Ashley Chow dot Com

Words can’t even begin to explain what happened in Vancouver today. It was one of those once in a lifetime things that you knew you would regret if you didn’t partake in the glorious festivities.

I started my day by pulling my Luongo Team Canada jersey over my head and heading out the door to go Downtown for the final time during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Even at the smaller SkyTrain station where I began the day, people were decked out in red, white, and giant Canada flags. I decided to hang around Starbucks in the Chapters by Robson Square for an hour or so before meeting up with my friends. Just looking out the window, I could tell everyone was stoked about the upcoming gold medal hockey match between Canada and USA. (I love the love-hate relationship we have with the States.)

Throughout the day, I’ve had random people come up to me to give me high-fives, saying they wanted to kidnap me because they saw me in my Luongo jersey, and all kinds of weird things. That wasn’t a rare occurrence today though. We wandered over to Robson Square and found an okay spot amongst the crowd to stare at a big screen to watch the game. Some other friends were inside Pacific Centre, but I preferred the atmosphere outside, even if I didn’t have as wonderful of a view. There were even people inside Chapters (right behind) on the 2nd and 3rd floors, sitting by the window to watch the game.

The sounds of all of the “GO CANADA GO!” “CA-NA-DA!” “LET’S GO, CANADA, LET’S GO!” “LUUUUUUUUUU!” are still ringing in my head as I type this. Canada flags waved all around throughout the game, and “O Canada” was even sung twice during the game. “BOOOOOO”‘s rang out when the Americans came out, when they scored… whenever they did anything that we didn’t like, we boo’ed. I also won’t forget how many times we had to yell at security, the press, anyone and everyone that got in our way of the screen (as we didn’t have a fabulous view).

I noticed that somewhere in the middle of the game, the sky got brighter. That’s when I realized the sun was starting to come out. The thought that ran across my mind, We’re gonna win! The sun’s out! Then USA scored. With what, 24 seconds left in the 3rd period?

Of course, there was the lone American, waving his little American flag, cheering, while everyone else stay silent, wondering how Luongo could’ve possibly let one in when the gold was so close to being ours.

Now, by that point in the game, I just turned sideways and didn’t watch. I couldn’t watch anymore; it was too intense. But the sun was still there, and I was assured that Canada was playing very well during OT, so I waited for the crowd to react. Waited, and waited, and waited. And then there it was.

Canada had done it. Crosby had done it. I was sure one of my friends was over at the mall crying his eyes out. And there was the sun, shining brightly…

… as Vancouver burst into cheers.

This is the national anthem being sung in Robson Square during the victory ceremony while people continued to zipline across the Square and media recorded the historic moment.

Going down Robson Street was not easy either. Everyone was there, everyone was cheering, everyone was high fiving, everyone was so patriotic. I took the following video on my iPhone (as my camera had long died by then) while making my way through Robson Street.

I originally didn’t intend on staying Downtown for the closing ceremony, but was later convinced that the continued cheering and patriotism was an opportunity not to be missed. I did go home first for a little bit before coming back, and this was my experience on the Granville Station escalator (one of the longest escalators ever, 45 degree angle basically). Do excuse the man in front of me with the ginormous Canada flag.

Of course, the cheering didn’t stop. The Canada flag waving didn’t stop. None of the hype stopped.

We watched the closing ceremony on the Sears building, where it was projected.

I was happy to see that the cauldron finally had its 4 arms, complete and to everyone’s satisfaction.

I didn’t find the closing ceremony all too interesting. It seemed like they were trying to put on something that was a bit in contrast to the opening ceremony; something more humourous. In any case, I nearly froze to death out there watching the ceremony, but it was nice to see everyone walking around, still sporting those Canada flags, cheering their minds out.

After the closing ceremony, we walked over to Canada Place to see the cauldron one last time. Of course, the flame was no longer lit, but the icicle-ness of the cauldron was still there.

I also managed to see the Olympic rings across the water, this time in gold, at nighttime.

And it didn’t stop there. We heard endless car honking, cow belling, cheering, flag waving, high fiving, all while walking towards the SkyTrain station to go home.

It looks like Canada has “Own[ed] the Podium”, maybe not with the most number of medals, but with the most number of medals that counted. Our national anthem was sung 14 times in this Olympics, more than any other Winter Olympics ever, and we’ve gotten the most medals to be awarded by the host country at a Winter Games. That’s 2 records right there.

And like I said on Twitter and Facebook,

Sorry, USA. It doesn’t matter that you won all the games leading up to the gold medal game because you didn’t win the one that counted.

It’s too bad everything’s come to an end, and that everyone has to make a sudden, abrupt 180 back into school and work mode this quickly.

In any case, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics has been one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to Vancouver, and to its citizens. Everyone who had the chance to experience these Olympics firsthand will have so much to pass on, to tell. Canada, and especially Vancouver (it seems), has never seen this much patriotism before. And I’m sure that even those who only had the chance to watch the Olympics through their TV screens can say that today, they are sure as hell proud to be Canadian.

“From no golds ever won on Canadian soil to most golds ever won in Winter Olympic history – what an accomplishment.” – Dave McCaig

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 1:14 am and is filed under Olympics, Photos, Staycations, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.