The Vancouver Winter Games are for the athletes. The organizers considered the safety, the comfort and the health of the athletes before anything else and the gesture did not go unnoticed. On my last trip up to the Games, I focused on the athletes and the teams. It’s interesting to see how young people deal with the social pressures that the Games put them under and the competitive pressures that come from their sports.
The Winter Games are half the size of the Summer Games in terms of participating athletes. Beijing had over 10,000 and now Vancouver has over 5,000. Most of that difference comes from the number of medal events which is just about double in the Summer. The Winter Games are normally held in small mountain towns right next to the ski lifts that the athletes take to their courses. Vancouver is an exception. It is the largest city to host the Winter Games and it is actually two major venues with the ski mountain, Whistler, being about 70 miles and a two-hour drive north of Vancouver.
One of the things I’m often asked to do is to keep people “on message”. Meaning that there are certain elements of any program that most effectively frame the purpose and mission… making it easy for the players to articulate that message becomes the challenge. I came together with a number of the young men and women who were competing in the Games to find their comfort zone when talking about these Olympics.
Shannon Bahrke (BAR-kee) and her brother Scott, both skiers, were an easy test. If I had more hair, I think I would try the shade of pink that Shannon uses. It gives you a positive little electric shock and makes you smile when you see it. Shannon won the bronze medal in the freestyle mogul competition and if you want to take a lesson in being an Olympic Champion, talk to Shannon. First of all, she’s gracious…no attitude. What was it like for her to win the Bronze? “Winning the Bronze medal here was just as exciting as winning the Silver in Salt Lake 8 years ago. The Olympics is a combination of the competition, the location, the fans and the energy generated by the athletes around you from all over the world. Some people want to brand this event as business. For me, it’s fun!” That’s being “on message”.
Shannon’s brother, Scott, is an aerialist on the national team and didn’t know he was going to compete in Vancouver until two days before the Games Opening Ceremonies. His teammate and close friend Dylan Ferguson was not be able make the Games because of complications from an appendectomy. Scott was the picture of confidence and grace. “I’m really disappointed for Dylan. He worked very hard to make the team. But now I have to focus on the competition and do my best performance for Team USA and the Games.” That’s a 24-year-old who is thinking about what he’s saying before he says it.
My time with Shannon and Scotty was extended when the tram got stuck by a computer glitch coming down from the top of Grouse Mountain. What impressed me most was that the two did not stand around by themselves but circulated around the coach engaging people and taking photos with Shannon’s Bronze Medal. These are often hard lessons to learn but sometimes you just have it.
Gold-Medal-winning snowboarder Shaun White, the Carrot Top look-alike, has the system down cold. He’s got the right mix of bravado, composure and light-heartedness. He’s a rock star with a healthy lifestyle. He embodies the youth of today in the best possible way. His hero is his older brother and he’s very courteous to his fans. In my brief encounter with him, he focused directly on our conversation. No gazing around the room for someone more important to talk to. These Games attract people with heart and that’s refreshing in sport today.
I walked around the Athlete’s Village, which will be a downtown condominium community after the Games, and was introduced to a number of athletes. The US men’s and women’s hockey team members clearly took the “I” out of team. They were all talking about each other and not themselves. Hard to do sometimes. I even ran into Bodie Miller, former bad boy skier, who said, “The Olympics has taught me a lot about myself. Whether anyone believes it or not, I think I’m a better person because of the Games. I made mistakes before but now I don’t want to and I’m trying harder.” That’s good enough for me.
The Georgian Team was another objective of mine. The death of their teammate Nodar Kumaritashvili was a tragedy, especially on Opening Day of the Games. There was not an athlete that I spoke to who did not say Nodar’s accident has haunted them throughout the Games. I did find two members of the team who spoke some English. They told me that it was not necessary to place blame but to revere their friend who lost his life to sport. That’s an amazing perspective. This was a sad, sad legacy for these Games.
It is quite clear to me that the Vancouver Games are all about the athletes. It is so refreshing to be among the young competitors who are not faced with making decisions about hay bales and bus schedules. They are not thinking about how much it will cost to open this venue or that. They don’t even have to sell tickets and worry about the loss of millions of dollars as an investment for a city’s future. These talented young people, in the prime of their lives, are concerned about their turn to compete. They are thinking about their teammates and the life-long memories they will savor from these 17 days. Money and fame can come later if that is their ultimate objective. Right now it’s all about the years they’ve trained and the part of their lives they have sacrificed to be in the ultimate world competition. Today, it’s about the athletes. Isn’t life grand!
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