Wishing The Best for Joannie Rochette

It must have been very difficult for Joannie Rochette to have skated yesterday for the first time without her mom watching her. Her mom died on Sunday on her way to see Joannie compete for gold. Joannie was very strong to be able to get back out on the ice and focus on the goal that her mom worked so hard to help her achieve. I can't imagine how she must have felt when she skated onto the ice. The timing of her mom's death is very tragic and my heart goes out to her. During her program she remained composed, landing each jump. The ending was very emotional. She came in third. The fact that she has decided to continue competing shows her devotion to Canada and to her mom's dream. May her mom's spirit guide her through the rest of the competition. Our prayers are with you Joannie!

Click here to watch her emotional performance on CTV.

Joannie will skate again on Feb. 25 at 5:00 p.m. PST. This is a medal event.

The Design of the Olympic Medals

The first thing I noticed about the 2010 Olympic medals is their shape. They are not perfectly round and flat. The surface undulates like waves. I watched the making of the medals on the Vancouver 2010 website and thought I would share that with you. It is very interesting how they designed the medals. It would be such an honour to be a part of the designing process! The medals have captured the uniqueness of our country and I would love to see them and hold them in my hand. I have heard athletes comment that they are quite heavy. Please click the link below to watch the video.

The Making Of the Medals

Dancing Gold!

I am very excited that Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold medal for Ice Dancing. It is the first gold medal ever won by a North American country in Ice Dancing. They are a very young couple. Tessa is 20 and Scott is 22. Way to go Canada!

Watch a clip here!

Men's Free Skating

Today is a medal event for the men's free skating and I am excited to see who will win this one. I watched Russian, Evgeni Plushenko Tuesday night and I was wowed by his performance. He is fast and always doing difficult moves. He is a strong believer that a quad must be in a routine in order for it to be men's figure skating. He isn't the most artistic skater I've seen but he is fast and powerful. His close rivals are American Evan Lysacek and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi. Canadian Patrick Chan ranked 7th in the Men's Short Program.

Should Hockey Olympians Be Amateurs?

I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning about whether or not Olympic hockey teams should consist of amateur players. It is my opinion that yes, the team members should be amateurs. That thought was going through my head last night when I was watching Canada play Norway. If we brought in amateurs from the minors, it would give us some insight into the up and coming hockey talent and it would give the amateurs exposure. We wouldn't be watching players who were born in Canada but have moved to the USA because they get paid to play for an American team. We would be watching young Canadians putting their heart and soul into the games for Canada and I think this would contribute to a more exciting hockey game. What are your thoughts?

Summary of Day 5 - Daily Host Video

The following is a summary of the results of Day 5 (Feb. 16) plus a feature on the Atlantic House and BC Hydro Power Smart Village. The daily host video is posted everyday on the Vancouver 2010 website.

Leading Countries of Medals

To date, the USA is in the lead for the most medals won. They have won 8 medals in total - 2 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. Germany is coming in second with 5 medals, 1gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze. France is in third with 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 bronze, Canada is in fourth place with 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze.

Today's medal events will be Women's 10 km biathlon, ladies snowboarding, Men's 12.5 km biathlon, Men's combined slalom, Women's single luge, and Ladies 500 m speed skating. Another highlight of today will be the Men's Canada hockey game against Norway.