Thanks for a wonderful 2 weeks of fun, sports, and a celebration of humanity at its greatest!

The 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino came to a close last night at the Stadio Olimpico. And what a closing ceremony it was.

We had ‘Pagliacci‘ Clowns in a Carnival atmosphere, Italian Opera with Human Tarot Cards, dancers, Andrew Boccelli , Avril ‘call-me-sweetheart-and-I’ll-kick-your-ass’ Lavigne, [not forgetting] Ricky Martin shaking his ‘bon-bons, vintage Fiats, flying performers, and top top it off, fireworks that lit up the Torino night sky.

IOC president Jacques Rogge’s closing speech was briefly interrupted by an intruder who went up to the podium and shouted, “Passion lives in Tornio.”

The following are pictures from last night’s closing ceremony (pictures courtesy of NBC, click to enlarge pictures):

An aerial view of Stadio Olimpico

A Carnival atmosphere

Remember these ‘Spaks of Passion’ performers?

Clowns on parade

What’s an Italian Celebration without Italian Opera?

More Italian Opera

Human Tarot Cards

A Vintage Fiat

Snowboarder suspended in midair

The Mayor of Torino passing the Olympic Flag to the Mayor of Vancouver, Host City of the next Winter Olympics. The Mayor of Vancouver is paraplegic (he broke his neck while skiing at the age of 19). Waving the Olympic Flag would be a terrible burden for someone in his condition, but not for him.

A Proud Canadian Delegation

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Logo

Andrew Boccelli, Ricky Martin, and Avril Lavigne mesmerizing the crowd

The Olympic Flame extinguished

Fireworks lit up the Torino night sky

See you again at Vancouver in 2010!!!

Post from: EveryJoe

Grazie Torino, Grazie Italia!!!

Seriously.

Some of the most poignant moments in sports history. From the aerial jumpers risking life and limb (and sometimes sacrificing limbs) to the upsets in mens hockey to the amazing final marathon ski race this was an Olymipcs to be remembered for every country involved.

Their decision was a big one: fund athletes to a much, much larger extent. Invite corporate sponsors. Organize charities and generally raise the funding level by about 1000%.

It was a 4 year test program. The goal was to: get 20 medals, achieve a top 5 finish. The committees felt that if either of these could be accomplished, it would have made a significant difference in the overall athletic quality of life in Canada.

Sure, athletes often still need to work jobs during the off-season, and need to work their butts off during the training season. But, the average level of sponsorship has gone from a paltry 20% to an acceptable 50% level.

And, the results speak for themselves.

But, in many ways, none moreso than Canada.

4 years ago Canada had a decision to make. We’d place poorly in Salt Lake City. Not dismally, but considering we’d been gunning for a top spot (or ‘hoping’ is probably a better word), our non-top-10 finish was bad.

The government, athletes associations and Canadian Olympics Committee realized they either had to support the athletes much, much more or they had to withdraw their support completely to all but a handful of sports. Giving 20% support to thousands of athletes (the typical offer) simply wasn’t enough.

The committees decided, quite simply, to increase their support drastically. To allow new Foundations. To allow corporate sponsorship. To encourage more participation at the college and community levels. It was a huge, huge change in Canadian sports participation. But it was only a test. The goal was to either get 20 medals or to place top 5 (previous best was 9th).

The results speak for themselves.

Here’s a list of the total number of medals given over the past 20 years, the number of Canadian medals won, and the percentage of the total that are Canadian:

1984 – 117, 4, 3.4%
1988 – 138, 5, 3.6%
1992 – 171, 7, 4%
1994 – 183, 13, 7.1%
1998 – 205, 15, 7.3%
2002 – 236, 17, 7.2%
2006 – 249, 24, 9.6%

But this isn’t just about medals. This is about the athletes. The 30 year old ones, the 20 year old ones and the 10 year old ones. Creating a culture that supports athletes starts at the community level, through college and onto the amateur / professional tours.

It takes a lot of money, and I, for one, am glad that we have decided to support our athletes.

Top 3 is an amazing finish, and one that every Canadian deserves to be proud of. Go Canada!

Post from: EveryJoe

Canadian Reflections

Here are the Final Results of the only other event today, besides the Men’s Ice Hockey Final …

1 – ITA – Giorgio di Centa (2:06:11.8)
2 – RUS – Eugeni Dementiev (2:06:12.6 / +0.8)
3 – AUT – Mikhail Botwinov (2:06:12.7 / +0.9)

44 – CAN – George Grey (2:09:38.4 / +3:26.6)

Well .. must have been exciting when the top 28 skiiers all ended with 1 minute behind the leader … And especially exciting to all the Italian fans for Giorgio’s win .. as the medal ceremony (and national anthem) was done as part of the Closing Ceremonies!

CBC News

Post from: EveryJoe

Cross-Country Skiing Results – Men’s 50 km Free, Mass Start