Day 13 - Last Post

Arrived at the hill today and was informed that if we got the site cleaned up after the men's event we would have Friday off. After 10 shifts at Cypress I was glad to hear the news. We had a huge crew of volunteers today so the chop and step went pretty fast. We did some clean up while the men did their practice jumps and had our final pep talk from the crew leaders prior to the start of the event. The women's gold medal hockey game was playing on the big screen for the spectators so we got to see the game wrap up and hear the roar of the crowd at the mountain as Canada took home another gold medal. We got a acknowledgement from the site announcers for our hard work prior to the event starting and all of us stood on the knoll and did the wave for the 7000+ fans who gave us their support back.

The event started well with Kyle Nissen standing in 1st place after the 1st round of jumps. However it seemed that all the athletes took things up a notch and all of them went bigger and more technical in the 2nd round. Since Kyle had placed 1st in the 1st round he jumped last in the second - a medal was his to lose. His jump wasn't as difficult as the others and his form was off which resulted in his second jump not being worth enough points to make the podium. The athlete from Belarus took the gold and his coaches went mental! They were so happy for him that it was hard to feel too bad for the Canadians. At the flower ceremony the medalists turned and saluted us as we stood above them so that was a nice touch.

Before cleaning up we got a bunch of group photos on the triple jump and volunteers took turns sliding down it like seals. I took a run on skis halfway up the jump for a photo before we all started tearing down the fences and banners and putting away the shovels for the final time.

We got to wrap things up in the athletes lounge and were treated to some free beer and food to celebrate our hard work. The crew leaders said a few words and we toasted each other to finish our time at Cypress. Back on the bus for one more trip back to town where we all met up at a pub close to the shuttle point for a few more beers and some time to celebrate our two weeks as a team at the Olympics. Some more pictures and raised glasses before I said my goodbyes. Lots of hugs and high fives to end my time with the freestyle aerials crew. From what we were told from other volunteers at the other events, the aerials event is one of the toughest to work and the most physically demanding.

In retrospect, my time at the Olympics was worth every chop with the shovel, each painfully slow sidestep down the landing hill and the seemingly endless walk to the buses and back each day. Our crew was made up of an amazing and awesome group of people and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. I saw the Olympics from a perspective that not many people do and it will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. They are already looking for volunteers for the World Cup events in 2010/11 and I am thinking my schedule may be open for when it comes to BC again....