from a cost and logistics standpoint).
I disagree with Powderjunkie. Absolutely the sliding track would have to be completely torn down and rebuilt. It doesn't have to be "more dangerous" but it does need to be faster and more technical. Right now it's known as pretty much the easiest track on the circuit by the IBSF.
You mention that Worlds were held here in 2006, yet in the interim I think nearly all of the major tracks have had upgrades and in some cases, significant redesigns to bring them up to par.
Wins port just upgraded the mogul hill at COP to make it a better World Cup stop. We haven't held an aerials event in about 4 or 5 years but I suspect they would do the same to that part of the hill and put the facility right next to the moguls hill.
Rather than a new Ski Jump location I suspect wind screens would be added to the existing part of the hill. There were plans for that a few years ago.
Good to know - it sounds like a track upgrade is required regardless of Olympics then. I imagine this would be one of the cheapest projects anyways. Is Calgary still the main training hub for sliding, or has it moved out to Whistler? I would think that having an 'easy' track wouldn't be a bad thing for getting new participants into the sport, and I wonder how profitable the blue bullet thing is for COP? In which case a brand new more advanced course might make just as much sense.
I'd never heard of the wind screens - that is a cool idea. Are the existing jumps and runouts suitable for this day and age though?
I disagree with Powderjunkie. Absolutely the sliding track would have to be completely torn down and rebuilt. It doesn't have to be "more dangerous" but it does need to be faster and more technical. Right now it's known as pretty much the easiest track on the circuit by the IBSF.
You mention that Worlds were held here in 2006, yet in the interim I think nearly all of the major tracks have had upgrades and in some cases, significant redesigns to bring them up to par.
Wins port just upgraded the mogul hill at COP to make it a better World Cup stop. We haven't held an aerials event in about 4 or 5 years but I suspect they would do the same to that part of the hill and put the facility right next to the moguls hill.
Rather than a new Ski Jump location I suspect wind screens would be added to the existing part of the hill. There were plans for that a few years ago.
Speaking of COP adding infrastructure, did they ever sort out the foundation to the last terminal tower on the new quad?
Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
Good to know - it sounds like a track upgrade is required regardless of Olympics then. I imagine this would be one of the cheapest projects anyways. Is Calgary still the main training hub for sliding, or has it moved out to Whistler? I would think that having an 'easy' track wouldn't be a bad thing for getting new participants into the sport, and I wonder how profitable the blue bullet thing is for COP? In which case a brand new more advanced course might make just as much sense.
I'd never heard of the wind screens - that is a cool idea. Are the existing jumps and runouts suitable for this day and age though?
Almost everything skiing/snowboarding is based out of Whistler. It certainly is for snowboarding.
I'd rather see them build a new track and keep the old one. Call them the Leuders Track and the Humphries Track so that one can remain an invaluable training course and the other can maintain high level competition along with Whistler. Hell, you could even have one of the runs on the old track just to shake things up a bit and create a potential for more movement in the standings. Would be kind of a cool feature.
Ski jumps should be built in Cape just to maximize th event and future training potential of the CNC. They need to be built anyway and it would really open up the potential of COP. Moguls and aerials could both be worked to use the ski jumps auditorium which would be a pretty cool site: Old Olympics meet new as the mogul course stands in the shadow of obsolete ski jumps.
Superpipe can also easily be done at COP but a good Slopestyle course probably can't be worked in, which is a shame. The ski/SBX courses and Slopestyle courses at Nakiska would be good if only to limit travel through the parks and make it a little easier logistically. Alpine at Louise and using the slalom course at COP for the snowboard slalom events would probably work.
Hockey at the new arena as well as Winsport. Curling at the Corral, short track and figure skating at the Dome. Oval is the Oval, ready to take back all the records.
Good to know - it sounds like a track upgrade is required regardless of Olympics then. I imagine this would be one of the cheapest projects anyways. Is Calgary still the main training hub for sliding, or has it moved out to Whistler? I would think that having an 'easy' track wouldn't be a bad thing for getting new participants into the sport, and I wonder how profitable the blue bullet thing is for COP? In which case a brand new more advanced course might make just as much sense.
I'd never heard of the wind screens - that is a cool idea. Are the existing jumps and runouts suitable for this day and age though?
Yeah, I think a track upgrade should be done but there really hasn't been a push for it.
Both Canadian tracks are used a lot for training, because obviously it's better to learn how to drive and slide on multiple tracks. But yes, you're right, Calgary is the main training hub due to the additional training facilities here, the Ice House for year round push training and since BCS and Luge Canada are located here. That's why most of the athletes live here.
Unfortunately both the large and small hill ski jumps are currently obsolete for Olympic competition right now; though they have been renovated a little so the national team can train. In fact, Nationals are being held there this Saturday morning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roughneck
Hockey at the new arena as well as Winsport. Curling at the Corral, short track and figure skating at the Dome. Oval is the Oval, ready to take back all the records.
The Olympic Oval already holds almost half of the speed skating records, the Utah Olympic Oval holds the rest. It's not really a case of building a better facility but how high above sea level both cities are. We kind of trade them back and forth depending on the conditions during competitions. Always hope for cold days during speed skating.
Unfortunately both the large and small hill ski jumps are currently obsolete for Olympic competition right now; though they have been renovated a little so the national team can train. In fact, Nationals are being held there this Saturday morning.
Since I have no clue on ski jumping can you explain why they would be obsolete? have the sizes changed..etc?
Since I have no clue on ski jumping can you explain why they would be obsolete? have the sizes changed..etc?
No the Ski jumpers have just got better, if they used the current big hill they would land out on the highway. The change from flying with parallel skis to a V shape meant that they could fly further as it creates a plane effect and keeps them in the air longer.
Always hope for cold days during speed skating.
