The Ones to Watch at Vancouver Winter Olympics
Column by Heather Burke Feb, 2010

The Pats aren’t going to the big dance so its time to set your sights on the Winter Olympics, coming to you next week from beautiful British Columbia. Opening ceremonies are Feb. 12. The signature ski event, the Downhill kicks off Feb. 13 starring Bode Miller, 1996Carrabassett Valley Academy graduate, and current C.V.A. junior Dimitri Gedevanishvili (say that three times) who at age 17 will ski for his home country of Georgia.

5,020’ vertical Whistler will host the alpine skiing events: Slalom, GS, Super G, Combined and Downhill. Whistler/Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America with 8,171 acres (Vail is 5,289 and Sugarloaf is 1,400 boundary to boundary by comparison). In a word Whistler is epic (this is your chance to check it out from your living room chair).

Whistler’s Dave Murray Downhill Course is considered one of the three steepest courses in the world, named after the Canadian ski racer and member of the Crazy Canuks race team of the 1970 - 80’s. While Murray never won a World Cup or an Olympic medal, he was well known for his reckless racing style (think Bode Miller).

Its Miller time again as Bode is back, competing in his fourth Olympics. I could fill a book on Bode’s antics from his graduation asterisk at C.V.A., his socializing on an Olympic level at the 2006 Torino Winter Games, to his quitting the U.S. Ski Team then rejoining to qualify for Vancouver. Miller just won a World Cup combined in January, his first since March 2008, and is reportedly skiing strong.

U.S. Men's Alpine Coach Sasha Rearick, a Gould Academy alumnus (1995), said of Miller’s racing, “Is it a surprise to me that he can come out and win? No. He's one of the best skiers in the world.”

Suffice it to say, it will be fascinating to watch Bode Miller flying downhill (the name of his film) at speeds of 80mph, along with newcomer Dimitri Gedevanishvili (there I wrote it twice), on the 3.1 kilometer Dave Murray downhill course next Saturday.

Cypress Mountain near Vancouver is the host resort for Olympic snowboard and freestyle skiing events. Cypress is actually a sister resort to Sugarloaf and Sunday River, owned by Boyne Resorts. On Feb. 15, we can watch Maine’s Seth Wescott (C.V.A. ’94) defend his 2006 Olympic Gold medal in snowboard cross (SBX). Wescott was thwarted again from first place at last week’s X Games in Aspen - earning silver. Wescott has competed in 13 X Games and never won, but the Olympics have proven to be his golden event. Wescott said following the X Games, “I wasn’t willing to risk an injury in there. The Olympics is a bigger deal.”

Other snowboard events include Halfpipe and Parallel Giant Slalom racing, with strong U.S. contenders. Freestyle skiing features Moguls and Aerials where another C.V.A. alumnus Emily Cook (‘97) will compete. “Emily has been on the podium many times and has a new triple-twisting double she started last year and is looking to perfect at Vancouver,” said Aerials Head Coach Matt Christensen. Watch Emily fly through the air on Feb. 20.

Three C.V.A. grads, Jeremy Cota (2007) and David DiGravio (2005) of Farmington just missed qualifying for the men’s Olympic moguls team, as did Dave’s sister Alison DiGravio (2009) in women’s moguls.

A new Olympic venue to watch is Ski Cross on Feb. 21; this is the skiing equivalent to Wescott’s event. Ski Cross similarly involves six skiers on the same roller derby style course taking jumps, banked turns and gates in a first to the finish wins format. Hopefully former U.S. Ski Team racers Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett can represent the U.S. in this Olympic “Skier X” debut. Both were injured at Aspen’s X Games, proving that this raucous race often results in mass pile ups and in their case - dislocations.
 
A bit of Olympic preparation trivia, Cypress Mountain used 1,065 bales of straw, 800 of which were airlifted into place by helicopter, to shape and construct the snowboard and ski cross course, which is then covered in snow. For the construction of Cypress’ aerial and mogul courses, 24 snow cats and two huge dump trucks were used to move 300 truckloads of snow to the steep venues. Nordic skiing events (cross country, biathlon and ski jumping) will be held at the new Whistler Olympic Park (a mere $120 million project).

To entice your smallest viewers at home to watch the Winter Olympics, check out the four furry mascots created for Vancouver’s Games. Quatchi is an amicable Sasquatch beast, Mukmuk is a marmot, Miga is a curious looking sea bear, and Sumi is an animal guardian spirit.

Enjoy the Vancouver Games, and cheer for our Maine competitors. You won’t have another chance to see the best winter sport athletes compete at the Olympic level until 2014, when Russia hosts its first Winter Games in Sochi.

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