Saturday, February 15, 2014

Women's Olympic Relay in Photos

Yesterday was quite a day for our team... There was a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation for our team to take a medal and make history. Spoiler alert: it didn't happen...... The thing is sport is fickle, performance is variable and nothing is certain in Cross Country skiing.  

Medal or no medal, I'm still just as proud as ever of our team. 

Turns out we weren't the only ones to have a tough day out there.  The Norwegian women's team has won EVERY SINGLE relay since 2010 by an average of 20+ seconds and yesterday they didn't take a medal at all - not even the "wooden medal" (AKA 4th place).  

As much as some of these results hurt it's what keeps us coming back for more. The uncertainty and surprise in sport is what gets me out of bed in the morning to train, it's what makes viewers tune into the LIVE broadcasts to see what unfolds.  It keeps hope alive because sometimes you fall on the right side of the fence and luck.  The relay is usually the biggest event at the Olympics seeing that it shows the depth of a team.  There is a lot of pride involved for the participating countries. To put together a medal performance it requires ALL FOUR skiers to be completely on their game. It requires good energy, better than average skis, and all the stars to align. Norwegian media is reporting that yesterday's failure to medal is "one of the biggest upsets in Norwegian sport history."  Our team received lots of supportive emails yesterday and they are much appreciated.  I was also thankful for title of the article that Fasterskier wrote about the event: "US Women Sparkle but lack Spark in Olympic Relay."  That was very classy. 

Here is the day, captured through my lens. Enjoy.... 

















































Some of you may already know that my husband, Rob makes me quote/picture flip books for everyday I'm away from home, racing the World Cup and the Olympics. This means he has quotes and pictures from 4-5 straight months! After yesterday's relay I pulled some of my favorites out and sent them to our team. Here they are: 

"Life is better when you're laughing" 

"Sometimes you have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not how you planned, but just how it's meant to be." 

"In the blink of an eye, everything can change. So forgive often and love with all your heart. You may never know when you may not have that chance again!" 

"Some people think that to be strong is to never feel pain. In reality, the strongest people are the ones who feel it, understand it, and accept it!" 

"Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive." 

"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guys, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more." (Pre)

"May you see sunshine where others see shadows, and opportunities where others see obstacles." 

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says, I'll try again tomorrow." 

Today is the men's 4x10k relay. I expect the race to be just as exciting and I predict it to be a battle between Russia, Sweden and Norway. But, like we learned yesterday, anything can happen and I can't wait to see how the race unfolds!  Good luck to our USA team of Andy, Erik, Noah and Simi!!!! We'll be on the sidelines cheering loud! 

Holly :)