Meeting the mascots

Today was a rest day for me after the game yesterday and so another chance to soak up the Olympic atmosphere across the park.  I didn’t have any standby duties either so was able to watch the games at the same time as take in some of the other events.

Curling

Therese and Scott outside the ice cube curling arena

The Chief Executive for the Royal Caledonian Curling Club and therefore the British Curling team is staying in our hotel.  In exchange for some hockey tickets he offered me some curling tickets for the morning and so I went along with Scott and Therese.

It was a good session for all of us to go to because in each of the 3 matches our home countries were represented.  Therese was able to support Sweden as they played Russia.  I was able to support team GB against Norway and Scott was able to support Canada against the USA. 

Flying the British flag at the curling

For our staff away day last year we were lucky enough to get some expert guidance on curling and got to try our hand at it.  Since then I have a new found respect for the sport.  Having watched it on TV it is fair to say they make it look easy.  We weren’t allowed to take the rubber sole off of the shoes and even then it was proving difficult to manoeuvre down the ice at the same time as brushing and being aware of where all the stones were.  There is definitely an art to throwing the stones and we weren’t able to master it at all, with stones either going way to fast and not stopping in time, or not even reaching the line they needed to. 

It is a different type of sport to watch than ice hockey but still exciting and particularly so for the last few ends.  Unfortunately the GB team lost, however both Sweden and Canada won their matches so Therese and Scott were happy!  It was nice to be able to watch something different and also to see the British flags out in full force.  The winter Olympics can feel like a lonely place for a Brit so being surrounded by British flags was a nice and comforting feeling.

Meeting the mascots

Making friends with the polar bear

My work colleagues have decided that clearly I am having too much fun over here.  They feel I am not busy enough and so have set me some challenges that need to be completed whilst I am here.  The first one they set me was to have my photo taken next to the organ that plays the music at the Arena.  Unfortunately I had to dispel this myth for them because there is no organ at the arena ... the organ music is played on a CD! 

The second challenge they set me was to have my photograph taken with the mascots.  There are three mascots for the Olympics: the hare; the leopard; and the polar bear.  I have seen both the leopard and the polar bear quite a bit at the Shayba Arena and the Bolshoy Ice Dome, however the hare has been spending most of her time over at the figure skating arena.  Such is my dedication to this challenge that I hunted down the mascots by finding their dressing room in the Arena and burst in on them as they were half dressed to request my picture with them.  The two young Russian men were slightly bewildered but after I offered them Ice Hockey UK pin badges in return for a photograph they were only too happy to oblige and quickly put their clothes on!

With the leopard outside his dressing room

I shall do my best to hunt down the hare for a photograph later in the week, however I wanted my colleagues to know that I am taking their challenges very seriously!

Meeting up with work colleagues

As I mentioned a few of my work colleagues are over in Sochi working for the games and they managed to watch my game yesterday.  I was also lucky enough to be able to get tickets for tonight’s women’s game for one of the girls who is over as a spectator.  Jo is a sports nut – she loves watching sport and such is her dedication she has travelled all over the world to watch all of the previous Olympics.  It was great to meet up with her for the game tonight and hear about what she has been doing whilst over here.  Her passion for all the sports is infectious.  It was lovely to have her support in the crowd the night before and just nice to see people from back home enjoying the experience out here. 

With Jo at the hockey game

The atmosphere was great again because it was a Russian game with the home crowd cheering them on.  They were playing Japan which is a team I always enjoy watching.  One of the nicest things about the Olympics overall is the coming together of different cultures and how this is representing through the sports that each of the countries participates in.  For the Japanese hockey team their goal celebration is wonderful to watch.  When they score they allow themselves to be very excited for a few seconds before they then form a tight circle and bow to each other.  It is really lovely to watch and for me just reinforces the idea that sport cuts across all different cultures and is able to bring people together for a common purpose at the same time as allowing individual identities and nationalities to flourish.  There are not many things in the world that can claim to do this, which is why I think so many of us are crazy about sport!  That and the fact that we are all super competitive and love to win!

Arrival of part 2 of my fan club

Cat by the Olympic flame

Tonight also saw the arrival of part 2 of my fan club.  One of my really good friends Cat arrived in Sochi.  From the moment I found out I was going to Sochi all of my friends have been incredibly supportive.  They have had to put up with me being focused on training and refereeing games.  I was going out with them to restaurants and ordering weird food not on the menu and not drinking any alcohol with them.  They have all understood and a lot of them have helped me to keep motivated to train and to eat the right foods.  Some of them have come along to my games at home to support me when the rest of the crowd are hurling abuse at me.  Some of them have even sat in the car for my 3 hour road trips to Telford just so I am not on my own for the journey!  I know many of them wished they could be out here with me, and whilst they couldn’t make the trip, the support and messages I have been getting have made me feel like they are here sharing the experience with me.

With Cat at the hockey game

As soon as Cat found out I had been selected for the games she booked her trip out to support me.  Cat is one of the kindest and most supportive people I know.  We became friends at university when we met on the ice hockey team.  Cat had never previously played ice hockey before joining university and so signed up to the team as a complete novice.  She caught the hockey bug pretty bad and ended up doing a few trips to North America in the summers for hockey camps to improve her skills and also to get to soak up some of the NHL atmosphere.  Since leaving university she has continued to play and is now a part of the Streatham women’s programme and was invited to attend trials for the England team.  She has always been interested in all kinds of different sports and encouraged me to go to Parkour (free-running) classes with her.  We did try to do a few circuit sessions together in the park in the mornings but being good friends we ended up just going for breakfast and chatting instead!  After I found out I was selected I mentioned to her that I wanted to go skating for a few sessions after work and she held me to it.  She came along and mimicked a play situation so I could practice my end zone positioning in the corners.  She has been a huge support to me and it is incredible she has made the journey to Sochi to share the experience with me.

She arrived last night and came straight from the airport to the Olympic park so we were able to watch the game together.  However, she made the same mistake as Scott (despite reading about his error) and turned up fully kitted out in her Canada gear that he had bought her for her birthday!  It was like meeting Captain Canada’s trusty sidekick!  I kitted her out with a Sochi branded hat and we watched the game together.

I am so happy she is here and I just hope I am assigned another game so she gets to see me work on the ice! 

I have standby duties tomorrow so hopefully that will give me a bit of time to spend with her soaking in the Olympic park atmosphere.  The only sad thing about today is that Cat seems to have brought the English weather with her as it has been raining and overcast all day.  Weirdly it does make it feel more like home for me which is kind of nice!