A few days after the announcement, it’s just starting to sink in for real. In two weeks from today, I’ll walk into the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing waving the Maple Leaf high with Canada’s best athletes right behind me, as we prepare to take on the world.
Emails from people I’ve looked up to (way up) my whole life are pouring into my inbox to congratulate me on the nomination. Johann “King” Koss, Olympic champion speedskater and the founder of Right to Play; Marnie McBean, Olympic champion rower and an incredible mentor for all the Canadian athletes heading to Beijing; my friend and wicked-awesome triathlete Simon Whitfield just to say ‘well done fella!’; the man who I will try my best to follow in the footsteps of in Beijing, swimmer Alex Baumann, who carried the flag in 1984, and went on to win two gold medals, hockey queen Hayley Wickenheiser, and some guy named Scott Bowman, who didn’t identify himself as the Scotty Bowman, but I can dream, right?
Sorry for the blatant name-dropping, but it feels really amazing to be in such great company. I’ve never felt more proud to be Canadian than when I carried the flag into the 2004 Olympic closing ceremony in Athens, and I couldn’t be more excited, honoured and proud to represent Canada again in Beijing.
This week’s training has been awesome. Really starting to feel in race-shape again after a long hiatus of speedy-work following our European World Cup circuit in June. It’s the last week I’ll have my training partner, Anders Gustafsson (link: http://www.andersgustafsson.net/) from Sweden alongside to give me that much needed push in the really tough sessions. He’s going back to Sweden for two weeks before leaving for Beijing, since it’s half-way there… kind of.
I’ve been catching a bit of flak for not being fully bilingual, which in the eyes of a few members of the French media, should deem me ineligible for the position of flag bearer. I read the job description, and I’m not required to give a speech, I can walk, smile and wave in French AND English, and as a matter of fact, my French isn’t non-existent, I’m just shy about it; I like expressing myself intelligently, which is tough with my (maybe) second grade level of franco-vocab.
Je suis desole pour mon francais, Quebec… J’espere que je peux représenter TOUT le Canada dans Pékin, et je continuerai à travailler à mon Français!