The Olympics were awesome to experience! Managed to get out to eight events and lots more watching on TV, at bars, and generally enjoying the vibe in the City.

Highlights for me (in no particular order):

Torch and Robson Square Night
Two nights prior to the Opening Ceremony we got to see the torch run in West Van, got our picture with the countdown clock and bobsleigh, got some goodies at The Bay, met John Furlong strolling along Robson Street, and got to see the very first test of what was to become the nightly Robson Square show.

Lots of Hockey
Got to see five hockey games at Canada Hockey Place — more games than I’ve probably been to in the last five years!

• Cheered on Slovakia at three games including their disappointing loss to Finland for the Bronze medal (got on the big screen during this one!)

• Also got to see Finland’s women’s team win the Bronze (with Finland’s president in attendance) 

Watching the Canada games on TV or in bars was also very exciting:

• The shoot-out win over Switzerland on the big screen at the Richmond O-Zone
• The exciting Slovak – Canada game with friends at Stamps Landing (the only Slovak game where I wasn’t cheering for them!)

• And of course the Gold medal game — partly on the bus ride home from Whistler and the rest from home.

Victory Ceremony
We really lucked out with the Victory Ceremony tickets we purchased a year earlier. We happened to get the day when Ashleigh McIvor won her Gold Medal in Ski Cross!

Olympic Day
Taking a day off work to wander around the city and enjoy many of the Olympic sites:

• Took in the Bronze medal women’s game at Canada Hockey Place
• Took the Bombardier Olympic Line tram to Granville Island and watched the women’s Gold Medal game

• Walked over to Vanier Park to see the Vectorial Elevation light display

• Headed back over to False Creek and took in Saskatchewan House and live performance
• Watched the extremely impressive Fireworks show at LiveCity Yaletown

Cross Country – 50km – on the last day
These were the cheapest tickets we picked up of all the events we went to ($25) and I’m really glad we did. The venue at Callaghan Valley was awesome and being a long race we were able to move around and see the racers on different parts of the course. Very cool to stand on the side within inches of them going by. Amazingly close finish with a big group within a couple of seconds of each other including Canada’s Devon Kershaw coming in fourth!

Also got to see Quatchi and Miga getting loaded onto the back of a golf cart here!

I was super impressed with how efficient the Olympic Bus Network was for getting us to and from the venue. We were parked at BCIT and on the bus and on our way in about five minutes. Same thing on the way home – no line up or waits at all.
The Gold Medal game started during the ride home and there was a guy on the bus with a tethered laptop trying (somewhat successfully) to watch the game. Twitter was more reliable though for real-time updates! Got back in time to watch the 3rd Period and OT from home.

Closing Ceremony
I enjoyed the ceremony overall, but by far the best part was how they opened it: making fun of the mechanical issues with the fourth leg of Cauldron and giving Catriona Le May Doan to light the Cauldron as she hadn’t at the opening. Brilliant!

Curling
Having never been to a curling game before and only seen it a few times on TV, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Seeing it in person was awesome! Unfortunately Canada lost to China, but it was a great game and incredible atmosphere in the rink. It felt more like being at a hockey game!

All the Canadian Athletes!
14 Gold Medals and 26 overall is an incredible result and definitely counts as Owning the Podium! So many memorable Canadian performances. My favorites:

1. Jon Montgomery (Skeleton Gold)
• watched this on the big screen at Canada Hockey Place prior to the Finland – Germany game
2. Alex Bilodeau (Freestyle Moguls Gold)
• kicking off our first Gold of the games and first every on Canadian soil
3. Joannie Rochette (Figure Skating Bronze)
• a courageous performance
4. Ashleigh McIvor (Ski Cross Gold)
• we got to see her get the medal at the BC Place Victory Ceremony
5. Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (Ice Dance Gold)
6. Jennifer Heil (Freestyle Moguls Silver)
• unfortunately not a Gold, but a great performance – and a great ambasador for Canada
7. Marianne St-Gelais (Short Track Silver)
• the most excited silver medal winner ever!
8. Devon Kershaw (50km Cross Country – Fifth Place)
• incredible performance and result

VANOC
VANOC (and all the other organizations that worked with them: Translink, the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Police, RCMP, etc) did an amazing job pulling of a near flawless event.
I was particularly impressed with the transit flow, the efficiency of the Olympic Bus Network, and the visible, but unobtrusive security.
Brian Williams of NBC said it well about the security:

“For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.” http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/02/26/2213393.aspx

Excitement in the City
I’ve never before seen this level of energy, excitement, and patriotism in the City. Just being downtown and experiencing the crowds, spontaneous singing of the Oh Canada, etc on every day of the week was amazing.

Overall an incredible experience and an exhausting couple of weeks!