Gold and Gloom for GB!!

20th Feb 10

Yes, yes, yes! GB have won thier first individual gold medal at the Winter Olympic games since Robin Cousins in 1980!! Hooray! I stayed up until about 2am to see it live on TV and it wasn't disappointing!
Shelly Rudman came 6th for GB too and the men did really well to have two of them in the final and be 8th and 20th I think...

So, medals eh? Pretty awesome for us to have one! I'm also hopeful for the Kerrs in the Figure Skating and for the men and women's Curling teams to do us proud.

That's not to say that the likes of Chemmy Alcott, Ed Drake, Lesley McKenna, Zoe Gillings and the others who have competed for GB haven't. Chemmy Alcott did really well I thought, coming 11th(?) in the downhill.

I just think its so great that we have such a big team, representing a variety of sports competing in 2010 in these Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Watch this space for more Olympic style joy!!

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24th Feb 10

So this is not really Olympic joy, but that is part and parcel of being British - losing at stuff but still having maximum optimism. So...

The Kerrs came 8th in the Ice Dance and Penny Coombes/Nick Buckland came 19th (in their first Olympics!) so it was really good for us to have 2 couples in the finals and watching all of the different dances was grrrreat. My favourite dance has to be the original dance by the Kerrs, I thought it was really creative and fun - the crowd certainly loved it big time.
However, big time love from the crowd and the judges went to Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (who are Canadian obviously) who won gold in the end. I have to admit they were pretty breath-taking!

Curling has to be the most disappointing at the mo though. The women's team went out doubly when Switzerland beat Germany and when we lost to Canada. So their Olympic hopes are out of the window and they are out of the competition.
The men lost to Norway last night so now we MUST beat Sweden in a tie-breaker game if we are to advance to the semi-finals.

So there is hope there, and there is also hope for us in the women's 2 man bobsleigh, which starts today, so I'll be keeping a special eye on that after the men's team crashed out in qualifying. Apparently, they've made efforts to make the course a little less dangerous - as they did when the Georgian luger died.

So some stuff to hope for and other exciting stuff just to watch: snowboarding and ski cross for example.

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25th Feb 10

Pretty much all gloom today as Nicola Minichielo and Gillian Cooke crashed out of the women's 2 man bobsliegh yesterday. It was a pretty spectacular crash and it's so lucky that they were both ok!

The men's curling team took their tie-breaker match with Sweden right to the 11th end and were tied 6-6. Then Sweden got 1 in the last end to take the match and the 4th and final place in the quarter final. Darn.

It's not all about winning though, its the taking part and its so great, literally, to see so many GB athletes in so many different events. GB2 for example (the second 2 man team in the women's bob) finished 11th and its only their first Olympics, so we have great hope for them to improve for 4 years time.

Hmmm, and still the Games go on! So watch this space for my final thoughts as they wind down to a close and as we see the final medals decided - the ice hockey for example!!!

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1st Mar 10

So, the Games are over and all that's left are the litterpickers (I made that up, but it sounds good!). Canada, have gone from being the only Olympic host nation in history to have never won a gold on home soil, to being the most successful Olympic host nation in history, having won 14 golds at these games. So well done to Canada.

On the subject of Canada, my heart was in my mouth as I watched - live - the Gold medal match in the men's hockey. Excitement! Canada lead going in tot he last period and then with roughly 20secs to go, the USA equalised - oh my word! So then they went to a 20min golden goal period and Canada scored. And won the gold. And celebrated.

Hopefully though, they didn't celebrate like the Canadian women's team (who also won Gold). They were show, celebrating on the ice that evening; smoking cigars, drinking champagne etc. That is no the way I (or the IOC for that matter) would expect world class athletes to behave, it could have even put their medal in jeopardy!! Silly.

All in all though, the Games have been good. Canada did us proud as hosts and Team Canada did themselves proud. Team GB did our sceptred isle proud too, roll on Russia in 4 years time! Also roll on London 2012, please do not let us cack it up and show ourselves up to the whole world. I just hope I can get some tickets!!!

So my Olympic post is over, hope you've enjoyed the Games as much as I did. Adios!