Words from Whistler

Ski Cross was Wild

Today was the Olympic debut for Ski Cross and it was wild. Ski cross seems to be described as a cross between motorcross, roller derby and skiing. While the Canadian skiers had tremendous support as the hometown boys, it was great to see so many different countries participating and clearly demonstrating the sport has a global appeal. Errol Kerr, the friendly giant wearing green and yellow from Jamaica was a crowd favorite. Not only did he have his family in attendance to support him but two of the original Jamaican Bobsled members, who had participated in the Calgary Olympics of 1988, were on hand to cheer him on.


What made the event more entertaining were the descriptions of the skiers, or should I say cast of characters. Some of the skiers were described as having other hobbies such as BMX, football, anger management and bowling. Couple the hobbies with physical attributes that ranged up to 6’4” and 230 lbs and you have men who are going to fight for their space on the track. The blood shed and colossal collisions were reminiscent of warriors fighting for a space on the podium. The battle continued right into the final where Canada’s Chris Del Bosco looked like he would capture bronze until on the final jump, with the crowd cheering wildly, he flew like an eagle but turned sideways and landed in a faceplant. While the crowd was disappointed Canada did not bring home a medal, the entertainment value was 5/5. I look forward to watching the Women’s Ski Cross on Tuesday.



Keep watching for more "Words from Whistler" as Debra Gassewitz, President & CEO, SIRC, continues her stay at Whistler. You can find Debra at Whistler Canada Olympic House.

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games City Named in July 2011

In just over seven week’s time, on July 6, 2011, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will choose the host city for the 2018 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Winter Games. The decision will be made at an IOC Session meeting in Durban, South Africa. Three major international cities are currently in the running - Annecy (France), Munich (Germany) and PyeongChang (Korea).

Since 2002, all IOC voting members are no longer allowed to travel to candidate cities and must rely on the bid city presentations. Only the small team that forms the evaluation committee is permitted to visit the cities, so that they can prepare the reports to share with the rest of the IOC members. Yesterday in Switzerland at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne, each city was required to give a 45-minute technical presentation to 88 IOC members, and then be available to answer questions. Part of putting together a bid/ candidate city committee is making sure each city has the right “star” power to promote each bid. The Annecy bid includes triple Olympic alpine champion Jean-Claude Killy, Munich is led by two-time Olympic gold medalist figure skater Katarina Witt, while PyeongChang has 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Yu-Na Kim.

According to reports following the presentations, there is still no clear front runner, as each city could successfully host an excellent and well executed Winter Games. If Munich were to win, they would become the only city to have ever hosted both the Summer (1972) and Winter Olympic Games, while some of their venues include the 1936 Winter Games host city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Some of the events in Annecy would include the 1968 host city of Grenoble, while PyeongChang has bid twice losing out to the Games of 2010 (Vancouver) and 2014 (Sochi).

The 2018 Olympic Winter Games are to take place from February 9-24, 2018.

Contact SIRC for more information on winter sports and the Olympic Games.