Life after the Flame: The Aftermath of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

 For the past two weeks, the topic of conversation was the Vancouver Olympic Games, who was winning, losing and which country was going to walk away with the most gold medals. As of Monday, all that’s left of the 2010 Olympics is airport lines, departing athletes and getting the city of Vancouver back to its original state – The Buzz is gone!

The emotion and excitement that went through our country over the past two weeks was indescribable for most. However, the ultimate win for our country happened on Sunday afternoon, February 28^th – The game that will resonate through out the ages! The Canada vs. USA hockey game was watched by more people then other sporting events, including the Daytona 500, The Masters, The last 5 World Series and the NCAA Basketball Final Four. 80% of our country’s population watched the game, now that’s what I call Canadian pride!!  

From a social media aspect bloggers, Twitter and Facebook made it very easy for fans to follow the games, even if they were away from their TV. Through Facebook and Twitter, fans had instant news, analysis, and interactions with journalists and even athletes.  Being fairly new to Twitter myself I was very excited to see just how much this really enhanced my Olympic experience. 

From an event perspective, the first thought that came to my mind was the tear-down process that Vancouver would be responsible for.

The empty streets of Vancouver Monday morning

The sound of fans celebrating in the streets has been replaced by sounds of power tools as temporary venues are being dismantled and packed into moving vans. The streets have now been cleared following the aftermath of Sunday night’s gold medal win. I know that when any big event takes place there is always an abundant amount of work that needs to be done post event. I can only imagine how much work needs to be done in Vancouver now that the Olympics have come to a close.

Now that we are coming down from our Olympic highs, it is difficult to go back to our everyday schedules, without Olympic Games to look forward to and seeing Canadian pride on every street corner. It makes me so happy when I see people who are still sporting their Team Canada jerseys, Olympic shirts, and the classic red Olympic gloves (they have been sold out everywhere, and I still don’t have a pair!!).  

Patriotism can be a powerful thing. It brings people from all different walks of life together and joins them in a common goal. I have never been more proud to be a Canadian, and I hope that although we are experiencing the aftermath of the Canadian Olympic Games, we can still keep the pride for our country and acomplishments alive!!

GO CANADA!!

Until next time,

Carly the very proud Canadian( you follow me on Twitter @CarlyAshR)

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