At Ladies’ Giant Slalom
Published by Taylor Vinson February 24th, 2006 in Torino 20062.24.06
I am writing this in the middle of working the mixed zone here at the Ladies’ Giant Slalom today. I have really enjoyed working the mixed zone, and I hope that I will also be doing so tomorrow afternoon which will be during our final day of competition. Wednesday saw a few funny moments. For one, I was almost “that guy.”
Wednesday’s Ladies’ Slalom was our first competition here that had a medal ceremony immediately following. The mother of the bronze medalist came up to me and asked me if she could pass into the area where the athletes walk. She didn’t have any accreditation, which is a problem. I almost didn’t let her pass, but my superior motioned for me to let her and her husband through. I would have felt horrible if she hadn’t been able to go through.
Another funny moment was when we were following Anja Paerson, the gold medalist from Sweden, as she left the venue. They rushed her into a truck right outside our office here by the grandstand. A bunch of the Swedish team was outside the truck cheering her on, and then they saw that Anja’s truck was getting a police escort, and they all went crazy, shouting, “OH, POLICE ESCORT! POLICE ESCORT!”
They royal family of Spain is here this morning to cheer on a few of their skiers. I don’t think we’ll have to deal with them in the mixed zone since the Spanish skiers aren’t doing so well as of now. We’ll see about the second run. I have gotten to exchange a few words here and there with skiers, including Hermann Maier (spelling?) and the Swedish skier that was with Anja on the medals stand the other night (I don’t remember her name, but she’s supposed to be one of the best lady skiers of all time).
This may be my last post from Italy, but when I return I plan to put up a link to some pictures that I’ll throw online, and I’ll probably post at least one more time for some summary comments.