Olympics are here! Kinda

So the games officially start on Feb12th, Whistler hosted the first day of downhill training for the men. Unlike many other sports, a training run in the downhill is just like a real race. all the volunteers are in place, all the safety features and security are in place, and it is a good eye opener on how things will work during the games. For the official race, on course photo positions are limited to just 80 photographers, so i figured my only chance to get on course would be during training. I called the creekside photo desk to find out about access and was told to be at the base 3 hours before the start and i may get some course access. The race was scheduled for 10:30 am so i made sure i was there by 7am. So my first olympic experience consisted of me getting lost in my hometown. I couldn't find the meeting location. I then called the help desk and was told to head up to the timing flats. As i expected to be on course, i was carrying my skis, boots, camera gear, and laptop bag. So after taking the new chairlift up to the finish area, i finally found the media tent. the guys here were helpful, they gave me a key to a locker to store my gear as well as the coveted course access armband. Unfortunately the lockers were back down at the base in the legends hotel, and as luck would have it, they were not really supposed to give out the armband to me. I headed back down, found the lockers, along with about 100 other photographers all lining up to get their bands as well. I still needed a lift pass as my season pass was not valid on the creekside gondi, so i waited in line with the others. As i got to the front, i was standing beside Paul Morrison, one of the top Whistler photographers shooting for Canada Ski Racing Magazine. He was being told he might not get any access as it was being saved for the highest circulation shooters. I felt a bit guilty as i had my band already, but did not say anything.

Lessons learned: expect long lines and a lot of runaround before you are able to get into position. The photo staff are there to help you, but they may not always know everything. It is going to take twice as long as normal to get anywhere and do anything. And like any ski race, expect long delay due to fog and bad weather. Now on to the photos, they were all shot with my Nikon D2x at 400mm and a 2x crop.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, had the 6th fastest time in a shortened downhill training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event. The session was cancelled after just 42 racers skied the course, on account of poor visibility. This image took a lot of work in photoshop to clean up the fog. here is the original.
Andrew Weibrecht of the USA had the 10th fastest time in a shortened downhill training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event.

Steven Nyman of the USA got a little out of control at the top of the Dave Murray Downhill course in a training session for the Vancouver 2010 Mens Downhill event.

Olympic Predictions

Part of my planning for covering the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics has involved looking at the event schedule and athletes competing, and trying to decide what I should be focusing on. My main goal is to cover our local athletes from the Sea to Sky Corridor, as well as the Whistler specific events. Other shooting commitments will keep me in the Vancouver for most of the games, so it looks like i will covering mostly the events at Cypress Mountain where local athletes have the best chance of capturing some precious medals. Unfortunately i don't think i will make it out to the Whistler Olympic Park, where we don't really have any local athletes competing, and little chance of podium finishes.

In researching who are the favorites in each event, i figured why not have some fun and post my olympic predictions. Please keep in mind that i am by no means an expert in any of these sports, just a huge fan of the games, and followed the winter sports a lot closer ever since Vancouver was given the games. These predictions are primarily based on world cup standings, but a bit of home court advantage and favoritism plays a role as well.

The Canadian Olympic Committee is predicting that it will take at least 28 medals to win the medal count, and they think Canada can achieve this. Sports Illustrated is predicting Canada will take home 10 gold, 11 silver, and 9 bronze medals, This will place Canada 2nd overall behind Germany's predicted 35 medals. But i am predicting Canada will win a total of 10 gold, 13 silver, and 11 bronze medals, for a total of 34. This will put us in first overall, ahead of the Germans, with the United States coming in third.

So who's going to take home these medals? Well lets start with the easy ones, Ice hockey and curling, although you will not like these predictions. Both the mens and women's Ice hockey teams will take home the silver, with the Russians on the mens side and the Americans on the women's side taking home the gold. In curling, we will get one gold and one silver, with the ladies most likely to get the gold.

Unfortunately, I don't see any medals in the biathlon, cross country, nordic combined or ski jumping. we have lots of up and comers, but I just don't see any real hopefuls. I am very excited however about Brian McKeever, who is legally blind, as he becomes the first Paralympian to compete in the Olympics.

As for the Whistler events, in alpine skiing, I have Manuel Osborne-Paradis grabbing the silver in the downhill on February 13th, and if not him, then Emily Brydon will pick up the lone medal for the Alpine team when she takes her turn at the downhill on the 17th. In bobsled, Kaillie Humphries, who's ranked 2nd in the 2 woman event, will take the silver. For the men, we have both Lyndon Rush and Pierre Lueders competing in both the 2 man and 4 man events, although none of these sleds are ranked in the top 5, they will take home at least 1 bronze medal between them. In the womens Luge, I have Alex Gough taking the bronze. For the skeleton event, Melissa Hollingsworth is ranked #1 in the world and is the favorite to take the Gold. I predict another bronze medal, either by Amy Gough on the womens side, or Jon Montgomery, Jeff Pain, or Michael Douglas on the mens.

I probably know the least about figure skating, so this is a shot in the dark, but my guess is a silver, either by Joannie Rochette or by the ice dancing team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

Now we are getting to the fun stuff. There may not be a lot of snow on Cypress Mountain, but this will be where our locals shine. While Jennifer Heil becomes Canada's first ever gold medalist on home soil in the womens Moguls on Feb 13th, Kristi Richards of Pemberton will take the bronze. Alexandre Bilodeau will come away with the silver for the men. This will not be our year in the aerials, where our men are ranked 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th. In the mens skicross, we have a shot with Chris Delbosco, currently ranked 3rd, as well as David Duncan and Stanley Hayer, ranked 7th and 8th. My prediction here is another bronze. Whistler's own Ashleigh McIvor will bring home the womens skicross gold medal to the biggest party Whistler has ever seen on February 23rd, unless Maelle Ricker beats her to it in the boardercross.

Speaking of home town favorites, I would have had Julia Murray, also of Whistler, as the silver medallist here, but she is coming off a partial ACL tear in her knee on Jan 22nd, and while she does plan to compete, it would be an incredible story if she had some success. I remember being moved to tears while covering the original Olympic bid process back in 2003. I witnessed a then 14 year old Julia Murray stand nervously before a group of International Olympic Committee members and other dignitaries as part of a presentation to boost Vancouver's chances of winning their bid for the Games.

"I told them about my dream to be in the Olympics in 2010 and race down my Dad's downhill run in Whistler," said Murray, referring to the course named for her father, the legendary Dave Murray of the Crazy Canucks. She has since shifted her focus on the new sport of ski cross, but she remains part of a great skiing legacy.

As for the snowboarders, another local girl will take home a gold medal in the womens snowboard cross(SBX). Maelle Ricker will be first across the line followed by Dominique Maltais with a bronze. Jasey-jay Anderson will take the silver in the parallel giant slalom(PGS). We will also get one more bronze medal from the snowboarders, either by Michael Lambert in the PGS, Robert Fagan in the SBX, Justin Lamoureux in the mens halfpipe or Mecedes Nicoll, also of Whistler in the womens halfpipe.

In the short track speed skating, we will get 2 golds, 4 silver, and 2 bronze with Charles Hamelin leading the way taking a gold in the 500m and the 5000m relay, and a silver in the 1000m and 1500m events. While his brother Francois hamelin will take the bronze in the 1000m and Francois-Louis Tremblay will take another bronze in the 500m. The womens team will take a silver in the 3000m relay and Kalyna Roberge will take a silver in the 500m.

Our biggest success will come at the Long track speed skating oval in Richmond. Christine Nesbitt will become the darling of the games, and will carry the flag at the closing ceremonies after becoming a triple gold medalist, with victories in the 1000m, 1500m and the team pursuit. Kristina Groves will also be a triple medalist with the complete set, a gold from the team pursuit, a silver in the 1500m and a bronze in either the 1000m or the 3000m, as for the men, they will take a Bronze in the team pursuit, and Dennis Morrison will grab a bronze in either the 1000m or the 1500m.

So there you have it. My predictions for the most successful winter olympics Canada has ever seen.

Nikon Lenses are out of this world! - (Yes i am a geek)

OK i know this is pretty nerdy here, but i saw this video and just had to share. For anyone who has ever complained about carrying around heavy camera gear, especially those big lenses, you got to see this. I gets good around 2:20 into the video. Also check the lens on the right side!

Torch relay in Whistler

Today was the second day for the Olympic flame in the Sea to Sky corridor. Several Whistler locals joined the celebrities in the relay to bring home the torch. Coast Mountain Photography had about 10 photographers covering all the action, those photos can be found at www.whistler2010photos.com. Here are some of my favorites.

81 Year old Jim Pattison did a lot of training to prepare for his leg. He was one of the runners representing the Royal Bank. Early in his career, the Royal Bank loaned him $40,000 to start his business. He now has a net worth of over $4 billion. When the bank calls, he says he finds it hard to turn them down.

Local fitness trainer John Blok had an entourage of around 50 people cheering him on for his leg.

Steve Podborski, Bronze medalist in the 1980 Lake placid Downhill race, skied down Whistler Mountain with the torch to deliver it to the final torch bearer.

A crowd estimated at over 10,000 people gathered in skiers plaza to celebrate.

Torch Relay in Squamish

The olympic torch finally arrived in the Sea to Sky corridor. I was down in Squamish doing some trail running so i figured i may as well shoot the torch relay. It was quite the entourage as the caravan passed. First were a few police escort vehicles, followed by the runners motorhome, which would drop off the runner at the start of their leg about 5 minutes before the torch arrived. This allowed family and spectators a chance for some photos. Next comes a parade of vehicles with load music and lots of light. Sponsors hand out flags and glow in the dark Coke bottles to the spectators. About 30 secs before the torch runner arrives, an escort on a bike turns a key on the next runners torch turning on the gas. as the 2 runners come together, they touch torches and the next runner is off.

It's all coming together!

With just over 1 week to go before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic, things are coming together nicely in Whistler. A new inukshuk was installed right at the entrance to the village, the media center has opened and the venues are all getting dressed up. Before they closed the airspace over Whistler last week, I was lucky enough to go up in a helicopter to shoot some aerials of the various venues.





PS - The building in the top left of the last photo will be my new home after the games.

February 2010 - It's gonna be quite the month, so lets Blog about it!

This will probably be the busiest month of my life. In 12 days the WInter Olympics will begin, and i will be covering the games for the local Whistler newspaper, The Pique Newsmagazine, as well as for my employer Coast Mountain Photography. I was lucky enough to receive full accreditation for the games, which basically gives me access to all of the different sporting venues and medal ceremonies. It has been a lifelong dream to be a part of the Olympic Games, and now i get a chance to experience it first hand.

As if that was not enough, it is also time to get serious with my run training. I will be competing in the 113 mile - 6 Day TransRockies trail run in August. This basically consist of running almost a marathon a day for 6 days, all at elevations above 8000ft. I have kinda been slacking a bit in the training lately, so the past few weeks, i started to get more serious. In the last 6 days i have ran 73km. The tricky part will be to keep that up over throughout the Games.

So that brings me to this Blog. I started my blog a few months back when i first signed up for the race. I thought it would be a great way to document my training and racing, as well as mix it up with some of my photography. I never really told too many people about it as i was not sure if they would be that interested. But the more i prepared for shooting the Olympics, the more i realized how little i knew about what goes on at the Games. And the best way to learn that is from people who have been there before. I came across many blogs with people sharing their experiences at the games. When i first walked into the Main Media Center in Vancouver, i was blown away at the size and scale of it all. and i wanted to be able to share that with my fellow photographer friends who like me a few years ago, only dreamed of such an opportunity.

So this brings me to the official launch of my Blog. So for the month of February , i will try to update this on a daily basis, with some of my best shots from each day during the olympics, as well as some commentary on what it takes to cover such an event. I will also cover some of my running stuff just to mix it up a bit. Hopefully you will find my writing and photography interesting enough to follow me on this journey. I look forward to any comments and feedback.

Scott