Gtanner Posted March 6, 2010 Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 Disclaimer: these are personal observations only, the spelling of peoples names are likely wrong. Although it rained on us a lot, and my body is still tired, I can still say that I had the pleasure of working at the SBX/SX/PGS events at the Olympics over the past month . I was one of the course section leaders and had a crew working for me on course shaping and maintenance (I was the guy in the blue coat :)). I thought it would be fun to give some tid-bits of information that the general public may or may not have known about. For all events; Course maintenance folks had about one minute to get into the course, shape/clean/repair gates and run out of camera range after every rider…it was pretty rough and tiring (as the snow got super mushy and heavy). And the entire world revolves around TV time. The OBS (Olympic Broadcast System) group were awful! Walking on shaped features, falling on course when they shouldn’t even be there…they were something all right! SBX • Lindsay Jacobellis was in a crappy mood day of the race. She was pretty snippy with the course workers as we attempted to keep them off the race line during inspection for snow preservation. While riding, she was rather vocal in that it didn’t seem like she was doing well at gauging her speed. • We fertilized the whole course for the ladies only, so the girls seemed faster, while the guys were working for speed through a few mushy-sections • Helen Olafsen (sp?) broke a board on jump #3 and noticed something was wrong after a few more features. She stopped and a volunteer named Rob gave her his board and bindings so that she could make it through the rest of the course and get her back-up board at the top. This was race-day. In the end she gave him the old broken board (Kessler) as a souvenir, plus he got kisses from the entire Norwegian team as a thank-you. • The course is set by FIS, not coaches as is the case with PGS • Each rider used the terrain differently, which was cool to see. • Maelle took a few runs to get the course dialed. I think she only took the big jumps during one of the training sessions. • Dominic Maltais never looked comfortable. And once we found out how she was feeling and how bad the training crash was, we knew why. • Mike Robertson looked the smoothest in the course out of all competitors (male or female). Seth Wescott looked good, but didn’t look comfortable. Nate Holland was fighting the course all day. Drew Nielson dropped his shoulder on the wrong turn. Rob Fagan had a good day aswell. Graham Watanabe looked good, but it didn’t seem like he could get any speed…wax issue? • The girls had no real trouble with the features (aside from a few on the Woo-Tangs). The female forerunners were good enough to have cleared the jumps. They were just scared/nervous. One girl did start taking them at speed later in training. • The two wooden jumps were nicknamed the “money-booters” as they cost a fortune, had to be rush-built and delivered via helicopter. • The snow-helicopter cost $10,000/hr and the lift couldn’t be working while it was in the air. SX • What a difference SBX to SX. The skiers were a bit more pompous and had a sense of entitlement…except the French ladies and Ashleigh McIvor. She was always smiling and chatting with the course workers while she did inspection • The chief of comp was also a bit of an a$$ for SX, but that’s a story for another time • The male skiers were all complaining about how big the banked turns were…and complaining about how the FIS course setters put the gates too high into the berm…so they actually had to use the berm (heaven forbid) • I argued a number of times with the setters about their sets on the berms. They would set the first gate loose (low on the bank), and the second tight (higher on the bank). This slowed down the skiers quite a bit and created a kink in the berm… On my berm alone, the setter spent about 2 hours drilling about 30 holes to decide on how to set… Essentially they were setting the course like a GS, versus setting with the flow of the course. • All the skiers took the exact same line…during the knockouts, many would actually brake slightly so that they could get into the race-line…and there was pretty much no experimentation with the various race lines in training. So on TV, there wasn’t much passing. • Duncan fell out of the start gate during training. Instead to relaxing for a minute and trying to figure out what happened, he went back to the gate and did it again, same fall but this time with a broken collar-bone. • The second-last jump (where Del-Bosco fell) was re-shaped for the guys the night before the race. Although they were allowed to inspect/train on it for a run or two the morning of the race, many didn’t seem to be ready for the amount of kick it gave out. PGS • Both days, we salted the snot out of the course. So much so that it was a sheet of ice whereby the water was running down the slope. • Mark Fawcett set the ladies course, and the French coach (Guilaum something) did the mens. • The Dutch girl took that course perfectly. She was dialed in from the first gate all day. She was smooth and aggressive. It was an absolute pleasure to watch. • Michelle Gorgone rode well. She was very very aggressive (which makes the ruts more fun to deal with). She just got bucked on a few gates each run. • Kimi never got into her rhythm and unfortunately fell • Alexa looked good, but didn’t seem to be riding to her potential. • Based on the smoothest rider of the day Benny Karl should have won. Jasey got into a grove after the 1/8th finals, before that, he seemed to be fighting the course. • Morrison looked good, just not his usual form. • The Russian guys yelled/growled and probably swore down the entire course. • For both days, visibility was about 2 gates ahead • They wouldn’t let me forerun for the guys (no FIS license anymore). But I would have loved to run the mens course. • The red course was faster both days • The course workers were completely soaked, and the sandwiches we were getting were awful! HP • The only thing I knew/heard was that the walls were not totally vert for the last few feet (like they were at the X-games). This was for snow/wall preservation. Once the riders figured this out, they started ollieing harder off the lip and had the pipe dialed. All in all, an awesome experience. It’s very cool to say that you were directly involved in 3 Gold medals and a Silver for Canada. It was fun wandering around in the wax cabin seeing all the boards being prepped. By the end, I needed a real vacation (3:30 am wake-ups and 12 hours on-hill is definitely draining). -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 6, 2010 Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 Awesome. Thanks for sharing! The inside stories from competitons are always fun. My friend was on the mens course at Whistler for two weeks, and some of the inside gossip from there was highly entertaining. . I felt so sorry for you dealing with that snow and the terrible weather. And it's not like you even had a beer tent like they did at Whistler!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 This thread is useless without pictures!!!!! seriously, Though, looking at friends pictures from inside the ropes really help you gain an appreciation for all that goes into the event, from the athletes the officials, volunteers and everyone else...Great job guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted March 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Cypress' wonderful weather managed to destroy my camera. I'll try to get the pics off the memory stick later this week and will try to post a bunch. And yes, I did work with BVG, but he was gate-crew, and I was course-crew. -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBee Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 • They wouldn’t let me forerun for the guys (no FIS license anymore). But I would have loved to run the mens course. -Gord For all event, forerunning was based on the same criteria as the Olympics selection. So for men PGS for example, you had the next six Canadian racers who were not selected for the games as forerunners ( Pat Farrell, Steve Barlow, Matthew Carter, Darren Gardner, Sebastien Beaulieu & Richard Evanoff ) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted March 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 Ekat forerun for the men though which is why I questioned it. -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 • Alexa looked good Like anything else is possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBee Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 Ekat forerun for the men though which is why I questioned it.-Gord I heard Pat Farrell didn't show up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I heard Pat Farrell didn't show up... Right on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Gord, thanks for the detailed write-up, very fascinating! It's a thrill to be able to have a first hand link to the event like this. I would imagine Jacobelis is doing some serious soul-searching these days. I feel bad for her. I'm still pissed that they had the PGS and SBX at stupid Cypress. They lucked out with the SBX, but the PGS got screwed. Any idea why they didn't do it at Whistler with the other real downhill events? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 ...at stupid Cypress. You Sir, watch your mouth! This is the 2nd strike already... You don't want to experience the wrath of the Cypress Mafia. ;) :D Honestly, Cypress is quite an awesome hill. Probably the best sub-urban metropolitan mountain you'll find anywhere... Transport it magically to the East and it would count as a "big mountain". Very often our annual snowfall is about what the eastern resorts get in 3 years... It was just a weird weather pattern this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I'd imagine that it was a logistics thing with Whistler. It was probably difficult enough getting 10,000 people (between the sliding centre, the nordic course and the alpine races) out and back on buses on a raceday. Double that number and it would have been a gong show. You have a mountain basically right in town, why not use it? You can't do much about the weather. And for some reason, the Winter Games have been weather cursed from the beginning of time. Just be thankful that they don't skate on outdoor rinks any more. This was an interesting tidbit : "Next year the IOC has to make a choice for 2018. Just for its members’ information, so they cannot say in hindsight that they did not know, I have ascertained the following facts on the three candidate cities – on February 28, the final day of these Winter Olympics, the temperature in Munich was 13C, in Annecy 16C and Pyeong-chang 4C. Meanwhile, it might care to know that in Sochi, where the Winter Games go next, the temperature that day was a balmy 15C." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 Hehe... sorry, Cypress isn't stupid, the decision to hold a winter olympics there was. And it sounds like Sochi will be too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 Ekat forerun for the men though which is why I questioned it.-Gord Ekat is a high level racer with World Cup experience and won a Europa Cup race this season. I would say that this puts her far above you on the forerun priority list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted March 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 Phil, relax. I'm well aware of her credentials, she's an excellent rider, and don't question her ability to forerun. I knew I probably couldn't forerun, but for fun I did mention it in passing (you never know). I was just pointing out that they had a female forerunning a male race...which I thought was against the FIS rules...although the men again fore-ran for the ladies SBX...so I dunno. Perhaps it would be of more interest to the forum if you shared some of your insider knowledge of how the US team felt during the races...how did the equipment prep change as the weather conditions varried, etc. You have more first hand knowledge of what the athletes and coaching staff were concentrating on or concerned about with respect to the competition then us "lowly" volunteers. -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 12, 2010 Report Share Posted March 12, 2010 Hehe... sorry, Cypress isn't stupid, the decision to hold a winter olympics there was. Maybe yes, maybe no... If all the events held at Cypress had been held at Whistler, it would have accounted for more events in Whistler then Vancouver. Then it would be Whistler 2010, not Vancouver 2010. For logistics and spectators, Cypress was way easier. I believe there are few other, more sinister reasons, too. The mountain gets really good annual snowfall, sometimes more then Whistler. However, the weather is coastal, thus vollatile. It turned out the worst we had in many years... We pulled it off somehow, at the great cost. So I guess, the word should not be "Stupid", but rather "Thanks"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Maybe yes, maybe no... If all the events held at Cypress had been held at Whistler, it would have accounted for more events in Whistler then Vancouver. Then it would be Whistler 2010, not Vancouver 2010. For logistics and spectators, Cypress was way easier. I believe there are few other, more sinister reasons, too. The mountain gets really good annual snowfall, sometimes more then Whistler. However, the weather is coastal, thus vollatile. It turned out the worst we had in many years... We pulled it off somehow, at the great cost. So I guess, the word should not be "Stupid", but rather "Thanks"... That's pretty much what I heard from a VANOC insider. Don't know about the sinister stuff though. Gord, I heard those HBC jackets pretty much absorbed water. Up at Whistler, they were telling the volunteers to wear Goretex underneath their blue jackets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Phil, relax. I'm well aware of her credentials, she's an excellent rider, and don't question her ability to forerun. I knew I probably couldn't forerun, but for fun I did mention it in passing (you never know). I was just pointing out that they had a female forerunning a male race...which I thought was against the FIS rules...although the men again fore-ran for the ladies SBX...so I dunno.Perhaps it would be of more interest to the forum if you shared some of your insider knowledge of how the US team felt during the races...how did the equipment prep change as the weather conditions varried, etc. You have more first hand knowledge of what the athletes and coaching staff were concentrating on or concerned about with respect to the competition then us "lowly" volunteers. -Gord There is no FIS rule regarding gender of forerunner. But they all must be affiliated with the FIS. I was not at the event, so I can not comment on what was happening behind the scenes with the athletes. I wish I had more gossip, but I don't. All the build up over the last 4 years...........and now we start is all over again. I do know that the US SBX guys and girls will be in the hunt for 2014. Many of the current crew is going to continue on and we have a young crew who is going to push the top guys if they want to stay on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 Nice to hear some of the inside scoop... If you need help with the SBX for Copper nationals it would be my pleasure... I will have rolled up all my b-net at Ski Cooper by then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted March 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 Gord, I heard those HBC jackets pretty much absorbed water. Up at Whistler, they were telling the volunteers to wear Goretex underneath their blue jackets. Not a lie, the things were like sponges. They even gave us some MEC poncho's, but after two days, I had my regular riding jacket underneath to provide some semblance of being dry. -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Posted March 19, 2010 Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 Although weather and snow conditions were really bad for PGS, they did not even stop the race (not the same story for ski...). Congrats to our Mathieu BOZZETTO who really deserved its bronze medal! Silver:biggthump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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