The Olympics

In a few days, CBC Gem will be up to the eyeballs, 23 hours a day coverage of the Winter Olympics.

What a great way to shorten the winter!

Since we are the True North, Strong and Free (so far) our athletes excel at winter sports.

Who among us didn't learn to skate on a back field, or a patch of March ice in a ditch? I learned in a pit on St. Catherine's road with my Mooney cousins, wearing an old pair of skates that would have fit the Friendly Giant.

I've also had more than one excursion on the ocean, here below my house, but I'm sure Momma was unaware of it at the time, and I lived to tell the tale. But I remember it well. The ice had an odd blue/greeny color with lots of humps, which of course, were the waves where they rose and fell, then froze.

I don't know how I didn't get killed. (Well, because my grandmother didn't catch me.....)

I always loved snowshoeing, but never once was I tempted to ski, I just didn't seem built for it. Top heavy.

The facilities available now to young athletes speaks to how important the values are that they learn from sports. Hockey, Curling, Sledding of all kinds (I like watching the Bobsledders, a team from Nigeria this time!!!) the ice dancers, so graceful and beautiful, speed skaters, I love them all.

Summer Olympics are good too, but I have a real fondness for the Winter sports.

I will tune in to the opening ceremonies to see if there's any improvement over the Summer Olympics in Paris, what a snoozefest.

Milan will be ready to welcome the world!!

According to the noontime news, the Athletes Village is already set up of course and welcoming the athletes from so many countries, and I hope for peace to reign, amid all the tensions going on in certain places.

Shame on them.

This is not a time for politics, it is a time for sportsmanship, comaraderie, true support of other athletes.

And what happens after the Olympics are over? Do we go into a coma? Do we turn to our puzzles? Drown ourselves in cookies? Well, maybe.............

No! The Para Olympics are fantastic and are one of the biggest sporting events in the world! They follow the Winter Olympics, almost without stop. The competition is fierce and the medals hard won.

I know we will be cheering for our very own Mark Arendz and all other Islanders involved.

And what about the Special Olympics? A group of people who train hard and who spend every day giving their all and doing their best.

I couldn't do half of what they do.

They have their time to shine too.

I often think of course, the goal is to win, and I'm very competitive too. So I get it. A gold medal is the goal, with a silver or bronze a good consolation too. But everything that goes into making an athlete is something to be proud of. Those top three finishers are already winners, and the rest of their team too. They are already among the best in the world at their sport, just to make it to the Olympics.

Let's give credit where credit is due. The only thing that comes between them at that level, is a split second on a clock, and good luck.

Will any of us forget Jared Connaughton from Charlottetown and his Relay Team winning a gold medal in the summer Olympics a few years ago, only to lose it on a technicality. The toe of his sneaker touched the race line, and disqualified the team.

I never forgot it. B.J. used to play soccer against him and he always seemed such a nice kid, and his upbringing was evident when he gracefully accepted the judges decision, he could clearly see his mistake, and he and his teammates kissed their shot at a gold medal goodbye. It was gone.

Did it mean he wasn't good enough? Quite the opposite was true, our country loved him all the more for his talent, then his humility. I was never so proud to be a Canadian, he represented us and our little Island so well. A true Olympian. Not a sook.

But what a heart breaker.

It sounds like the Curling events are starting early, before the opening ceremonies, so a lot of Islanders will be tuned in.

All these athletes are already the best in the world at their sport, whether they win medals or not. That's what got them there.

But the upcoming excitement!

The sleeplessness!

The nerves!

The butterflies!

And that's just me!