Entry #1 – Climbing the Mountain

February 18, 2010


    Standing on the threshold of daring dream,
    You gazed at your heavenly mountain’s crest,
    Toward Olympia, challenge that would seem

    Above mortal reach, ‘til you braved the test.
    July 16, 2004          - Mitchell E. Garner
    2004 USATF Olympic Trials
    Sacramento, California   

One of my favorite expressions, one that I often share with friends, is, “Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.”  Life is like that.  Every day presents new challenges, but you have to keep climbing.  So it is for those who pursue the dream of competing in the Olympics.

On Saturday, February 20, 2010, my wife Ellen and I will be leaving for Vancouver, British Columbia, to watch Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates compete in ice dancing at the 2010 Winter Olympics as members of the United States Olympic Figure Skating Team.  We are very excited to be going.  In a sense, though, our trip to Vancouver began many years before.

In 1994, Ellen and I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan with our three year-old daughter Kasia.  Soon after our arrival, we took Kasia to a local ice skating rink, and Kasia began taking skating lessons.  Years later, her passion for figure skating inspired her to pursue ice dancing through the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.  Kasia’s ice dancing coaches were Yaroslava Nechaeva and Yuri Chesnichenko.  It was during this period that Ellen and I first met Emily and Evan, who were also coached by Yasa and Yuri.

Now, many years later, Kasia has moved on to different sports, most recently rowing at Eastern Michigan University, but Emily and Evan have been steadily progressing as ice dancers and climbing the ice dancing mountain.  Now they are Olympians.  On any given Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor, you can watch them practicing under the watchful eyes of Yasa and Yuri.  They glide across the ice and talk as if they were comparing notes about what they did on Saturday night.  Yet when they go through their various practice routines, you realize that they are extraordinarily talented athletes being guided by two extraordinary coaches.

Those of us who are privileged to know Emily and Evan can boast about their prowess as ice dancers.  What stands out even more, though, is their ordinariness.  They are both undergraduate students at the University of Michigan, and yet they are almost anonymous on campus.  Football and basketball stars are much more recognizable.

In truth, Emily and Evan are just regular, fun-loving, all-American kids who have an abundance of self-discipline and perseverance and have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to achieve excellence in their sport.  Emily, for example, is a Detroit Red Wings and Boston Red Sox fan whose favorite drink is water with lemon.  Her favorite quote is a quote by William Purkey, “Dance like no one is watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.”  That’s Emily when she is doing what she does best:  ice dancing.

Evan is also a Detroit Red Wings fan, and his favorite drink is Gatorade.  His favorite quote is one by Nike, “Amazing awaits.”  In his case, “Amazing has happened” in 2010.

It is a special experience to go to the Olympics, but even more special when you are personally acquainted with an athlete who is competing in the Olympics.  In 2004, Kasia and I were privileged to go to Athens to watch an outstanding American runner (and fellow Yalie), Kate O’Neill, compete in the women’s 10,000 meters race as a member of the 2004 United States Track and Field Team.  I will never forget how excited we were (to the point of tears) when she was introduced in the Olympic Stadium at the start of her race and how fervently we cheered every time she passed us while she ran her 25 laps around the track.

Now Ellen and I will have the excitement of cheering for Emily and Evan at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  One common denominator between Kate O’Neill and Evan and Emily is their outstanding support system.  No athlete gets to the top of the mountain alone.  You need a lot of people to help you:  parents, siblings, family, coaches, trainers, doctors, physical therapists, psychologists, financiers, even spiritual advisors.  Not everyone has that support system.  When you talk to the parents of these athletes, you realize how invested they are in the well-being of their children and how lucky these athletes are to have such a wonderful support system.

Some years ago, Ellen and I traveled with Kasia to Lake Placid, New York for a national ice dancing competition.  Kasia competed with her partner Brian, as did Emily and Evan, although Emily and Evan were competing at a higher level than Kasia and Brian.  During a free moment, I visited the nearby United States Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, where Olympic hopefuls train throughout the year in a wide variety of winter sports.  In the lobby of the training center is a display of hand-written plaques on which various American Olympians have expressed their thoughts about pursuing their dream and making an Olympic team. 

One of those plaques, written by Jim Craig, the goalie for the United States Olympic men’s hockey team that upset the Soviet men’s hockey team to win the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in the so-called “Miracle on Ice,” caught my attention.  Craig wrote:

It means all the setbacks, sacrifices and hours of pushing myself to exhaustion were all worth it.  It means I was with my idols.  It means I chased my dream and caught it.

Like Jim Craig, Emily and Evan have chased their Olympic dream and caught it.  Their many setbacks, sacrifices, and hours of exhaustive training were all worth it.  They had faith in themselves.

Good luck to you, Emily and Evan!  Good luck, Yasa and Yuri.  We will be there in Vancouver cheering for you!  You are an inspiration to all of us who have dreams.

And don’t forget, “Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.”

Entry #2

Vancouver, British Columbia
February 21, 2010

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia!  Ellen and I arrived here on Saturday afternoon after a long but uneventful trip from Detroit.  Flying into Vancouver, we were mesmerized by the city's beautiful setting.  The city sits on the ocean, spread out like an urban mantle flowing from snow-capped peaks.

On Friday evening Evan and Emily competed in their first Olympic event, compulsory dance.  For the 2010 Olympics, the compulsory dance is the tango. There is discussion among the higher-ups of the International Skating Union to possibly eliminate compulsory dance as one of the ice dance disciplines.  Ellen and I watched Evan and Emily from afar in Ann Arbor and were very proud of their outstanding and flawless (to our eyes) performance.  They finished 14th out of 23 teams.  Way to go, Evan and Emily!

Upon our arrival at the Vancouver Airport, we took a taxi to the home of our host, Cristina Pepe, who lives just a few short blocks from the Pacific Coliseum, the ice dancing venue here in Vancouver, and near the Pacific National Exhibition.  We were warmly greeted by Cristina, who made us some tea and briefed us on happenings in Vancouver.  It is very nice to be staying in a regular neighborhood here in Vancouver, away from the din in the downtown area.  This morning I went to Mass at her local parish, Our Lady of Sorrows.  Cristina is Italian, and the parish is a beautiful mix of Italians and other nationalities, particularly Asians, who live here in Vancouver.
After getting settled at Cristina's house, we ventured to downtown Vancouver by Sky Train, Vancouver's version of a rapid transit system.  The train took us past the Olympic Village and to the downtown area.  Once we exited from the train, we were immersed in the celebratory mood that is Vancouver during these Winter Olympics.  The Canadian flag was everywhere, and spontaneous strains of "O Canada" could be heard as we walked through the streets to pick up our ice dance tickets for Sunday and Monday evenings.

Once we had picked up our tickets, we walked to Proctor & Gamble House, one of the American Olympic team's major corporate sponsors.  During the Olympics, Proctor & Gamble is operating a hospitality facility for Olympic athletes and their family and friends.  After clearing security, we were ushered inside as the official guests of Yasa and Yuri, Evan and Emily's coaches.  There we received our official passes, which are sort of like the keys to the kingdom, giving us access to free, unlimited food and drink and other goodies.  Soon after we arrived, we saw Yasa and Yuri, and they greeted us with hugs and smiles.  They were adorned in their official USA Olympic garb and looked fabulous!
We sat down and had a sumptuous buffet dinner.  Later we were joined by the parents of Evan and Emily, who had been out all day sightseeing.  Like Yasa and Yuri, they were proudly wearing American Olympic garb.  Everyone at Proctor & Gamble House was glued to the big screen televisions, which showed the latest developments.  Whenever an American athlete was doing well, everyone erupted into a spontaneous cheer.

After a long day, we returned to Cristina's house for some needed rest.  Today we will see Evan and Emily compete in original dance.  We can't wait!  My cowbell is primed and ready!
Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.

Entry #3 – Happiness is Rocking the Original Dance

Vancouver, British Columbia
February 22, 2010

Greetings from Vancouver, the world focal point of the sport of ice dance and the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

For Ellen and me, yesterday had to be one of the happiest days of our married life.  We had first row seats for the original dance competition at the Pacific Coliseum, where the ice dancing competitions are being held.  Pacific Coliseum is on the east side of the City of Vancouver, which is the gateway to the mountains that border Vancouver to the east.

In the morning, we took the Sky Train to Proctor & Gamble House, where we had lunch.  Once again, the food was fabulous and, better yet, complimentary.  The Polish boy from Chicago loves nothing more than free food!  There we were introduced to Ryan Bedford, a member of the US Long Track Speedskating Team, and his family.  Ryan is from Michigan, and so we exchanged notes about Michigan with some members of his family.  They are very nice people.  Ryan signed my USA Olympic flag.

When I was in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, I met a third year law student named Daniel Van Slett at US Bank House.  US Bank House had a hospitality facility in Beijing very similar to Proctor & Gamble House in Vancouver.  Basically, these hospitality houses serve as meeting places for family and friends of Olympic athletes to meet and relax and socialize with other USA supporters and enjoy some food and drink together.  To my surprise, when I went to the computer/television lounge at Proctor & Gamble House, there was Dan!  He remembered me from Beijing immediately, and I him.  He is a very kind and gracious young person.  He so much enjoyed his experience in Beijing that he signed up for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Now Dan has his law school diploma and is about to start his first job as an attorney in March.  It was a wonderful surprise to see him here in Vancouver.  We are making plans to see each other in London for the next Olympics.  We are hoping to go to those Olympics in 2012.

After lunch, we went by cab to USA House, where we did some shopping for Team USA items by Ralph Lauren and Nike.  We knew that the prices would be high, but $130 for a Polo winter scarf is definitely over the top, even if it does have the Vancouver Winter Olympics logo on it!  I didn't buy that scarf, but we did manage to find a few small items for friends and family, and of course we remembered our daughter Kasia with some nice gifts.

Downtown Vancouver was abuzz on Sunday with talk about the USA-Canada men's hockey game.  We could tell that the Canadians viewed this game as a do-or-die affair, even though the teams were only playing in a preliminary round--meaning neither team would be eliminated no matter whether they won or lost.  All the Canadians were sporting their country's colors in one form or another.  Many people were draped in Canadian flags so that their flags looked like red and white superman capes.

Shopping done, Ellen and I boarded a packed express bus that took us directly to the skating rink called the Pacific Coliseum.  For the price that we had paid for these tickets, we were not going to be late!  On the bus we met many Canadians who were were, like us, going to see the figure skating competition.  The Canadian fans were very excited to attend the ice dancing event because Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are favorites to win a medal in ice dancing.  After seeing their original dance performance on Sunday, we concur.  They are exquisite ice dancers and are definitely "in the hunt."
 
Outside Pacific Coliseum, Ellen and I stopped several times to take pictures so that we could remember this special moment in time.  Ellen decided to buy a big American flag so that we could wave it inside when we were cheering for the American teams.

Here I digress a little.  Last September, Ellen's sister Mary passed away from colon cancer.  Death came suddenly and unexpectedly.  In just a few short weeks, Mary went from being a vibrant and active person to a cancer-ravaged shadow of her former self.  Life has been very difficult for Ellen and her family since Mary's passing.  Everyone loved Mary.  Ellen was very close to Mary, and Mary's loss has left a collective hole in our hearts.  It is a sad day in your life when you bury a sibling.  Ellen is dealing with her grief, but it is at times difficult for her.

When Evan and Emily made the Olympic Figure Skating Team in January, I broached with Ellen the idea of going to the Vancouver Olympics to see Evan and Emily compete.  Ellen was non-committal at first, but over the following days I convinced her that going to the Olympics would be a good thing for her because she loves ice dancing and we have known Emily and Evan for so many years.  My "final argument" to Ellen was that life is short and that tomorrow is no guarantee.  Recognizing how difficult it is to make an Olympic team in any sport, I exhorted her to take advantage of this opportunity and go to the Olympics, even if she went alone.  I said, "If Mary were alive today, she would tell you to go."  As it turned out, Ellen's scheduled jury trial, the final impediment to our trip, got adjourned, and her schedule cleared up.  And so, just two weeks ago, we finally decided to go to the Olympics and we made our arrangements.

Yesterday I felt great satisfaction that I had made the right decision in twisting Ellen's arm to go.  I have never seen her so happy.  She was having so much fun!  She wore a beautiful red beret made by Roots that she had bought at her favorite store, T.J. Maxx, and a scarf with the colors of the American flag.  The beret has "USA" across the front in big white letters.  I wore a matching beret in blue with "USA" across the front.  Ellen was in her glory.  She was talking to strangers and jokingly asking them to guess what country's team we were supporting!  In short, she was having fun!

Once inside Pacific Coliseum, we went to our seats.  To our surprise, our seats were in the first row and overlooked the area where the skaters enter the rink from the dressing rooms beneath the stands.  When the usher showed us to our seats, we were incredulous.  We asked her, "Are you sure these are our seats?  There must be some mistake."  She confirmed that we were the lessees of these first-row, up-close-and-personal, VIP seats.  We were speechless.  It was at that point that I realized that a divine hand had orchestrated the scenario for us to go the Winter Olympics, and we felt very blessed.

We arrived very early.  Gradually, the rink filled with spectators, and at exactly 4:15 P.M. the first skaters took the ice.  Ellen started waving her American flag, and I started ringing my cowbell (bought on ebay a few years ago for the 2008 United States Women's Olympic marathon trials in Boston).  People around us could see that we were wildly enthusiastic about our Team USA.
Emily and Evan were in the second flight of ice dancers.  When they entered the holding area for the teams before they took the ice for their warm-up, we called out to them.  They were about eight feet away!  I think they were impressed that we had seats so close.  We have never had seats this close for their performances at the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club.  Here we were at the Olympics, and we could almost touch them!  It was amazing.

We watched them warm up under Yasa's careful eye.  There were not many words between them--Yasa stood by and studiously watched them.  We thought Evan and Emily looked absolutely perfect!  Since our daughter, Kasia, used to train with them, we had previously spent many days over many years watching their nearly daily practices. Based on that experience, we knew that this warm up was meant to be just that--a time to "warm" their bodies and minds to allow their memories to take over so that they could fall into the pattern of what they already knew.  Evan and Emily stopped occasionally by Yasa to take a few sips of water.  Finally, when it came time for Evan and Emily to take the ice, we heard Yasa say, "Good luck!"

Their original dance performance was, in a word, magical.  Evan and Emily's original dance was set to country western music.  They were dressed like a cowboy and cowgirl.  We could tell how excited they were to be competing.  Every movement on the ice and every gesture with their bodies were filled with fun and smiles and joy.  The audience began clapping in happiness as Emily and Evan twisted and turned and spun their way across the ice.  They were absolutely radiant.  In our eyes, they were a sight of complete perfection. We did not see one flaw--not one. When they had finished their performance, they received a long ovation from the crowd.  We stood up and danced and cheered and waved the American flag and rang our cowbell. To be honest, we were loud and proud Americans. Ellen had gotten a radio with an ear piece attached that allowed her to hear the commentary.  She later told me that the commentators had orally noted during our screaming, jumping and gesticulating that the crowd was going wild. We know this comment was not just about us, but we are also pretty sure that the cowbell was the only one in the arena.  We think maybe that crowd-gone-wild comment was a reflection of our enthusiasm. That cowbell really makes a lot of noise!

After Evan and Emily had completed their perfect and very entertaining dance program and had taken their well-deserved bows, they went over to the "kiss-and-cry" area to sit with Yasa and to hear their marks.  It was amazing to see these beautiful young people, Evan and Emily, and their kind and caring coach, Yasa, in the kiss-and-cry together.  We had seen them so many times at the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club, just regular people, and here they were on national, better worldwide, television at the Olympics.  So much were we moved by the emotion of this experience and our memories of Evan, Emily, Yasa, Yuri, and Kasia that there were tears of joy in our eyes.  Wow!

Their marks were outstanding.  They scored a season's best of 53.99 points (it seems odd that some judge could not have given them at least another .01 of a point!) and because of their very high marks, they were temporarily launched into first place.  They were beaming as they waved to all their fans and supporters and left the kiss-and-cry.  We were so happy for them.  And I was happy that my wife Ellen was so happy.

The rest of the evening went by very quickly.  There were many beautiful performances.  The aboriginal costume and program of the Russian team, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, currently in third place, was, shall we say, "interesting."  As the curtain came down on the original dance competition, the three American teams were all highly ranked.  Meryl Davis and Charlie White (Evan Bates' roommate at the University of Michigan and here at the Olympic Village) were in second, followed closely by Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto in fourth. Our other top team, Evan and Emily, moved up three spots to eleventh place.  Well done, Team USA!  Excellent work, Yasa and Yuri!  Bravo, Evan and Emily!!!
 
Tonight is the finale, free dance.  Ellen and I cannot wait for more ice dancing.  Stay tuned!

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.

Entry #4 – Silver Celebration at USA House

Vancouver, British Columbia
February 23, 2010
 
If, as Shakespeare says, all the world is a stage, the Olympics, with all their drama, are the Broadway of athletics.  Every two years, in summer and then in winter, people around the world press the pause button on their lives, and the spotlight turns to the athletic competition we know as the modern Olympics.

Last night in Vancouver, the world's Olympic spotlight was on ice dancing, and Canada, the host country, saw its new heroes, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, bring home the gold in front of their fellow countrymen after a mesmerizing performance in the free dance.  Canadian flags waved proudly as Virtue and Moir mounted the podium to receive this rarest of athletic prizes, an Olympic gold medal.

For Ellen and me, the day started with a morning bus trip to downtown Vancouver and lunch at Proctor & Gamble House.  In providing help and support for Olympic athletes, Proctor & Gamble has emphasized the part that each athlete's mother plays in the success of the athletes.  Throughout the facility are signs and displays expressing gratitude to the mothers of the American Olympians, and as a small gesture of appreciation, Proctor & Gamble operates a beauty salon on the top floor for Olympic mothers and supporters to have their hair and make-up done or get a message.  It is a very nice perk for the ladies!  Yesterday Ellen was pampered at the beauty salon and emerged like a beautiful butterfly with a new do and striking new make-up.
While Ellen was receiving her beauty treatment, I picked up our tickets for the free dance competition that was to be held at the Pacific Coliseum later in the afternoon.  Although the title of the event is "free dance," the tickets were not free.  Olympic ice dancing is very popular, and tickets to the final night, which would be capped off with the medal ceremony, were in high demand with corresponding high prices.

Returning to Proctor & Gamble House, I met Ellen for lunch.  There we caught up with the Evan Bates' parents and his family.  Everyone was upbeat an enthusiastic about the performance of Evan and Emily during the original dance the night before.  As we were having lunch, we watched the USA women's hockey team take Sweden to the woodshed in the semi-final of women's hockey with a 9-1 thumping of the Swedes.  The USA will play Canada in the gold medal game on Thursday in what promises to be a showdown between the world's two women's hockey superpowers.
We arrived at the Pacific Coliseum with time to spare and waited for the dancers to begin their competition at 4:45 P.M.  In free dance, each team is permitted to skate for four minutes and ten seconds.  If you go past the time limit, even by one second, you receive a one point deduction from your score.  The teams do their programs in ascending order of finish after the first two events, compulsory and original dance.  Thus, the best teams, those with a chance of earning a medal, compete in the last flight at the end of the competition.

One by one the teams took the ice for their final day of competition on the Olympic ice.  Evan and Emily, in 11th place out of 23 teams, skated at the end of the third flight to the music of Canto della Terra by Francesco Sartori as performed by Sarah Brightman and Adrea Bocelli.  Again, they performed their routine flawlessly, with complicated lifts and twizzles and spins.  They looked like two young people joyously celebrating their passion for dancing.  They looked radiant.  Afterward, in the kiss-and-cry, they received their marks:  46.40 for element and 42.54 for component, giving a free dance combined total of 88.94 and an overall total of 174.30.  For a brief moment they were in first place.  When we saw their scores, we cheered and screamed and danced and waved our flags. In their honor, we rang our cowbell wildly and made a huge amount of noise for them.

Their stay at the top was brief.  The next skaters, Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky, a team from Israel, scored 90.64 in the free dance and passed Emily and Evan.  By the time that the skaters from the final flight took the ice, it was clear that the medals would come from this group.  Of course, we were hoping that Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White would be among the teams on the podium with fellow Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.  Davis and White skated to a beautiful medley of Andrew Lloyd Weber music from Phantom of the Opera.  Like Evan and Emily, they skated with joy and passion.  At the end, it was clear that Charlie was spent.  He had left it all out on the ice.  He was so exhausted that he could barely stand on the ice.  The judges awarded the first place, and the American fans in the crowd, including Ellen and myself, went wild.

Then came the Canadians, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.  It is interesting to note that the Virtue and Moir have the same coach as Davis and White, a Russian coach named Igor Shpilband.  Both teams skate at the Arctic Figure Skating Rink, just a few miles away from Ann Arbor Figure Skating Cube, where Evan and Emily skate.  Thus, within a radius of about ten miles, three of the world's top ice dancing teams train.  Shpilband also used to coach Belbin and Agosto, who won the silver medal at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics and were viewed as medal contenders at Vancouver.  Prior to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, however, they had parted ways with Shpilband for personal reasons.

The Canadians skated beautifully, and at the end of the night they were crowned Olympic champions.  The hometown crowd went wild as the strains of "O Canada" were played as the Canadian flag was raised.  Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with their distinctive red jackets and broad-rimmed hats, raised the flags of Canada (gold), the United States (silver), and Russia (bronze).
 
Later, there was some controversy as to whether the Russian team of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin had skated well enough to earn bronze.  From our vantage, Belbin and Agosto appeared to skate better than the Russians and we thought that they deserved a better fate.  Today, we saw in and on line news source an article that discussed some other viewpoints about the final medal awards. It appears that we are not the only ones who are second guessing the judges.  It appears that everyone wants to weigh in on the final outcome of this competition.

To top off the evening, Nancy and Eric Bates invited Ellen and me to the "USA House" to attend the victory celebration for Davis and White.  And that's what it was--a true victory celebration.  We arrived before Davis and White arrived, and upon our arrival, we saw Evan and Emily.  They looked so happy!  They were celebrating their season's best performance in ice dance with the rest of their ice dance teammates, including Tanith Belbin.  Many other Olympians were also there, including Dr. Tenley Albright, women's figure skating champion at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy, and silver medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway; I spoke with her briefly, and she signed my USA Olympic flag.

While people celebrated in the bar area at USA House, and as I was talking to Yasa and Yuri, my colleague from the Beijing Olympics, Olympian Gary Morgan, greeted me.  It was great to see Gary.  Of course, if there is a party going on, you can count on Gary to be there.  We took some pictures together with the ice dancers and then with Yasa and Yuri.  I had all the American ice dancers sign my USA Olympic flag along the left hand border, where Evan and Emily had signed it in Ann Arbor a few weeks before the Vancouver Games.  In this flag, I have an incredible souvenir from the Olympics in Beijing and now also Vancouver. I may have to get a new flag as this one is getting filled up with signatures of Olympians.
 
Ellen and I left USA House around 1:00 A.M.  As we were leaving, memories of my many nights closing the USA House in Beijing went through my head.  We headed back to our abode on East Georgia Street by cab, weary but filled with happiness for having been part of this incredible Olympic experience.

Tomorrow is our final day.  We will be doing some touristy things, some final souvenir shopping, and then we will be heading home early Wednesday morning. Even now, we are both wondering if this was real or was it a dream?
  
Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.

Entry #5 – Journey's End

Vancouver, British Columbia
February 24, 2010
 
Yesterday was our final day in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics.  We would gladly have stayed longer, but the press of work and other responsibilities does not give us that luxury.  Ellen and I are both attorneys, and for attorneys, you can never really relax and "be on vacation."  The wolves are always waiting at the door.
 
The highlight of our final day was a fortuitous meeting with my friend, Dr. Jolie Holschen, team physician for the United States women's Olympic hockey team.  I know from Jolie from my work with the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run, the Ann Arbor Track Club's major road race each year that drew over 6,600 runners in 2009.  Jolie and I both serve on the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run Committee, she as head of the medical staff team and I as elite athlete coordinator.
 
As Ellen and I were having lunch at Proctor & Gamble House, from the corner of my eye I saw a person dressed in official Team USA garb, sporting a Team USA Polo ski jacket and a Team USA Nike ski hat.  Looking at her more closely, I immediately recognized Jolie and invited her to join with us for lunch.  She looked fabulous!
 
Jolie described for us her plush accommodations in the Olympic Village.  She and the American women's hockey team are housed in a building that overlooks the water, and she is assigned to a penthouse apartment that has a commanding view of Vancouver and the surrounding mountains.  After the Winter Olympics, her penthouse apartment will be sold as a condominium.  The anticipated price is $6 million.  Jolie admitted to feeling slightly spoiled by her digs in the Olympic Village!  It will be hard returning to her more modest lodging in Ann Arbor when the Olympics are over.
 
On Thursday evening, the USA women's hockey team will play the Canadian women's hockey team for the gold medal.  The two teams are the class of the Olympic women's hockey field, each team undefeated in its games to date with a substantial goals for-goals against disparity against its opponents.  Over the past two years, the teams have played each other several times, with Canada holding a slight edge, although the USA beat Canada for the World Women's Hockey championship in 2009.  There is talk brewing that the International Olympic Committee may eliminate women's hockey as a Winter Olympics sport because of a lack of competition among the teams.  The IOC does not like sports in which one or two teams dominate the field.  Women's softball, which has tentatively been eliminated as a Summer Olympics sport because of America's dominance over the years, is a case in point.
 
Jolie observed that the players on the American women's hockey team have put their lives on hold for this moment and an opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal.  Many have part-time jobs to support themselves and do not have adequate health insurance.  They have made many sacrifices to chase their Olympic dream.
 
As team physician, Jolie will be front and center at the gold medal game on Thursday evening.  If the USA wins, Jolie expects to join the team on the ice for a joyous post-game celebration.  If the USA loses, she will still celebrate with the team at it silver medal victory party at USA House.
 
Jolie recounted for us the path that brought her to being appointed team physician for the USA women's hockey team.  From a very young age, she wanted to be a doctor, and she always had a keen interest in sports.  Of course, having been certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine in emergency medicine and sports medicine, she has the professional credentials.  It also helped that the USA Hockey National Team Developmental Program is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in the past few years she has worked with the developmental team and accompanied the team on trips overseas to world championship competitions.
 
It is a great honor to be selected as an Olympic team physician.  Olympic speed skater Eric Heiden (five gold medals at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics), now an orthopedic surgeon, was team physician for the American speed skating team in 2002.  In the fall of 2009, Jolie received word that she had been selected to be the team physician for the USA women's hockey team in Vancouver.  We told her that her parents, who visited with her here in Vancouver, should be very proud of her and that we were too.
 
After lunch, Ellen and I did some final souvenir shopping at Canada's oldest department store, the Hudson Bay Department Store.  There was a 20-minute line just to get into the Olympic Super Store.  Then Ellen and I parted company, and I walked to the waterfront to see the Olympic flame.  The crowds were sparse because of the rain, and the line to pass by the flame was short.  Despite the dreary conditions, the flame was burning brightly, and I snapped a few pictures of this icon of the Olympic spirit.
 
Returning to Proctor & Gamble House, Ellen and I enjoyed our final meal there, a sumptuous dinner that included Polish sausage and perogies.  One of the servers explained to us that the head chef wanted to make the Americans feel at home by offering them some ethnic cuisine in addition to standard American fare.  Of course, the selection on Tuesday evening was, for me, a Polish boy's dream!
 
At our table, Ellen and I were joined by the family of Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, a freestyle aerial skier on the USA Olympic Ski Team.  The family is staying near Whistler, where the skiing events are being held, but drove to Vancouver on Wednesday to do some sightseeing in the city.  Speedy's grandmother, affectionately called the "Grinding Granny," described Speedy's journey to the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  He has been doing aerial skiing since age 10 and trains most of the year in Park City, Utah.  Over the last 18 years, Speedy has sacrificed everything for aerial skiing and lives on a very modest budget.  Aerial skiing is his life. The Vancouver Winter Olympics are his third, and possibly last, Winter Olympics.  He is determined to leave Vancouver with a medal.  If he can successfully execute his trademark jump, known in aerial ski circles as "The Hurricane," he has a good chance to win a medal.
 
Ernest Hemingway once said, "Poise is grace under pressure."  To be successful, an Olympic athlete must have poise because the pressure of competition on the Olympic stage is gargantuan.  Too often, success at the Olympics is measured by winning medals.  The press feeds into the public's obsession with medals by inordinately covering the medal winners, to the detriment of the many athletes who compete but do not make the podium.
 
Although our friends Emily and Evan did not win any medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, they were poised and gave spectacular performances in all three ice dance disciplines--compulsory, original dance, and free dance--under the pressure of the Olympic microscope.  Hemingway would have approved, and we are so proud of their accomplishment, finishing 11th out of 23 teams, at these Vancouver Olympics.
 
In 1937, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, expressed the Olympic ideal of holding an athletic competition every four years in order to promote understanding across cultures, thereby lessening the dangers of war. In addition, Coubertin viewed the Olympic Games as an important part of his philosophical belief that the competition itself, the struggle to overcome one's opponent, was more important than winning.  De Coubertin expressed this ideal thus:
 

L'important dans la vie ce n'est point le triomphe, mais le combat, l'essentiel ce n'est pas d'avoir vaincu mais de s'être bien battu.

 
That is, "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
 
In the end, the Olympic spirit is embodied in those who, like Emily and Evan, have fought the good fight and competed and done their best.  Well done, Emily and Evan.  You have represented your country and your families and friends and the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club with great honor, and we are all very proud of you.  Well done, Yasa and Yuri, for being the guiding hands of these two remarkable young people.
 
In four years, the world's greatest winter athletes will reconvene in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics.  There is certainly a realistic chance that Emily and Evan will return to the Olympic ice dance stage in four years and represent their country again as members of the United States Figure Skating Team.  If they do, we will be there to support them and cheer them on.
 
In closing, Ellen and I hope that you enjoyed this blog as much as we enjoyed writing it.  We bid you farewell and hope that you too may someday have the opportunity to journey to the Olympic mountain and be part of the Olympic experience.
 
Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.