TR: the 21st winter olympiad

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I had some computer problems, and then was out of town for a few weeks. So yes, I know the Olympics were awhile ago. If the unpunctuality of this TR annoys you, leave now. Additionally, there are a ton of pictures in here. If you don’t want to look at them all, then, uh, don’t.

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The week before I was supposed to leave, I became very ill and vomited for a few days. This delayed my departure by 2 days. As such, in order to make it to Vancouver on time, I drove 24 hrs. straight from Houston to LA across I-10.
After this trek I was hungry, so I grabbed two double-doubles (animal style, of course) and continued to drive 6 hours to Berkeley, where I then slept for about a day. I then drove the rest of the way to Canada, and made it with a couple hours to spare.



The US athletes were given their apparel immediately after arriving in Vancouver. This is the Ralph Lauren side of the room.



Opening ceremony uniform on the left, closing ceremony uniform (for the women) on the right.



The Nike side of the room.



Podium uniform.



Ralph Lauren has all the athletes try on the uniforms in order to tailor them. Afterwards, they ask every athlete to sign these shirts. They did this in Beijing and I'm told each shirt was auctioned off for over $50,000.



The security at the athlete village was a bit overwhelming. But once inside, it was a very nice place.

The athlete lounge:





This is the building the US team stayed in. The curling team occupied the penthouse suite, which is estimate to sell for ~$6mil after the games conclude.



Entrance to the teamUSA housing:



Even from the more modest suites, the views were pretty nice.



It was a bit overcast that day, but still quite nice.



Lots of flags.





Science World was taken over by the Russians in order to display exhibits promoting the 2014 games in Sochi.







As soon as the games began I took a few day trips up to Whistler to ride. Fantastic snow each day and the mountain was deserted. Lots of fresh tracks on the peak and the glacier. While dealing with the crowds associated with the Olympics was inconvenient in Vancouver, the fact that they scared away the ski crowds made Whistler fantastic.



Didn't stop much (thus no action shots), but did enjoy my first experience on the peak to peak.



Vancouver was very festive throughout the entire time. I loved how patriotic the Canadians were. I've always gotten shit from some of my Canadian friends for wearing USA shirts, hats, etc. and was under the impression that the average canuck doesn't take to display patriotism on their sleeve. However, the overwhelming majority of people on the street were wearing Canada sweatshirts, mittens, hats, etc. It was a really cool things to see. An example of the national pride on display across from the art gallery.



Speaking of which, does the art gallery always look like this, or was it just for the games?



After about day 4 of the games, the sun came out and stayed out for the remainder of my stay. I was constantly impressed with the views the city offers.





The walkway around the water had some cool globes painted in a variety ways. This was my favorite:



The first event I attended was hockey. It was the US men's first game together and they played the Swiss. Enter teamUSA.



I really like zambonis. I don't know why.



Ryan Miller was the man throughout the Olympics. Sure, the final game wasn't brilliant, but the rest of his play was.





As my first event, it was really cool to see all the american flags waving and the sense of camaraderie I felt with the people around us when the US scored a goal.



It was a pretty good game.





One of my favorite parts of the Olympic experience were all the houses. Several sponsors had houses, as did various countries. While these houses were intended to promote the goods/services of a sponsor or reflect the customs and traditions of a nation, they were really just a series of oddly decorated bars. Molson sponsored the Canadian hockey house and was a great place to watch a game.



The Ontario House was amazing. The 4-D experience was pretty cool, but the real treat was a display in which you could control lights at various places throughout Canada (the CN tower, parliament, etc).

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The next event on the agenda was curling.





The Canadians take this sport really seriously.





Fortunately, I sat next to one of those Canadians who loves the sport. He curls 3-4x per week and spent almost 3 hours explaining every intricacy of the game with me. His biggest beef with Olympic curling is that the athletes cannot drink beer during competition. I agreed.



Great Britain was one of the better squads that day.



Hopp Suisse!



Sweden wasn't bad either.



The hardcore curling guy sitting next to me got really excited when the lady in green pulled this large metal contraption out. Apparently it is very rare to need to measure the stones and he told me I should take a picture of this moment. So I did.



After a bit of contemplation, I have decided upon my favorite moment of the games. After the fourth end in Norway's match against the Swiss, the crowd started chanting "we love your pants! we love your pants!". And its hard not to. Look at 'em.



Canada was dominant this evening, scoring an unheard of (from what I'm told) 5 points in the 4th end. The crowd erupted at the conclusion of that end.



They then proceeded to put up 7 more points by the end of the eighth end, which caused the french to surrender.



We love your pants!



I decided that ski jumping would be a cool event to see, and since I hadn’t been to any events up at Whistler yet, I decided to head up and check it out.

Not bad scenery on the walk to the venue.



It was cold as hell before the sun came out.



But the views surrounding the venue were fantastic.



Shooting ski jumping is tough. A few of my favorites.





The distance these athletes travel in the air was far more impressive in person.





This polish dude was awesome. Saw him at quite a few events, always in the same attire.



The cross-country skiing venue was also very picturesque.



The mass start was really cool to see.





What I'm sure was a very welcome rest after lots of uphill.



Banners.



Pit stop.



Cruisin'

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Next up, short track speed skating. There's a lot of these, so feel free to just scroll through.

Probably my favorite venue.



Miss Allison Baver. Wonder why all the guys dig her...



Start.











Keep that lead...



Katherine Reutter workin the outside



Due to crashes, there were 8 women in the final. It was quite crowded.





Unfortunate fall, but it wasn't her fault, so she still advanced.



Did I mention I loved this venue?



Apollo Anton Ohno.



Ritual pre-race yawning. Something about increase oxygen intake.



2nd in the world ain't bad.



Inside start.



He seemed to like chillin in third-ish for most of his races. I guess just waiting to make his move.



Making his move.



He wound up getting third.





I think the flag setup is what made the venue so cool to me.



Athlete signing wall in the USA house.



Not long til the next winter olympic games.



After the games, I drove back via PCH. Camping along the Oregon and California coastline made for a very scenic drive.







This guy passed me while driving through Arizona on the way back. GO AMERICA!!

[XtrPickels]

Excellent work

[ruhiks]

Awesome. Thanks for that.

[LeeLau]

wow - that was worth it

[montanaskier]

hell yeah Smalls....great stuff

[grapedrink]

looks like a fun trip, though you might wanna ease up on the saturation slider

[GBB]

awesome photos. looks like a hell of a time.

[smalls]

looks like a fun trip, though you might wanna ease up on the saturation slider

to each their own.

(but the word you're looking for is vibrance)

[Steepdeepnlong]

Very nice pics. How'd you get into the athlete village? Or, is it open to general public...?

[Tippster]

How the fuck did you get into the athlete's village?

[legallyillegal]

i should have made a fake IOC pass (aka access everywhere)

hell, it worked for biden's stalker

[PulverSchwein]

awesome TR, so many wicked photos. Looks like you had a massive experience

[BaconMan]

That was an amazing TR!

[scarlet begonias]

Excellent, thanks for sharing!

[DeeAre]

Killer photos. So much color, I love it.

[4matic]

nice edit. No junk there.

[Flowtorch]

Cue the Matisyahu music.


Cool tr.

[HankScorpio]

Awesome man. Really enjoyed the pics.

[Art Shirk]

Nice! Thanks for sharing your trip. Great shots man.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Really cool TR. Thanks for putting together.

[wren]

That was wicked dude, thanks a ton!

[skifishbum]

"WE LOVE GOOD TR'S
I LOVE YOUR TR
WE LOVE YOUR TR"
Well fuck them if they don't
Had a blast at the utarded games
hope to make it to a oylmpiad again sometime

[Mott the Hoople]

You're not killing me anymore, smalls. Very nice