I love sports, mostly participating, but generally love competing and spending time with people that feel the same way about sports and what they mean to us. For me the olympics are an incredible human story. People dedicating their lives to the pursuit of a single goal for a single day in the distant future. Most of these athletes work their butts off and never see the fame and riches of their professional counterparts. You can see the pride and the effort during the olympics in a way that doesn't quite show up in the Superbowl, Stanley cup or the NBA championship (the world cup of soccer comes close).
The opening ceremony of the Olympics is the beginning of the games and it should showcase the country as well as the Olympic ideals and overall I think it was a very nice ceremony, not over the top.... very Canadian. Except one thing for me. During the week leading up to the Olympics there was a lot of speculation who would light the Olympic flame and most people were saying the it would be Wayne Gretzky, our hockey hero. Not a bad choice at all, since he is a great sportsman, father and a role model for athletes from all sports, but in my opinion another Canadian Terry Fox should have been chosen. It isn't my idea at all, and there were some rumors that a hologram of Terry Fox would light the torch. For those of you that are not Canadian you can read about Terry Fox here, but in short, Terry Fox was an incredible young man that decided to run across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer. He did all on one leg since he lost his right leg to cancer a few years ago. He started on Canada's Atlantic coast in Newfoundland and ran all the way to Thunderbay, Ontario. That is a distance of over 5400 kms while averaging a marathon a day (42km). He had to abandon the run due to his cancer coming back into his lungs after 143 days. His goal was to collect a dollar from every single canadian which he did (24 Million at the time). Sadly he died next June at the age of 23. His foundation has raised over 500 million dollars for cancer research.
To me, Terry Fox is one of those people that makes me very very proud to be Canadian. In my opinion, it is hard to name the Canadian that defines the Olympic spirit more than he does and I was very very excited about his possible inclusion in the Vancouver Games. It would have been great and even Terry Fox's mother Betty thinks that he should have been included in this article. Anyway, it was a nice ceremony, but it could have been spectacular.
John
I say goodbye. I say hello.
7 years ago
2 comments:
Love you John!
I agree.
I agree! Terry Fox was and is a legend here in Canada, which is why our kids still run and pledge for his causes in schools. Every year!
He was an incredible athlete and should have been recongized more, at the Olympics. However, it was the Winter Olympics and that doesn't really fit with Terry Fox as much as if it were the summer Olympics. I hope we get the summer Olympics and when we do, Terry Fox's honor will stand proud and strong at the opening ceremonies.
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