Announcement of Vancouver as 2010 Olympic Winter Games host city

Seattle, WA - Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Report courtesy of Janet

First of all, we have been excited about the possibility of Vancouver/Whistler being the site of the 2010 Olympics. Everybody I know goes to Whistler either in the summer to play or the winter to ski and of course, Vancouver is less than two hours away. We feel very connected. So it was a thrill for me to be there today to witness the announcement and then with Apolo and Yuki present--it was over the top!!

Sandra, Kaley (my daughter) and I arrived promptly and went to the Olympic ballroom (named after the mountains). We seated ourselves at a small table. It was mostly media and dignitaries; not really very many people because I think they were all up in Whistler. I wore my glasses to look very official and had my legal pad--I cannot think without it anyway. We listened to a few little talks and then Yuki and Apolo arrived shortly before the big announcement. Apolo gave a short speech about how excited he is that the Olympics would be in the Northwest and that hopefully he'll skate in 2010 as well. He said it would be really hard NOT to. Then flash on the screen--Vancouver wins!! Great timing!! Following that the official announcement from Prague was shown on the screen and everybody screamed and clapped.

After the announcement, the various media/camera/ microphone toting people surrounded Apolo for interviews. We approached Yuki and introduced ourselves and he was terrific. We chatted about how great this decision was for us and our economy. The Seattle PI banquet came up and I told him I thought Apolo should have won. He kept trying to grab Apolo to meet us--it was so charming. "Where did Apolo go now?" I love how he says Apolo. At one point Yuki actually asked the event coordinator if Apolo could please meet us. The guy responded, "MR.OHNO, you can have your son meet anyone you want!!" It was hysterical.

Following all of the official interviews, Apolo came over to meet us. I shook his hand. Like a crazy old woman, I told him about my dog named Apolo. He giggled at the thought and said, "Awesome!" But then I asked him about his remarkable comment that he would attempt to participate in the 2010 Olympics.

"I expected at that point you'd be a reporter for NBC or something!!"

"I'd like to skate but I will be involved in the 2010 Olympics in some way no matter what!" We were all giddy about this Vancouver decision. I took my daughter's picture with him and thanked him and Yuki profusely for their time. I told Yuki how proud we were of our home town boy and we'd keep track of his son's fabulous skating.