Superb Sochi Closing Ceremony!

Were they the best ever?

Wow, what a wonderful end to the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. Did you watch it? If you did, I am sure that you also made a little note in your mind to listen to more classical music. In particular the Russian composed ones.

Nostalgic, soul soothing classical music formed a bit of a backdrop to the interesting history lesson. It must be true what they say about classical music. Listening to it will put you in a better frame of mind...a positive influence indeed. Much better than listening to Bieber and so forth.

What a shame that so many of the athletes had left already. Apparently even the NHL had sent a private plane tout de suite, to ferry back their players. A case of protecting their investments? If the USA had won they might have stayed till the end! But across the disciplines a lot of the stars had left. A bit on the rude side perhaps?

The various national teams are made up of individual sports Prima Donna's and it could not be easy for the various team managers to control those stars. Naively I thought that they would all arrive together and all leave together. Not so it seems. Some stars only arrived a week after the start, but maybe that was how the team managers planned it all along. Possibly more practice at home?

Writing this, I am wondering how many bottles of our local wine were had. Austria house had many wins to celebrate and also some defeats. Yet our local wine did accompany those occasions. For the near future, there might be a spot the Olympians alert in our village. Why shouldn't they take a week or so to sample more divine wine from our area / Gemeinde...

Russia should be very proud of these last two weeks. We were all awed, all inspired and most of us have earmarked Russia for a further look see in person.

Biggi

Alas, 2 Weeks Of Sochi Is Almost Over!

Yet another measure of time...

One second, one hour, one day or one week sometimes seem to just morph into a blur. A blur of time rushed past us. A blur that we could really not identify in detail yet we know it happened. We cooked, slept, had arguments, drove the kids to school, shopped while all the time keeping an eye on the Olympics.

For some reason I remember the afternoon of the opening day and what I did then. The other 12 days were a happy yet " I couldn't tell you what or when I watched certain events " time phase. Of course I am a mere armchair Olympian.

The real Olympians can tell us stories of how the last 4 years morphed into one long blur of training for them. When you consider that some of the athletes, not the all-rounders but the one's with only one discipline, train for this single moment of glory for four long, hard and certainly painful training years,you gain a new sense of respect for them.

We might have boogied the night away while they sensibly went to bed early. We ( eh, possibly Bob ) slunk home at the crack of dawn while they were already up and running. We got married, had children took up daring hobbies ( gardening in Bob's & my case! ) which they couldn't in case of injury. With gay abandon we ate sweets, treats and hamburgers while they kept to a strict meal plan. Gosh, I am rather envious of that will power and discipline...

Yesterday was the Men's Slalom. A two stage / run race. Each stage takes only about 50 seconds of the athlete's time & effort. Imagine, training for 4 years to do a run that lasts only 2 min...What if the day of your race you aren't feeling great? Or have a touch of flu? Or had a fight with your spouse? Or the weather isn't nice for your discipline?

Yes, in between the Olympics, the athletes compete in other events and leagues but if you ask most of them, they will admit that the Olympic medal is what they all secretly dream of earning. It is the prestige of this elusive Olympic medal / metal!

A few times in my Olympic blur I reminded myself of the fact that even those who came last in certain races and categories, are the best in the world. A minor league athlete won't even crack the nod to wax a ski yet alone wear it! A few of you might have wondered:

' Why do they bother if they don't have a snowball's chance in hell to win? '

but don't forget that any race needs more than the top 3 contenders.

For one, nobody would watch a 3 man race and it wouldn't be much fun for the athletes to shine and show the results of their hard training. Oh, and the most exciting fact of all... now and again an old / forgotten / written-off athlete outshines the favourites with pizzazz, aplomb and a best-time!

Olympians, thank you so much. It was simply divine being able to watch your triumphs and even defeats. Thank You.

Biggi

Oh My, Isn't Sochi A Feast For The Eye!

Russia, snow and men in cat-suits, need I say more?

Can you believe it, for some reason we can watch a whole 12 hours of Olympic sport on the trot daily ( public TV not Satellite ) with hardly an ad break in sight. Gosh, lavatory breaks get scheduled around the odd news casts. A visual feast indeed. We don't get an athletes performance chopped off half way to show us the latest " This that & other product "...

Like everyone else, I had preconceived ideas of these Olympic games. Wow, have they been blasted away by the stunning backdrop of the Russian countryside. Catching a glimpse of the mountains as the alpine skiers stand at the start is breathtaking. Stunning and oh so on the list of places to visit.

At first I did wonder why they chose Sochi with its rather Mediterranean climes. Winter sport should be underscored by athletes shivering and having icicles form off their noses. By the way, have you seen some of those tight cat-suits? Of course it lessens wind resistance but lets face it, they are not often very flattering. Good golly, the other day I caught a glimpse of a 6-pack stomach as one of the skiers changed out of a hot cat suit. Every cloud has a silver lining!

The Russian government was clever in its choice of Sochi even though there are plenty of locales in Russia that have oodles of snow and ice to offer. The Siberian area comes to mind. But for me, the many, many years of seeing movies in which offenders of all sorts were shipped of to Siberia have left a mark. There would have been no way that I would even consider visiting Siberia.( I know it was mostly make - believe, but still! ) Sochi on the other hand, looks inviting to visit. The fact that you can walk around in a t-shirt in winter is an added bonus.

The Olympics themselves are inspiring indeed. Even as an armchair spectator you tend to get a fresh bout of enthusiasm to start a sporting activity. It's such fun to support the various athletes and or countries. Bob and I often throw our fan - might behind opposing teams / athletes. Nice bit of friction at times!

My favourite types of winter sport are:

1. Alpine downhill skiing. Wow, these guys ski faster than the maximum speed allowed on most highways. Downhill on an icy hill and with wax-bottomed skies. Pure adrenaline.
2. Super G / Giant slalom + slalom.
3. Cross country skiing. This is the one sport that I could actually see myself doing!!!
4. Ski jumping...Bob is rather keen to try this - although I think he'd drop like a stone!!!!
5. Ice hockey...to be honest, this game is so fast, that I don't often see where the puck is. They should perhaps colour that puck in luminous yellows or oranges...

As fabulous as Sochi is, the sad fact remains that it is more than half way over already. The end is near but Bob and I will be watching until the last finish line is crossed. If you don't get to see it on your regular TV stations, remember these Olympics are at the cutting edge of technology and you can see it streamed live on your computer / laptop or mobile device. Enjoy and let me know which category of winter sport is your favourite....

Biggi