It was team pursuit speed skating day!

I went to the Olympic Park early and met up with some other Canadians to grab a couple of drinks (ok, ok, beers…) in the sun before our day’s events. As we sat on our bench, people watching, probably one out of every three Russians walking by either wanted a photo with us or wanted to trade stuff for our Canada gear! We probably posed for about 20 photos that day!

This super cute Russian girl came up and asked me if she could wear my Canada gear for a photo, so I handed over my flag, toque and mittens, and she ROCKED it! You’d never know that she wasn’t Canadian!

Team Pursuit Speed Skating

When the time came, I headed into the Adler Skating Arena for the speed skating team pursuit event. The short track was so amazing earlier in the week so I was looking forward to watching a team pursuit event. The speed was insane as I watched both the men’s and women’s events. I still cannot believe the size of the athletes’ legs! Wow!

Sadly, Canada didn’t qualify for the finals, so that was a bit disappointing. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to photography the same team when they won gold in the same event at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Team Canada

Team Canada

Team Russia

Team Netherlands

After the event was over, I headed toward the Bolshoy Arena to see if I could find a decently priced ticket for the men’s semi-final hockey game. Canada was playing the USA. I didn’t have any luck, so I went to find some food and again, I ran into a group of Canadians in the lineup. This group was a bit different though, in that they had been in Russia working on the Games for over six months already! I chatted with them about their experiences and what it was like to live in Russia and every one of them was looking forward to going home at the end of the month.

Men’s 5000m Relay

After I finished eating, I headed back to the Bolshoy for one last kick at trying to get a ticket to the game and one of that group of Canadians ran after me to give me a ticket to the short track relay event that was about to start. I tried to give him money for it (face value was at $200), but he insisted I just take it and go enjoy myself! Again, I was impressed by how amazingly generous people can be!

When I arrived, the event had already begun. This was a huge event for the Russians and the cheering in the Iceberg Skating Palace was deafening! The relay event was CRAZY! There were so many skaters on the ice all at once, some racing and some circling on the inside getting into position for their turn in the relay. It was a wonder that none of them ran into each other!

Russia wins GOLD!

USA wins Silver!

China wins Bronze!

The final result of the men’s 5000 meter relay was Russia – Gold, the USA – Silver, and China – Bronze. It was an unbelievable sight and the cheering and support from the crowd was unmatched to anything I had seen at the Games yet! It was absolutely awesome! Just. AWESOME!

A Perfect End to a Perfect Day

I was pumped after all that fan energy at the men’s 5000m relay event! The Canada vs USA men’s hockey game wasn’t quite over so I sweet talked my way past the bouncer at the House of Switzerland (sweet talking bouncers is much easier to do when you are traveling alone) to watch the last 10 minutes of the game. As we all know, Canada WON! and the Swiss House EXPLODED because as usual, it was FULL of Canadians! It was a perfect end to another FANTASTIC day!

Have you ever watched either team pursuit or team relay speed skating? When and where? 

Sunshine!

I woke up on Day 2 to a beautiful day. It was sunny and about 18 degrees celsius. I decided to take a walk along the boardwalk along the river Mzymta before heading toward the Olympic Park and these are the views I was faced with. Adler was absolutely beautiful! It was so warm that I found myself wishing I had packed a pair of shorts and flip flops! The palm trees along the river made the idea that I was at the winter Olympics completely surreal!

Short Track

I didn’t have any events scheduled for that day so I headed to the Olympic Park with the intention of buying a park pass to explore some of the cultural venues. I connected with an American friend who I had met through one of the Sochi Facebook groups, and as I went to stand in the 90 minute ticket lineup (ugh), he went looking for a pair of inexpensive event tickets from people selling extras outside the park. I figured that if I was going to pay for a park pass anyway, I was fine with paying a few extra dollars if it meant I would take in an Olympic event that day.

I wasn’t in line more than 15 minutes and my new friend messaged me saying that he had been successful! He had found a pair of short track speed skating tickets for only $30 each from another American who had extra tickets! Yay! And just like that, we were off to our first event of the 2014 Olympic Games! HappyDance!

If you have never watched speed skating live, it is an absolutely amazing sight! Short track is especially exciting because they move so quickly around such a small track. They lean in at such an angle around the corners that you think that they may just fall over! Unfortunately, one of our Canadian medal hopefuls did just that… I watched Charles Hamelin lose his balance and as he fell he also knocked the American competitor out of the race and they both hit the padded arena wall HARD!

In the end, two Russians won gold and silver, while the Netherlands brought home the bronze medal for the event Men’s 1000m event. They usually don’t actually present the medals at the events, but they do bring the athletes up onto a podium to recognize their achievement and to perform a flower ceremony. The medals were presented later that evening in the Medals Plaza.

When the event was over, I wandered around the park in search of Olympic Spirit and some Russians provided some excellent examples:

Swiss House

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the park photographing Olympic venues and landmarks and ended up at the House of Switzerland.

The Swiss House was great fun! Since Canadians were not permitted to go inside the Canada Olympic House unless they were friends or family of the athletes, the House of Switzerland became our second home. This is where we (Canadians) would end up daily to celebrate the events of the day with food, drinks and great company. It was no strange occurrence for the Canadian national anthem to break out (it would happen nightly, sometimes more than once), and the house would be packed until sometime between 2am and 4am, depending when they decided to shut it all down.

What I loved the most about the day was that it was a completely unplanned day without expectations and it turned into a day filled with incredible surprises from the warm weather to the unexpected short track ticket and all the wonderful people I met along the way. Any anxiety that I may have had about traveling to Russia and the Olympics solo had completely melted away, and when I got back to the hotel at 2am I was completely exhausted and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I’ve been quite fortunate in getting tickets to Olympic events here at the Vancouver 2010 Games! I’ve been lucky enough to acquire tickets to several events, all at face value. Events I’ve seen include speed skating at the Olympic Oval, men’s hockey at Canada Hockey Place, and women’s hockey at Thunderbird Stadium at UBC. I’ve also been to a Victory Ceremony and to the Molson Canadian Hockey House twice to watch hockey games there.

The best part about all of these opportunities for me is that I am able to take  photos of once in a lifetime events in our beautiful city!

Here are some of those images to give you a taste of my 2010 Olympics experiences:

Speed Skating:

On February 13th, after winning tickets in the Holland Heineken House ticket lottery for Dutch citizens, I went to my first speed skating event. It was unbelievable! The energy in the Richmond Oval was electrifying! And the fact that Holland’s Sven Kramer won Gold, made it that much better!

Gold Medalist, Sven Kramer of the Netherlands.

Victory Ceremony:

The first gold medal for Canada was awarded to Alex Bilodeau on February 15th. I was at the medal ceremony to see it happen!

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Molson Canadian Hockey House:

On February 15th, Tom Cochrane played at the Molson Canadian Hockey House. Guests to his stage included Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies, and Donald Sutherland. It was an amazing show and the House was full of energy and excitement! A super fun time! If you have a chance to watch a game at the Molson Canadian Hockey House, take it! Included in the FanZone ticket is entrance, food, and non-alcoholic beverages. Beer is $7.50 tax and tip included.

Men’s Hockey:

I was at the USA vs Norway game on February 18th. We had seats right behind the photographers’ pit and I was able to sneak into the photographers area for about 20 minutes in the second period! It was amazing to be so close to the action and having the players bang up against the glass right in front of me! Here are some of the shots from that game.

Women’s Hockey:

On February 22nd, the Swiss played the Russians in Women’s Hockey at Thunderbird Stadium out at UBC. After a well-matched game, a few injuries, overtime and a shootout, the Swiss were victorious, winning 4th place in the 2010 Olympic standings! Congratulations Switzerland!

Believe it or not, there are still tickets available for upcoming events! We are into the final week of the Games and your final chances to see some awesome Olympic athletes in action! Try your luck for tickets at the Vancouver 2010 Fan to Fan site, Craigslist, or even right outside the venues from people trying to simply sell extra tickets at face value because they are unable to attend the event. It doesn’t always have to be pricey!

February 13th was an amazing day for me! It all started with a walk in the park with the dog, where I received a phone call from the Holland Heineken House saying that I had won the ticket lottery for tickets for the 5000 M speed skating match that day!

With only an hour and a half before the event, things were rushed! I raced home, got ready to go, jumped in the car and raced down to the Holland House to pick up the tickets to make it to the Olympic Oval in Richmond in time!

So the tickets placed us in a section with other Dutch fans, all decked out in Orange and crazy costumes. Being Dutch myself, this was a very fun place to be!

There were 14 pairs racing in the event and in the end the Gold Medal went to the Netherlands’ Sven Kramer!!! Kramer not only won the race, but also broke an Olympic Record for the 5000 M race! AWESOME!

Not only did I see this amazing race and gold medal win, but later that evening I was fortunate enough to be at the Holland House for the celebration and to photograph Sven Kramer! Below are some of the photos of the day. Please visit Flickr to see more images of the day.

The ticket lottery at the Holland Heineken House is only available to Dutch citizens, so not an option for everyone. But if you have your Dutch passport and you want to try your chances to win the option to buy coveted tickets, head on down to the Holland Heineken House ticket desk and put your name in the draw! If I can win them, you can too!!