The Olympics Are A Big Deal

Go ahead and put this in the column of “things I should have seen coming.” It’s not like we just moved next door to Lake Placid, host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics (Miracle on Ice, anyone?) and self-proclaimed “Olympic Village,” or anything. Sheesh. Still, I somehow managed to be taken by surprise at just how excited people are around here for the Vancouver Games. It’s manic and thrilling and so totally contagious.

I suppose it helps that the Adirondack region is responsible for sending 12 – an even dozen – athletes to Vancouver this year. That’s an incredible number, and the region’s largest contingency ever. I read a pretty mind-blowing stat the other day in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. It goes something like this: the sparsely populated Adirondack Park has about 130,000 full-time residents, accounting for just .0042 percent of the US population. The 12 athletes from the Adirondacks (really, just Lake Placid and Saranac Lake) represent 5.5 percent – or 1 in 18 – of the 216-member US Olympic team. Pretty staggering.

Here’s a list of local Vancouver Olympians and their sports:

- Andrew Weibrecht, Alpine skiing
- Lowell Bailey, Biathlon
- Tim Burke, Biathlon
- Haley Johnson, Biathlon
- Peter Frenette, Ski jumping
- Bill Demong, Nordic combined
- Chris Mazdzer, Luge
- Ashley Caldwell, Freestyle aerial
- John Napier, Bobsled
- Mark Grimmette, Luge
- Brian Martin, Luge
- Bengt Walden, Luge

I admit that the Olympics have lost a lot of their luster for me in recent years. I LOVED them as a kid. In fact, I used to say that I wanted to be one of those rare athletes who competes in both the Summer and Winter Games. Yeah, ask me how that turned out. But, as an adult, the commercialization, the scandals, the doping, the corruption… it’s enough to make me more than a little ill.

This Olympiad, however, I’m going to do my best to tune all of that out. To focus on the sport. To cheer for Team USA and for my new neighbors. To remember that the local Olympic fervor comes from a good place. A place of healthy competition, friendly rivalry, extreme dedication, and… pride.