Goodbye Vancouver!

With a night picture of the Richmond Olympic Oval we say thank you for a great week and goodbye to Richmond and Vancouver. Now we are heading home to watch the rest of the Games on TV.

Unexpected winner and Norwegian bronze

Our stay in Vancouver finished in the best possible way - a surprise Dutch winner of the 1500 m after a strong race by Mark Tuitert, and a very hoped for and deserved bronze medal for Håvard Bøkko!

Richmond Olympic Oval

The speed skating oval is a nice piece of architecture - only a pity they wrapped it in Olympic fences, so you don't actually get to see it clearly when you are up close to the venue.

Inside the venue there is a nice view from all seats around the rink, and the lighting inside the oval is very good, which makes it perfect for making nice photos of the skaters.

Today is our last day at the oval. Tomorrow we are going back home ...

Finally - a live Norwegian gold!

In the last 3 Olympic Games I have had som great Olympic experiences, but I haven't seen a Norwegian win an Olympic gold medal live since Lillehammer 1994. That was until yesterday... I had a good feeling going up to the mountains yesterday morning - the weather was nice and the Norwegian ladies seemed to be in good shape. Both Marit Bjørgen and Kristin Størmer Steira should be able to compete for the a medal, maybe even the gold medal.

When we arrived in Whistler Olympic Park the weather was as nice as you can only imagine, and the surrounding were beautiful. All set for a great day. And what a day! Marit Bjørgen seemed strong from the start, and I finally got to see a love Norwegian Olympic gold winner again!

Sea-to-Sky Highway

The Highway from Vancouver to Whistler Mountain is called Sea-to-Sky Highway, and it on the top 10 list of things to see when you visit Vancouver. Well, today was our chance, because we had tickets for cross-country skiing, so we had to get up early to take the bus to Whistler Olympic Park. And we finally got to see some snow at the Winter Olympics ...

The Olympic Flame

There has been much discussions about the Olympic flame, which was placed behind a fence, so ordinary people, walking along the Vancouver waterfront, could not see it and take pictures of it. Well, they had to change that, so they made some openings in a fence, and opened a public area on the roof of a nearby building. So now people line up to come up to the roof and take pictures. The location seems quite clearly a little odd, between the large building along the waterfront, but not at least it is possible to take some nice photos of the flame, even closeups:

Shani Davis

Shani Davis was the big favorite to win yesterdays 1000 m, as well as the 1500 m in a couple of days. And he did not let his fans down. The 500 m champion, Korean Mo Tae-Bum, set the time to beat at 1.09.12, but Davis beat him by 0.18 seconds, becoming the first to defend his Olympic 1000 m title, and the first since Johann Olav Koss to win an Olympic speed skating title in two games in a row. Chad Hedrick joined his compatriot Davis on the podium, by winning the bronze medal. what a day for the Americans - gold in 3 different events at the same time - Ladies' Downhill, Men's halfpipe and Men's 1000 m.