Loving the Olympics

That's right, after 5 solid days of the Vancouver Canada Games, we've been treated to some of the greatest performances by the finest winter athletes in the world. Canada has done a great job so far. After starting out in tragedy, with the death of one of the athletes, things have really heated up.
The Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, came to a crashing halt on one of the steel support beams at almost 90 MPH when he was thrown from the track that many had said was too fast. A very sad moment in Olympic History. My heart goes out to the family of this 20 year old athlete who paid a very steep price for following his dream of an Olympic gold medal

Since then, the games have gone off without a hitch. The host country, my homeland, has only been able to come away with two gold medals. The first to ever capture a gold medal on home turf was Alexandre Bilodeau who took the gold in the Mens Freestyle Moguls. He was followed by the beautiful Maelle Ricker who won the gold medal in the Womens Snowboard Cross. I was able to watch all of this competition and was surprised at how nerve racking this sport is. My favorite in this event was Lindsey Jacobellis from the USA, but after her fall in the semi-final heat, it didn't take me too long to switch alliance to the crowd favorite, Maelle.
She ran away with the win right from the start, never looking behind her and finishing far ahead of the closest competitor. Great race.

The Canadian Womens Ice Hockey team seems to be on a mission as well. In their first two games they have outscored the competition 18-0(Slovakia) and 10-1 over Switzerland. The US Women are doing the same thing with blowouts of 12-1 over China followed by a 13-0 ravaging of Russia. All of these blowouts are cause for concern as the IOC is not impressed with the level of competition. At least these scores don't compare to the 83-0 thrashing that Slovakia served up to Bulgaria in the Olympic qualifications. If this is any consolation, the Mens Hockey Teams, again the US and Canada, are doing the same thing to their opponents. Personally, I don't believe its the lack of competition so much as the outright domination of these teams. Lets face it, if you put the best players on three teams- the two mentioned and add the Russian Men - you have the best of the best. There you have it. So far. Stay tuned for more.