Lauren Reports from World Cup #1 in Calgary

Lauren’s First Short Track World Cup Report World Cup #1 in Calgary, October 2003
If I could sum up my thoughts about my first World Cup (Calgary), it would be something like ‘WOWOOOOOAHHHH’ It was AMAZING, but it was over too fast. Waaaay too fast. But, as you all have heard everything about the races (the world records set and Turcotte’s skinsuit LOL) I’ll just write about the things that are unique to my own little memory bank :) At the Oval I had a mental picture of security guards monitoring the crowds to make sure the fans were completely separate from the athletes, but instead everyone was so relaxed (even the skaters!) and just having fun! Thoughts on the Oval itself: the stairs are incredibly steep, and the whole thing is incredibly big, and, accordingly, the ‘washrooms’ are incredibly far away. It was nice that the Oval was part of the ‘Kinesiology Complex’, so between the races we would wander over to the campus side, giving me my first look into ‘college life’. I’m only 14 so that was pretty cool for me. On the first day, I got to meet Mr. Ohno (Yuki) and Kiyomi, and they were both so nice! Kiyomi often invited us to sit over by them, and it was really fun to watch races with them and chat. When I sat by Mr. Ohno, we talked a little about my badminton but mostly I was bombarding him (between races) with questions about short track technicalities and strategies. I learned a LOT, for example why, in the 500m event, the skaters come out of the turn and skate their straight-aways so close to the pads. They do it to gain speed for a potential pass in the next turn – they are trying to create a ‘slingshot’ effect to ‘shoot’ themselves past the other skaters. I asked a few questions about Apolo specifically, but the thing that interested me most was learning about Apolo’s VO2max level (a gauge of how much oxygen you can take in and use in a given amount of time). It turns out that his is extremely high (surprise!). Apolo – First Blush My first encounter with Apolo in person was not exactly what I had imagined. My mom, Janet, Kaley and I went to the campus’s food court, and along the way I noticed two guys sitting at a table in an inconspicuous corner people-watching. No one else noticed them but I slowed down a bit and studied the guys, who were looking back at me. One of the guys, with the beanie and the soul patch, looked familiar. Soon my brain worked out that this was probably Apolo, but as I had never met him before, I couldn’t be sure. I was wondering, ‘Is this really Apolo? If it is, why is he here?’ I realized that it was probably impolite to stare at someone without saying anything so I said something that came out as ‘Hi…A…polo?’ My mom heard, turned around and saved me by saying ‘Hi Apolo!’ but not before he laughed at me (but in a nice way. Or that’s what I’d like to think). We managed to stay cool and just walked on, and let him enjoy his free time. Tantra Sonia and Lauren pose with the Jeffs of Team Canada (Monette and Scholten) At the awards party at Tantra, Mr.Ohno and Kiyomi were trying to introduce me to Apolo, but there was no way at first to fight through the mob that inevitably forms wherever he is :) Finally, Mr. Ohno introduced me to Apolo. I talked a little about how exciting it was to watch races live. It got crowded (again!) around Apolo, so my mom, Kaley and I went near the Canadian skaters’ group, to find an appropriate time to talk to them. They were speaking amongst themselves in French, so I placed myself near them to hear what I could. When their skaters were called up to receive their checks/awards, they were yelling teases, like about Guilmette’s tight pants, but it was funniest when Monette went up. He’s the ‘pretty boy’ of the team, so he got made fun of the most. When his name was called and he was walking up someone catcalled in a falsetto something like ‘Physique contouro!’ which I guess means literally ‘contoured physique’ and is the equivalent of Rusty yelling ‘Nice bod!’ to Apolo. To top it off, all of the skaters began calling out in deliberately sexy voices different parts of Monette’s body, like ‘les yeux!’ (the eyes) ‘les jambes’ (the legs) ‘les oreilles’ (the ears). By that time all of the Canadian skaters were cracking up – and so was I, getting curious looks from some of the skaters. When the presenting was over, we introduced ourselves to the Canadian guys, and I said to Monette, ‘I liked listening to you guys talk’ and his eyes widened and he said, ‘You understood?’ I said, ‘Most of it. Do you usually make fun of each other when you’re getting awards?’ ‘Always,’ he said. Then I asked, ‘So who said ‘nice body’?’ He turned around, found Turcotte who was standing nearby listening, and punched him in the arm. Turcotte said ‘Ow! What was that for?’ with an innocent look. LOL. By the way, Kaley, I now have to agree with you – Turcotte is surprisingly hot. hehe Apolo and my Frog Soon after that, my mom spotted Apolo holding his coat and panicked – ‘Lauren! We have to catch Apolo and give him the stuff before he leaves!’ – because we both had gifts to give him. My mom gave him her gift and card first, then I gave him mine; an inflatable origami frog in a box. When he fished out the (uninflated) frog, his face totally lit up and he called over to his dad, ‘Dad! Dad! Look at this!’ waving the frog in Mr. Ohno’s surprised face. He asked me, ‘How long did it take you to make this?’ and looked amazed when I said ‘About 3 minutes.’ He thanked me and moved to put the frog in the box but I said, ‘Wait, I saved the best part for you.’ He said, ‘OK, what is it?’ and I said, ‘The frog is inflatable.’ He looked at the top of the frog for the hole, but I said, ‘Actually, this is kind of strange, but you have to blow right between the legs.’ His reaction was priceless. He threw his head back with a loud ‘HA HA’ turned the frog, and tried to blow it up at the, er, proper place. He was having some trouble and said, ‘I can’t blow this up.’ He thanked me again, still laughing. My mom went to get something for Apolo to sign for a friend, and I talked to Apolo a little more about the people we both know in badminton. Then Apolo had to leave with his dad and Kiyomi. I stayed a bit past my 9:00 curfew at the club, but finally I had to leave. And just like that my first World Cup adventure was over. I can’t wait for my next one!!!!!

Lauren’s First Short Track World Cup Report
World Cup #1 in Calgary, October 2003

If I could sum up my thoughts about my first World Cup (Calgary), it would be something like ‘WOWOOOOOAHHHH’ It was AMAZING, but it was over too fast. Waaaay too fast. But, as you all have heard everything about the races (the world records set and Turcotte’s skinsuit LOL) I’ll just write about the things that are unique to my own little memory bank :)

At the Oval

Lauren and Sonia at the Calgary Olympic Oval

I had a mental picture of security guards monitoring the crowds to make sure the fans were completely separate from the athletes, but instead everyone was so relaxed (even the skaters!) and just having fun! Thoughts on the Oval itself: the stairs are incredibly steep, and the whole thing is incredibly big, and, accordingly, the ‘washrooms’ are incredibly far away. It was nice that the Oval was part of the ‘Kinesiology Complex’, so between the races we would wander over to the campus side, giving me my first look into ‘college life’. I’m only 14 so that was pretty cool for me.

On the first day, I got to meet Mr. Ohno (Yuki) and Kiyomi, and they were both so nice! Kiyomi often invited us to sit over by them, and it was really fun to watch races with them and chat.

When I sat by Mr. Ohno, we talked a little about my badminton but mostly I was bombarding him (between races) with questions about short track technicalities and strategies. I learned a LOT, for example why, in the 500m event, the skaters come out of the turn and skate their straight-aways so close to the pads. They do it to gain speed for a potential pass in the next turn – they are trying to create a ‘slingshot’ effect to ‘shoot’ themselves past the other skaters. I asked a few questions about Apolo specifically, but the thing that interested me most was learning about Apolo’s VO2max level (a gauge of how much oxygen you can take in and use in a given amount of time). It turns out that his is extremely high (surprise!).

Apolo – First Blush

My first encounter with Apolo in person was not exactly what I had imagined. My mom, Janet, Kaley and I went to the campus’s food court, and along the way I noticed two guys sitting at a table in an inconspicuous corner people-watching. No one else noticed them but I slowed down a bit and studied the guys, who were looking back at me. One of the guys, with the beanie and the soul patch, looked familiar. Soon my brain worked out that this was probably Apolo, but as I had never met him before, I couldn’t be sure. I was wondering, ‘Is this really Apolo? If it is, why is he here?’ I realized that it was probably impolite to stare at someone without saying anything so I said something that came out as ‘Hi…A…polo?’ My mom heard, turned around and saved me by saying ‘Hi Apolo!’ but not before he laughed at me (but in a nice way. Or that’s what I’d like to think). We managed to stay cool and just walked on, and let him enjoy his free time.

Tantra

Sonia and Lauren pose with the Jeffs of Team Canada (Monette and Scholten)
Sonia, Lauren and a couple Canuck skaters

At the awards party at Tantra, Mr.Ohno and Kiyomi were trying to introduce me to Apolo, but there was no way at first to fight through the mob that inevitably forms wherever he is :) Finally, Mr. Ohno introduced me to Apolo. I talked a little about how exciting it was to watch races live. It got crowded (again!) around Apolo, so my mom, Kaley and I went near the Canadian skaters’ group, to find an appropriate time to talk to them. They were speaking amongst themselves in French, so I placed myself near them to hear what I could. When their skaters were called up to receive their checks/awards, they were yelling teases, like about Guilmette’s tight pants, but it was funniest when Monette went up. He’s the ‘pretty boy’ of the team, so he got made fun of the most. When his name was called and he was walking up someone catcalled in a falsetto something like ‘Physique contouro!’ which I guess means literally ‘contoured physique’ and is the equivalent of Rusty yelling ‘Nice bod!’ to Apolo. To top it off, all of the skaters began calling out in deliberately sexy voices different parts of Monette’s body, like ‘les yeux!’ (the eyes) ‘les jambes’ (the legs) ‘les oreilles’ (the ears). By that time all of the Canadian skaters were cracking up – and so was I, getting curious looks from some of the skaters.

When the presenting was over, we introduced ourselves to the Canadian guys, and I said to Monette, ‘I liked listening to you guys talk’ and his eyes widened and he said, ‘You understood?’ I said, ‘Most of it. Do you usually make fun of each other when you’re getting awards?’ ‘Always,’ he said. Then I asked, ‘So who said ‘nice body’?’ He turned around, found Turcotte who was standing nearby listening, and punched him in the arm. Turcotte said ‘Ow! What was that for?’ with an innocent look. LOL. By the way, Kaley, I now have to agree with you – Turcotte is surprisingly hot. *hehe*

Apolo and my Frog

Soon after that, my mom spotted Apolo holding his coat and panicked – ‘Lauren! We have to catch Apolo and give him the stuff before he leaves!’ – because we both had gifts to give him. My mom gave him her gift and card first, then I gave him mine; an inflatable origami frog in a box. When he fished out the (uninflated) frog, his face totally lit up and he called over to his dad, ‘Dad! Dad! Look at this!’ waving the frog in Mr. Ohno’s surprised face. He asked me, ‘How long did it take you to make this?’ and looked amazed when I said ‘About 3 minutes.’

He thanked me and moved to put the frog in the box but I said, ‘Wait, I saved the best part for you.’ He said, ‘OK, what is it?’ and I said, ‘The frog is inflatable.’ He looked at the top of the frog for the hole, but I said, ‘Actually, this is kind of strange, but you have to blow right between the legs.’ His reaction was priceless. He threw his head back with a loud ‘HA HA’ turned the frog, and tried to blow it up at the, er, proper place. He was having some trouble and said, ‘I can’t blow this up.’ He thanked me again, still laughing. My mom went to get something for Apolo to sign for a friend, and I talked to Apolo a little more about the people we both know in badminton. Then Apolo had to leave with his dad and Kiyomi. I stayed a bit past my 9:00 curfew at the club, but finally I had to leave.

And just like that my first World Cup adventure was over. I can’t wait for my next one!!!!!