Vancouver 2010: Best Olympics ever

'Will Vancouver Games be ‘worst’ ever?’

That’s Stephanie Levitz’ headline in today’s Winnipeg Free Press.

And really? The worst games ever?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we’re having the worst Olympics ever. The only thing that makes that statement true is the fact that an athlete died. And yes, that’s a pretty big fact that will forever ruin our reputation. But we can assume the luge track that killed Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia is safe as there’s no investigation going into the track's conditions.

Negative, and a pretty big one, aside, I think the Vancouver 2010 Olympics might be the best ever.

Vancouver’s biggest problem so far with the Olympics has been the weather which is causing event delays, poor track conditions and an uncomfortable environment for spectators who’re watching events in the rain or being blinded by the fog, particularly on Cypress Mountain. But I think the unusually warm weather, is what’s making the Olympics so great. It’s testing the athletes’ true technical and mental abilities making us spectators aknowledge their strength so much more and hopefully making the athletes feel more proud of what they can do.

I watched the women’s snowboard cross yesterday and was literally sitting on the edge of my couch with my fingers crossed praying Maëlle Ricker and Dominique Maltais made it down the hill. The event was ugly, at least three quarters of the women wiped out once over the course of the day. The fog was so heavy I could hardly see the snowboarders going down on my TV so I can’t imagine being one of the riders having to locate a 60 foot jump in the midst of it. To top things off for the athletes, it rained yesterday morning making the slope extremely icy.

By the time the finals rolled around the fog rolled away, but still the course was icy. Both the spectators and athletes knew the final run was going to be a matter of who could make it down the slope without falling. As a spectator that challenge alone made the event ten times more exciting and made me respect the winner’s abilities ten times more – thankfully that winner was Maëlle Ricker, a Canadian.

So I find it disappointing that so much of the Olympics, in any city for that matter, is qualified as a success based on the smooth running of the events when really the Olympics is about the competition between athletes. To me what would make the Vancouver 2010 Olympics the worst ever would be if a bunch of the athletes were caught cheating. In no way do the Olympics become poor when a few glitches occur, as there will always be glitches.

I’ve been at home for the past five days on the couch with a raging headache, a stuffed up nasal passage and a cough so bad I could blow the snow from Russia to Cypress Mountain and still I find myself on the edge of my seat cheering on the athletes. So don’t tell me the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are the worst ever – I’m not even a sports fan and I’m sick and I’m watching so it must be good.

(See Ricker's gold medal run at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oRBEtG030o.)