SLC Winter Olympics 2002 Flashback P.4 - Half-pipe and Hockey

The day, February 11, 2002 started with an morning drive to Park City to park, at this point we were getting familiar to the routine of hopping shuttle bus, wait in security lines, waiting more... but i was getting a little irked cause the eyelets on my boots always chirping the metal detectors so i'd get moved over to the secondary line to get wanded down by some 19-year National Guardsman. 

Cops from all over the US had come to help out and provide reinforcements and while I won't rant on this topic, I did find it a "bit* distracting but post 9/11 etc .... you know the routine.

So anyhow, we got in and found a bit of hill to perch on to watch the Women's Halfpipe Snowboarding.  We were on the side of course since we had the "B" grade tickets, rather than "A" grade which put you in the grandstand for a wider view.  Advantages to both but i dig some comfort now and then in amongst the big (maybe about 16,000 attendees).

The first session is the preliminary runs and really most all 23 participants were fantastic to say the least.  A bit of a separation between some of the competitors to be sure and a variety of styles noticeable to even a neophyte (me).  Some more aerial tricks while others more smooth and subtle.  Finland, US, Japan appeared to be strong teams though the Japanese also seemed to get jobbed by the officials who weren't impressed by their explosiveness.

Note:  Riders were judged in four categories: standard airs, rotations (spins over 360 degrees), amplitude (height out of the pipe) and overall impression (which counts double). Riders were ranked on the best score out of two runs, with the low score being thrown out.



The highlight to the first round was when Dan spotted 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics Gold Medalist Ross Regbliatti watching the event.  I immediately went down to say "hey" and get a signature on my Team Canada sign I'd made with the help of my brother Anders.  Yeah I've met a few famous folks in my time but I was totally stoked to meet Ross since he provided one of the most thrilling TV sports moments and subsequent stories, both of which totally enthralled me.  



A brief digression, ... I had lived in Nagano in the mid-nineties leading up to the games and I had hoped to be there but instead i was stuck in a crappy rental duplex in Olympia Washington with no other winter sports fans who'd stay up to 3AM to watch luge and curling, so i watching Ross's run live, the course was foggy, the snow thrashed and the announcers didn't give him a chance, by the end i was up screaming.  The cannabis issue was also intriguing due to my interest in public drug policy and the history of hemp in Japan and had written on the topic. Later, Ross's incident added an intriguing sidebar to my research.

So at the Snowboarding event, ... in the intermission, the band Lit entertained the assembled, youthful masses with some lukewarm quasi-indie-rock but a nice way to kill some time while in the unique environment - giant grandstands, sunny day, women in colorful outfits flying out of a enormous carved tube.
 
The finals started with 12 competitors including all 3 USA riders, doing 2 runs each, the best one counted.  The competition was sweet, indeed, the women were as good now as the men were in 1998 which i watched on TV.  The Men's is bound to be nuts.   

We booked out as Kelly Clark began her final run to head down to Provo for hockey.  She went on to win Gold and the silver to Doriane Vidal of France while Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland scored Bronze.

Back down Provo canyon on a beautiful day making nice interlude between events - once away from the venue, traffic thinned and we enjoyed the drive.

At the Peaks, Germany and Austria matched up for a good game won by Germany 3-2.  The Austrians kept it close as Germany is the stronger team with designs on moving up.  With 2 losses early in the tourney, Austria was already all but out and playing for pride.

Due up the next day, 11AM at the E Center for Team Canada women vs Kazakhstan and more Men's Hockey with another preliminary game featuring Ukraine vs Switzerland.

More pics on Flickr photostream, just on any pic above to hop in.