Olympic thoughts

On commence en français. J'ai appris ce matin que la mère de Joannie Rochette est décédé hier soir. J'offre toutes mes sympathies à sa famille. Quelle tristesse d'arriver au plus grand événement sportif de ta vie et de perdre un de tes plus grands fans. Dans n'importe quel sport, les parents sont toujours très importants, ils sont toujours là pour t'encourager et te supporter peu importe tes résultats. Ils sont aussi là pour te transporter et régarder tes nombreux pratiques et compétitions. J'espère que cette tragédie ne découragera pas Joannie. Je crois qu'elle a la force mental pour persévérer et j'espère qu'elle ce retrouvera sur le podium, elle le mérite plus que n'importe qui selon moi.

There has been lots of talk about Plushenko and the figure skating results and how you shouldnt win without a quad. Well I completely disagree and am so glad that Lysacek won without the quad, he fully deserved that win. I really disagree with the way Plushenko is behaving, he is not a true athlete, a very ungracious silver medal winner. And the way he ''jokingly'' stepped onto the gold spot on the podium at the medal ceremonies, ugghhh, how could he. Definatly unsportsmanlike behaviour. In an interview with CTV he mentionned that he wanted to continue on to compete in Sochi in 2014, I really hope he dosent. In this blog entry they have a great quote from Rogge (the president of the IOC) http://www.requiredelements.com/2010/2/21/1320107/ioc-president-thinks-plushenko-is . Plushenko does definatly not reflect the olympic ideals.

In the skeleton (pronounce as if you were reading the word in french and insert a bunch of giggles on my part!) Canada had a chance of gold in the women's event that did not materialise for Melissa Hollingsworth. In an interview after the race she tearfully appoligized to Canada for not winning. I dont think she needs to appoligize to us, things happen that you cant always control and that is part of sports. The olympics are such a big event and so important because they only do happen every 4 years. Luck is also involved, is today going to be a good or bad day? no one knows, you just hope that your luck lines up for your date with olympic history. I hope Hollingsworth is happy on her 5th place finish, being 5th in the world is no small feat, I would love to be able to say I am 5th in the world and participating in the olympics.

A few quotes to finish off this entry;
"Le plus important aux Jeux Olympiques n'est pas de gagner mais de participer, car l'important dans la vie ce n'est point le triomphe mais le combat; l'essentiel, ce n'est pas d'avoir vaincu mais de s'être bien battu" Pierre de Coubertin"Le plus important aux Jeux Olympiques n'est pas de gagner mais de participer, car l'important dans la vie ce n'est point le triomphe mais le combat; l'essentiel, ce n'est pas d'avoir vaincu mais de s'être bien battu" Pierre de Coubertin

In a movie they show before the victory ceremonies, they mention how we are all olympians, the world is our venue, life is our event; it makes you really feel part of the games