So Squirtle now has a new girlfriend. Her name is Miga the Sea Bear, and she is one of the official mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. She is apparently a mix of killer whale and Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in British Columbia. All I know is, I wouldn't want to find out how the two species managed to fornicate with each other.
They also gave me the option of getting a Quatchi doll, which is another official Olympic mascot and is apparently supposed to be a Sasquatch. Miga is cuter though, hence why I passed on the hairy fat beast.
A slow day at the Venue Media Center meant less cleaning up after them!
It wasn't until after noon did I get my first assignment. I was asked to head up to the ski jumping venue, where they had changed almost everything for the Large Hill event, and oversee the athletes, coaches and media during the training run. It also meant that I, as well as the rest of the team that came with me, had to basically re-learn the media set-up in front of the venue; who goes where and why, and who can and cannot.
For once, I got a job that didn't involve me playing security guard at the press zone entrance. Today, I got to sit myself in the athlete's corridor near the end of the press mix zone and kept an eye on the coaches and athletes that were only a few feet on the other side. Basically, I was having some of the world's best ski-jumpers walk within inches past me on their way back to the ski lift.
It also placed me in the middle of some serious journalism, at least, as much as you can get on a training day.
However by the sounds of one reporter, women's ski jumping may yet be included at the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. That was the subject of his questions from a reporter to Austrian and 8th ranked ski jumper Martin Koch following his second run. I won't quote him precisely, but the general tone is that Koch feels that if women are able to compete at the same level in ski jumping, why shouldn't it be included in the next Olympics? He also said that women ski jumping would not change the sport.
The Polish silver medallist in the normal hill and the 6th ranked ski jumper in the world Adam Malysz on the other hand didn't seem to be in the mood to speak with the media. He did stop to talk with Polish broadcasters after his first trial run that saw him top the leaderboard with a 144.0m jump. But following his second run, which saw him faulter somewhat from his first, very impressive jump, he refused to stop for anyone.
A Polish journalist asked, in Polish, to speak with him. Malysz declined. The reporter asked again, more strongly a second time. Malysz turned him down even more forcibly the second time and kept on walking quickly past the both of us. As he headed back up the hill the journalist muttered "shit" and walked away.
The top five in the world did not make an appearence at the trial runs, likely because they had already qualified for the event.
All in all, it was an easy going day. And the weather was gorgeous with perfect, clear blue skies and a shining sun. It actually got so warm outside that I took off my outer shell of a coat and was still too warm. The fences were absorbing so much of the sun's radiant heat that even they were sinking slowly into the snow that they were secured into.
Tomorrow I'll be at it again, but this time, it'll be for keeps as qualifications for the long hill ski jump is about to begin.
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