Exciting News Flash. Stacey Kohler wins Bronze!
On June 30th Stacey competed in the 3000 Meter run in Track and Field. She came up big against some touch competition, by placing third. Her time was 15 minutes 18.74 seconds. This an incredible accomplishment, considering she was now competing in the World Games.
Stacey also competed in the 1500 Meter, scoring a time of,7 minutes, 30.30 seconds, coming in sixth.
Congratulations Stacey!
Special Olympics B.C. Website has a good breakdown of each of the athletes and the coaches that helped them reach their goals.
Overall Team Canada should be very proud of all the athletes and coaches that traveled to Greece to compete against so many countries. The final total for their achievements;
124 metals: 64 Gold, 35 Silver, 25 Bronze
Deputy Chief Rick Lucy was part of the coaching team for Team Canada Soccer and should also be proud. Congratulations to him and his team for winning Bronze in a hard fought final game!
I am now back on Canada's time schedule and catching up on everything, so lots more blog stuff to follow.
Please stayed tuned and thanks to everyone who has been following, Debbie
Staff Sgt Debbie McLeod of Delta Police Department is representing BC as the law enforcement officer to run with 90 other law enforcement officials from around the world, for three weeks through various communities in Greece (including the Greek islands and Cyprus). The Torch Run will conclude on June 25 at the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics World Summer Games at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Opening Ceremonies of the 2011 Special Olympics
The evening of the Opening Ceremonies were finally here. Please forgive the length of this post...its long but I couldn't cut any of it out :)
The longest day of the whole trip: 20 hours from start to finish!
We were all up and out of our hotel by 08:45 for our Final Leg Torch Run and then to dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies later that night.
We all mustered to formally receive our Flame of Hope back from the Honorary Presidential Guard. From there we began probably the best and longest run yet (approx 9 kilometers) All 150 of us ran through the streets of Athens. Each team rotated with our Athletes to the front with the torch.
We stopped at several venues along the way, which included; The U.S. Embassy, Police Headquarters and then a ceremony in front of the Mayor's office, with greetings by him and other dignitaries. From there we continued to our final destination, the entrance of Zappeion, where the cauldron would be lit.
****Remember the Zappeion was where we all first started the Final Leg Torch Run back on June 9th
Our Final Leg coordinator, Mike Team spoke to us and reminded us how important it was for each of us to share our experiences and take the Flame of Hope message home. Each of our Special Olympics Athletes was encouraged to speak briefly about how the experience of being part of the Final Leg Team affected them. As you can imagine they were all very emotional and truly thankful for the opportunity. It was a very moving experience and many of us, yes even grown men were in tears when we heard what they had to say... I can't say it enough - to so many athletes and their parents we are the heros to bring them hope and opportunity!
After our run, We had a quick dress rehearsal for our role at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, the original stadium for the 1896 Olympic Games!!
I think most of us were in awe of just being here, the stadium was a work of art, the authentic white marble is quite something...however later that night most of us were cursing the marble, as we were required to sit on it for several hours. Once rehearsal was done, we had about 3 hours of free time before we had to muster up for our event.
Many of us brought our police dress uniforms, which was a challenge in itself. We all scrambled for irons and tried to make light of the fact that we would be seated for many hours in the heat and had to look as sharp as we could.
The big event: The Opening Ceremony. Wow I am not sure how I can write about this!
The following will be from my perspective, but I strongly encourage everyone to google the Special Olympics Games Greece and there are short youtube clips that will capture some of what I was part of, it was absolutely amazing, yes it was very long, but still amazing for most of us.
6:30 pm muster time for us to load up on the buses. As we all gathered in the lobby of our hotel, many of us had a different look now without the running gear on and sweat on our body's. Our two Greek Police Women looked fabulous in their uniforms, their dress uniform was quite sheik, as they were in skirts and high heels, with short high cropped hats. Although as much as I complimented them, they complimented me in my uniform. Unfortunately not everyone brought a uniform, so we probably looked a little mismatched, too bad because in our running gear we definitely looked unified.
As we, all 150 of us, entered the stadium, the atmosphere was certainly more alive than it had been during the rehearsal, as many family, volunteers and friends were already either seated or walking about. 8:00 pm was the scheduled start time, but we were cautiously optimistic, as most other events we had gone to had not been on time.
We received lots of cheers, as we walked into our seating area. I looked into the stands for Canadian flags and saw a few. Of course there were so many different countries, with groups waving their flags. As we were seated I kept wondering how I would find Stacey's mom, Beryl Kohler.
Well, within half an hour, she found me, I guess our section kind of stood out.
It was great to see her and confirm that I had seen Stacey a couple times. Beryl was so excited, as I was, to finally connect. She expressed how excited Stacey was that I was here in Greece to see her.
It seemed like an eternity waiting for the entertainment to begin. Our biggest challenge was that we had to remain seated for several hours until it was our turn to go on stage. Although the sun had gone down it was still quite warm, probably at least 25 - 28 degrees.
And yes the ceremonies started late, but once they did it was non-stop entertainment, until we hit the stage around 00:30 hrs. There were so many dignitaries, including the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, numerous international political figures, celebrities, international sports icons and finally the Shriver/Kennedy family. As many of them walked by our group, they waved and made sure they acknowledged us. Of course the Shriver family were gathered to also remember their mother Eunice Shriver, who had founded Special Olympics in 1968. A special video tribute of her was played.
Dr. Timothy Shriver once again didn't disappoint us, he spoke and what was really neat, is he stayed on stage when the music started and began dancing with some of the Special Olympic Athletes.
One of his quotes; "You, the athletes do not compete with anyone but yourselves. Impossible is a state of mind, for everything is possible. Improve a little everyday and the impossible becomes the possible."
We also watched as each country , (185 in total with over 7000 athletes) was introduced, the uniforms, the colours and the number of athletes was quite incredible. As you can imagine that introduction of all these countries took forever!!
Two well known international sports celebrities were also in attendance; ice skater, Michelle Kwan and basketball star, Yao Ming.
Another significant part of the ceremonies, was the introduction of the International Global Ambassadors. As Special Olympic Athletes, they are picked for their ability to convey their message. Of course in the group of approximately 10 Special Olympics Athletes, was Matthew Williams from Vancouver B.C., and He did awesome!
The glamorous Vanessa Williams hit the stage and not only spoke but also belted out a few songs. Then soon after, Stevie Wonder was introduced and he continued with the momentum. Then all of a sudden Vanessa came back on stage and they joined together to sing, But prior to that Stevie Wonder spoke, and of all the people who had given speeches, we all knew he wasn't reading any que cards.
His quote; "Our dreams are only limited by our visions, let us all be Olympic Champions of love and respect."
Then he and Vanessa sang........
"That's what friends are for"!
It was great the stadium was electric with lights, etc....
Of course before the show ended, the Greek Mythology, history and culture was conveyed with the story of Ulysses, sailors on a ship who overcome harsh adventures.
Finally it was our turn, we knew our role and when queued all began to walk in twos onto the long stage. After the Flame of Hope was delivered to the cauldron, we quickly walked off. We queued up outside and watched fireworks. Then with a blink of an eye we were back on stage for the finale.
Then as we stood in our spots each country descended upon us, athletes slapping our hands and hugging us, something very overwhelming. I think we must have been on the stage for about an hour, the long train of athletes just didn't seem to end.
And the encore: one final spectacular array of fireworks to end a beautiful evening of excitement.
I think it was almost 01:00 am before the show was over, although we were all tired I kept thinking about the athletes, some of them, Stacey included had to qualify early the next morning.
The longest day of the whole trip: 20 hours from start to finish!
We were all up and out of our hotel by 08:45 for our Final Leg Torch Run and then to dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies later that night.
We all mustered to formally receive our Flame of Hope back from the Honorary Presidential Guard. From there we began probably the best and longest run yet (approx 9 kilometers) All 150 of us ran through the streets of Athens. Each team rotated with our Athletes to the front with the torch.
We stopped at several venues along the way, which included; The U.S. Embassy, Police Headquarters and then a ceremony in front of the Mayor's office, with greetings by him and other dignitaries. From there we continued to our final destination, the entrance of Zappeion, where the cauldron would be lit.
****Remember the Zappeion was where we all first started the Final Leg Torch Run back on June 9th
Our Final Leg coordinator, Mike Team spoke to us and reminded us how important it was for each of us to share our experiences and take the Flame of Hope message home. Each of our Special Olympics Athletes was encouraged to speak briefly about how the experience of being part of the Final Leg Team affected them. As you can imagine they were all very emotional and truly thankful for the opportunity. It was a very moving experience and many of us, yes even grown men were in tears when we heard what they had to say... I can't say it enough - to so many athletes and their parents we are the heros to bring them hope and opportunity!
After our run, We had a quick dress rehearsal for our role at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, the original stadium for the 1896 Olympic Games!!
I think most of us were in awe of just being here, the stadium was a work of art, the authentic white marble is quite something...however later that night most of us were cursing the marble, as we were required to sit on it for several hours. Once rehearsal was done, we had about 3 hours of free time before we had to muster up for our event.
Many of us brought our police dress uniforms, which was a challenge in itself. We all scrambled for irons and tried to make light of the fact that we would be seated for many hours in the heat and had to look as sharp as we could.
The big event: The Opening Ceremony. Wow I am not sure how I can write about this!
The following will be from my perspective, but I strongly encourage everyone to google the Special Olympics Games Greece and there are short youtube clips that will capture some of what I was part of, it was absolutely amazing, yes it was very long, but still amazing for most of us.
6:30 pm muster time for us to load up on the buses. As we all gathered in the lobby of our hotel, many of us had a different look now without the running gear on and sweat on our body's. Our two Greek Police Women looked fabulous in their uniforms, their dress uniform was quite sheik, as they were in skirts and high heels, with short high cropped hats. Although as much as I complimented them, they complimented me in my uniform. Unfortunately not everyone brought a uniform, so we probably looked a little mismatched, too bad because in our running gear we definitely looked unified.
As we, all 150 of us, entered the stadium, the atmosphere was certainly more alive than it had been during the rehearsal, as many family, volunteers and friends were already either seated or walking about. 8:00 pm was the scheduled start time, but we were cautiously optimistic, as most other events we had gone to had not been on time.
We received lots of cheers, as we walked into our seating area. I looked into the stands for Canadian flags and saw a few. Of course there were so many different countries, with groups waving their flags. As we were seated I kept wondering how I would find Stacey's mom, Beryl Kohler.
Well, within half an hour, she found me, I guess our section kind of stood out.
It was great to see her and confirm that I had seen Stacey a couple times. Beryl was so excited, as I was, to finally connect. She expressed how excited Stacey was that I was here in Greece to see her.
It seemed like an eternity waiting for the entertainment to begin. Our biggest challenge was that we had to remain seated for several hours until it was our turn to go on stage. Although the sun had gone down it was still quite warm, probably at least 25 - 28 degrees.
And yes the ceremonies started late, but once they did it was non-stop entertainment, until we hit the stage around 00:30 hrs. There were so many dignitaries, including the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, numerous international political figures, celebrities, international sports icons and finally the Shriver/Kennedy family. As many of them walked by our group, they waved and made sure they acknowledged us. Of course the Shriver family were gathered to also remember their mother Eunice Shriver, who had founded Special Olympics in 1968. A special video tribute of her was played.
Dr. Timothy Shriver once again didn't disappoint us, he spoke and what was really neat, is he stayed on stage when the music started and began dancing with some of the Special Olympic Athletes.
One of his quotes; "You, the athletes do not compete with anyone but yourselves. Impossible is a state of mind, for everything is possible. Improve a little everyday and the impossible becomes the possible."
We also watched as each country , (185 in total with over 7000 athletes) was introduced, the uniforms, the colours and the number of athletes was quite incredible. As you can imagine that introduction of all these countries took forever!!
Two well known international sports celebrities were also in attendance; ice skater, Michelle Kwan and basketball star, Yao Ming.
Another significant part of the ceremonies, was the introduction of the International Global Ambassadors. As Special Olympic Athletes, they are picked for their ability to convey their message. Of course in the group of approximately 10 Special Olympics Athletes, was Matthew Williams from Vancouver B.C., and He did awesome!
The glamorous Vanessa Williams hit the stage and not only spoke but also belted out a few songs. Then soon after, Stevie Wonder was introduced and he continued with the momentum. Then all of a sudden Vanessa came back on stage and they joined together to sing, But prior to that Stevie Wonder spoke, and of all the people who had given speeches, we all knew he wasn't reading any que cards.
His quote; "Our dreams are only limited by our visions, let us all be Olympic Champions of love and respect."
Then he and Vanessa sang........
"That's what friends are for"!
It was great the stadium was electric with lights, etc....
Of course before the show ended, the Greek Mythology, history and culture was conveyed with the story of Ulysses, sailors on a ship who overcome harsh adventures.
Finally it was our turn, we knew our role and when queued all began to walk in twos onto the long stage. After the Flame of Hope was delivered to the cauldron, we quickly walked off. We queued up outside and watched fireworks. Then with a blink of an eye we were back on stage for the finale.
Then as we stood in our spots each country descended upon us, athletes slapping our hands and hugging us, something very overwhelming. I think we must have been on the stage for about an hour, the long train of athletes just didn't seem to end.
And the encore: one final spectacular array of fireworks to end a beautiful evening of excitement.
I think it was almost 01:00 am before the show was over, although we were all tired I kept thinking about the athletes, some of them, Stacey included had to qualify early the next morning.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Dodging riots
I thought I would give an update and let everyone know that I am safe...I had an interesting day dodging riots it was kind of scary to see it up close. I also had to figure out transit, the city has been in a grid lock.
There are a lot of news outlets reporting on the riots in Athens, but here is a link to Yahoo news for interest:
http://bit.ly/lnzHx4
Deb
There are a lot of news outlets reporting on the riots in Athens, but here is a link to Yahoo news for interest:
http://bit.ly/lnzHx4
Deb
From Technolpolis to Acropolis
Friday June 24 (I'm trying to capture each day and will catch up!)
Our 3 teams from route 3 quickly scrambled to back on our bus and were transported to an area called the Technopolis not far from the Acropolis. There we greeted the other teams from routes 1 and 2. We were all back together after 14 days. Story's and laughs were exchanged although different routes and different perspectives many of our reactions and encounters with the Greek communities were similar. With out a doubt, the Greek hospitality and acceptance to us with the Flame of Hope had been outstanding. Everyone had been fed copious amounts of food!!
From here we all, (over 100 of us) began our Torch Run from Technopolis to the Acropolis. On route we had to stop and wait for several of the dignitaries to catch up. As we stood waiting, many high level political officials from all over the world passed us, including Dr. Shriver and his family and Ms Joanna Despotopoutou (she is the president of Special Olympics Greece and has been very significant in making it a success in Greece).
After about an hour we continued up the hill to the Acropolis where everyone was waiting for us. There was so much media, this was almost as big as our Flame Lighting Ceremony on June 9. But more was yet to come on Saturday June 25th.
Several speeches again by Dr. Shriver and Joanna, they didn't disappoint us with their down to earth and entertaining style. Timothy Shriver yelled into the crowd and introduced previous Olympic Gymnast, Nadia Comoneci and Yoa Ming, Houston Rockets player and global ambassador for Special Olympics although he was not hard to miss in the crowd! He is the tallest NBA player, standing a whopping 7' 6".
Some background on other important points to Special Olympics, aside from the above mentioned outside supporters, there are designated Special Olympic Athletes, who have been picked to be International Global Ambassadors to speak at various events. I immediately recognized a young man, Mathew Williams he is from Vancouver and I have heard him speak before and He is very articulate. We had a good chat, it was nice to see another Canadian over here, especially from Vancouver.
After more photos, we all headed back to our mustering point to clean up for a late dinner. But a very important part of our role and mission to running with the Flame to the Acropolis was to safely hand our lanterns to the National Guard for safe keeping overnight, until we could take it to the opening ceremonies on Saturday.
As our day was ending some of us from route 3 were still feeling the effects of our boat experience.
Our 3 teams from route 3 quickly scrambled to back on our bus and were transported to an area called the Technopolis not far from the Acropolis. There we greeted the other teams from routes 1 and 2. We were all back together after 14 days. Story's and laughs were exchanged although different routes and different perspectives many of our reactions and encounters with the Greek communities were similar. With out a doubt, the Greek hospitality and acceptance to us with the Flame of Hope had been outstanding. Everyone had been fed copious amounts of food!!
From here we all, (over 100 of us) began our Torch Run from Technopolis to the Acropolis. On route we had to stop and wait for several of the dignitaries to catch up. As we stood waiting, many high level political officials from all over the world passed us, including Dr. Shriver and his family and Ms Joanna Despotopoutou (she is the president of Special Olympics Greece and has been very significant in making it a success in Greece).
After about an hour we continued up the hill to the Acropolis where everyone was waiting for us. There was so much media, this was almost as big as our Flame Lighting Ceremony on June 9. But more was yet to come on Saturday June 25th.
Several speeches again by Dr. Shriver and Joanna, they didn't disappoint us with their down to earth and entertaining style. Timothy Shriver yelled into the crowd and introduced previous Olympic Gymnast, Nadia Comoneci and Yoa Ming, Houston Rockets player and global ambassador for Special Olympics although he was not hard to miss in the crowd! He is the tallest NBA player, standing a whopping 7' 6".
Some background on other important points to Special Olympics, aside from the above mentioned outside supporters, there are designated Special Olympic Athletes, who have been picked to be International Global Ambassadors to speak at various events. I immediately recognized a young man, Mathew Williams he is from Vancouver and I have heard him speak before and He is very articulate. We had a good chat, it was nice to see another Canadian over here, especially from Vancouver.
After more photos, we all headed back to our mustering point to clean up for a late dinner. But a very important part of our role and mission to running with the Flame to the Acropolis was to safely hand our lanterns to the National Guard for safe keeping overnight, until we could take it to the opening ceremonies on Saturday.
As our day was ending some of us from route 3 were still feeling the effects of our boat experience.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Leaving Rhodes
Well today, Monday June 27 I am feeling a little sad our Final Leg is over and our goals were accomplished. We all, 100 plus officers, successfully delivered the Flame of Hope. I have lots to tell about our last 4 days. But on another exciting and very important note I will be starting a new chapter to reflect what is happening here at the world games, especially with how Stacey does. There are over 7000 athletes here and a lot are from Greece.
Thursday....
Our teams 8,9 and 10 from route 3 left Our hotel around 3 pm for the main port area of Rhodes. Unfortunately we had a little mishap. While waiting for our bus, I and my new Canadian friend from Ontario Provincial Police, Stacey ran to our pool bar to grab a refreshment, as we raced back to jump on the bus the glass doors opened and closed and Stacey ran into the door. She instantly had a bump on her forehead.
On route to our next stop Stacey began feeling sick, her condition seemed to get worse. After the EHS crew assessed her she was taken to hospital. The doctor determined that she had suffered a concussion and advised no exercise for the next few days. She is better now and was cleared to travel home, but she sure had us all worried. We took shifts on the boat waking her up
During the hospital ordeal with Stacey,the rest of us mustered up to do a short run into Knights Castle, a large crowd was expected, including several athletes, dignitaries, priests, the Mayor and Timothy Shriver. As we ran in, the welcoming along the streets and well into the long cobblestoned entrance was again incredible. The caldron was successfully lit by our Greek police officer Aspa, and Adam Hayes, our athlete. I looked at the crowd and saw Dr.Timothy Shriver. When Adam spoke, I could hear Timothy Shriver yelling encouragement, especially when Adam talked about getting a college degree.
When Dr. Shriver got up he immediately introduced his family including his sister Maria, he had them all stand up to be acknowledged. Once again he delivered a very inspirational speech. We then were entertained by beautiful dancers, who first descended down a long stone stair case of the castle. Lots of photos were taken by all of us.
From the ceremony our bus took us to the port for boarding for our longest boat ride yet. As we waited, I looked around and lost count of how many buses were parked along with us. All the athletes that had been on Rhodes were also booked on the same boat. I assumed that because we did not have sleeping berths booked that at least the athletes would be accommodated.
Finally the boat arrived and as we boarded, I kept thinking where are all us going to sit and or sleep? It seemed to take for ever for all the buses to be loaded which caused a further delay in our scheduled departure. Our team leaders tried to secure a small area for us to sit, but within no time several athletes began sitting with us, many of them from Ireland. We learned that many of them did not have sleeping berths, so we did the only thing we could and gave up most of the seating for them.
I was able to connect with Rick Lucy and Stacey and they also had some berths but like some of us had to rotate people in shifts to sleep.
After a few hours we learned that we were able to pay around $60 Euro's for a berth with 4 beds. In the end most of us had somewhere to sleep, but around 4 am the boat began rocking. The sea was quite rough and many people began feeling seasick. In the am I looked for Stacey, our athlete. Her coach said she was sleeping due to the sea sickness, the sleep helped and she was fine later the next day.
All in all our boat ride totaled approximately 18 hours- most in the very choppy seas. We arrived back to our original hotel, the Stanley in Athens around 3 pm. After quick showers we mustered for our run into the Acropolis, where even more dignitaries, including Timothy Shriver would be waiting to greet us.
Stay tuned for Friday June 24 th events.
Debbie.
Thursday....
Our teams 8,9 and 10 from route 3 left Our hotel around 3 pm for the main port area of Rhodes. Unfortunately we had a little mishap. While waiting for our bus, I and my new Canadian friend from Ontario Provincial Police, Stacey ran to our pool bar to grab a refreshment, as we raced back to jump on the bus the glass doors opened and closed and Stacey ran into the door. She instantly had a bump on her forehead.
On route to our next stop Stacey began feeling sick, her condition seemed to get worse. After the EHS crew assessed her she was taken to hospital. The doctor determined that she had suffered a concussion and advised no exercise for the next few days. She is better now and was cleared to travel home, but she sure had us all worried. We took shifts on the boat waking her up
During the hospital ordeal with Stacey,the rest of us mustered up to do a short run into Knights Castle, a large crowd was expected, including several athletes, dignitaries, priests, the Mayor and Timothy Shriver. As we ran in, the welcoming along the streets and well into the long cobblestoned entrance was again incredible. The caldron was successfully lit by our Greek police officer Aspa, and Adam Hayes, our athlete. I looked at the crowd and saw Dr.Timothy Shriver. When Adam spoke, I could hear Timothy Shriver yelling encouragement, especially when Adam talked about getting a college degree.
When Dr. Shriver got up he immediately introduced his family including his sister Maria, he had them all stand up to be acknowledged. Once again he delivered a very inspirational speech. We then were entertained by beautiful dancers, who first descended down a long stone stair case of the castle. Lots of photos were taken by all of us.
From the ceremony our bus took us to the port for boarding for our longest boat ride yet. As we waited, I looked around and lost count of how many buses were parked along with us. All the athletes that had been on Rhodes were also booked on the same boat. I assumed that because we did not have sleeping berths booked that at least the athletes would be accommodated.
Finally the boat arrived and as we boarded, I kept thinking where are all us going to sit and or sleep? It seemed to take for ever for all the buses to be loaded which caused a further delay in our scheduled departure. Our team leaders tried to secure a small area for us to sit, but within no time several athletes began sitting with us, many of them from Ireland. We learned that many of them did not have sleeping berths, so we did the only thing we could and gave up most of the seating for them.
I was able to connect with Rick Lucy and Stacey and they also had some berths but like some of us had to rotate people in shifts to sleep.
After a few hours we learned that we were able to pay around $60 Euro's for a berth with 4 beds. In the end most of us had somewhere to sleep, but around 4 am the boat began rocking. The sea was quite rough and many people began feeling seasick. In the am I looked for Stacey, our athlete. Her coach said she was sleeping due to the sea sickness, the sleep helped and she was fine later the next day.
All in all our boat ride totaled approximately 18 hours- most in the very choppy seas. We arrived back to our original hotel, the Stanley in Athens around 3 pm. After quick showers we mustered for our run into the Acropolis, where even more dignitaries, including Timothy Shriver would be waiting to greet us.
Stay tuned for Friday June 24 th events.
Debbie.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Santorini and the Cauldron
Yasas, hello in greek....
Well we have done a lot of traveling by boat in the last few days. we arrived on Santorini early Tuesday afternoon and were greeted by the Mayor, he hosted lunch for us at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean and volcano. After lunch our athlete Stephanie Smith, from Ontario and I carried the torch through very narrow sidewalks to a small plaza up on a cliff (flickr photos, by David Kramer, 6466 6467 6501, etc...) We were greeted by a crowd of 100 or so mostly tourists.
After a short ceremony we were treated to a tour of a local winery. Then back to a ferry for an overnight ride to the Island of Rhodes. It was a long ride about 15 hours. Good thing I brought my music and small speaker, some us found a corner on deck and listened to the tunes. I danced with Yacek from Poland, who has all of us laughing, he is an avid sun tanner and is always ensuring he has tanned as much of his body as possible.....
The docks at each port are crazy with intermittent crowds of people, mo-peds, cars, trucks and buses. There never seems to be any sense of order people walk in front of vehicles and vice versa.... Seems like a recipe for disaster!!!!
We jumped back on our bus and in a short time we arrived to a beautiful resort. Once we were off it was hurry up and wait for almost 2 hours.... But much to my surprise I found some Canadian coaches and athletes.... I knew they were on the island but didn't expect to see them at our hotel.... My mission was to now find Stacey and maybe Rick Lucy, Abby Deputy Chief... I knew he was somewhere too as he was coaching the soccer team...
In between searching I took advantage of the pool, as it was 40 degrees out with little breeze....
At 5:30 our bus was pulling out again for us to travel to a small tourist village called Lindos... once there we were told we couldn't run, due to the very narrow sidewalks and the expected large crowds.. Once we began our trek I could hear the crowd in the distant, and yes the walk ways were very narrow, with small shops cafes and outdoor patio restaurants. very picturesque indeed!!!
People were cheering us on as we walked, Yasas, Yasas....As we rounded the curve, I could see a large crowd that was very impressive and moving, so many athletes all in their team and country colors. The excitement was electric, for them to finally see us...
Once the caldron was lit and as we stood listening to welcoming speeches, I looked at the crowd thinking how could I possibly find Stacey or Rick..... there had to be over 1500 people, the majority athletes... I kept looking through the crowd and then I felt a tap and looked it was Rick, after a hug we caught up some of on our experiences and he re-assured me that Stacey was in the crowd with her coach.... we agreed to catch up later at the hotel
Our time was up and as we walked up the hill, the street was lined on both sides with athletes from USA, Canada, Taiwan, Israel, etc... I kept searching but still no Stacey, then I heard my name yelled and it was gentleman I had met a few years before from BC... He said he was Stacey's coach.... then I looked and there she was after a big hug and kiss we took some quick photos and she said "I listened to you I am not running in bare feet anymore, just in runners" I said good you need to protect your feet !!! She looked great and was pumped and ready for her events...
On the bus ride back our leaders said "how do you all feel now?" and we agreed that was a great feeling to finally see some athletes and see their excitement of us coming in with the torch.
Stacey is training today so I haven't been able to connect with her or Rick but I think we are all traveling back on the same ferry....
So we all leave tonight on a ferry for about 16 hours and we have no sleeping berths, told to find a chair somewhere...yikes, last time I did that was when I backpacked in 1989...Anyway we will survive, the athletes deserve the cabins so i am sure we will be fine...
we go back to the Stanley hotel which is in the bad area of Athens.
Thats it for now, flikr has lots of photos now so check them out... remember route 3 David Kramer is our photographer....
Debbie
Well we have done a lot of traveling by boat in the last few days. we arrived on Santorini early Tuesday afternoon and were greeted by the Mayor, he hosted lunch for us at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean and volcano. After lunch our athlete Stephanie Smith, from Ontario and I carried the torch through very narrow sidewalks to a small plaza up on a cliff (flickr photos, by David Kramer, 6466 6467 6501, etc...) We were greeted by a crowd of 100 or so mostly tourists.
After a short ceremony we were treated to a tour of a local winery. Then back to a ferry for an overnight ride to the Island of Rhodes. It was a long ride about 15 hours. Good thing I brought my music and small speaker, some us found a corner on deck and listened to the tunes. I danced with Yacek from Poland, who has all of us laughing, he is an avid sun tanner and is always ensuring he has tanned as much of his body as possible.....
The docks at each port are crazy with intermittent crowds of people, mo-peds, cars, trucks and buses. There never seems to be any sense of order people walk in front of vehicles and vice versa.... Seems like a recipe for disaster!!!!
We jumped back on our bus and in a short time we arrived to a beautiful resort. Once we were off it was hurry up and wait for almost 2 hours.... But much to my surprise I found some Canadian coaches and athletes.... I knew they were on the island but didn't expect to see them at our hotel.... My mission was to now find Stacey and maybe Rick Lucy, Abby Deputy Chief... I knew he was somewhere too as he was coaching the soccer team...
In between searching I took advantage of the pool, as it was 40 degrees out with little breeze....
At 5:30 our bus was pulling out again for us to travel to a small tourist village called Lindos... once there we were told we couldn't run, due to the very narrow sidewalks and the expected large crowds.. Once we began our trek I could hear the crowd in the distant, and yes the walk ways were very narrow, with small shops cafes and outdoor patio restaurants. very picturesque indeed!!!
People were cheering us on as we walked, Yasas, Yasas....As we rounded the curve, I could see a large crowd that was very impressive and moving, so many athletes all in their team and country colors. The excitement was electric, for them to finally see us...
Once the caldron was lit and as we stood listening to welcoming speeches, I looked at the crowd thinking how could I possibly find Stacey or Rick..... there had to be over 1500 people, the majority athletes... I kept looking through the crowd and then I felt a tap and looked it was Rick, after a hug we caught up some of on our experiences and he re-assured me that Stacey was in the crowd with her coach.... we agreed to catch up later at the hotel
Our time was up and as we walked up the hill, the street was lined on both sides with athletes from USA, Canada, Taiwan, Israel, etc... I kept searching but still no Stacey, then I heard my name yelled and it was gentleman I had met a few years before from BC... He said he was Stacey's coach.... then I looked and there she was after a big hug and kiss we took some quick photos and she said "I listened to you I am not running in bare feet anymore, just in runners" I said good you need to protect your feet !!! She looked great and was pumped and ready for her events...
On the bus ride back our leaders said "how do you all feel now?" and we agreed that was a great feeling to finally see some athletes and see their excitement of us coming in with the torch.
Stacey is training today so I haven't been able to connect with her or Rick but I think we are all traveling back on the same ferry....
So we all leave tonight on a ferry for about 16 hours and we have no sleeping berths, told to find a chair somewhere...yikes, last time I did that was when I backpacked in 1989...Anyway we will survive, the athletes deserve the cabins so i am sure we will be fine...
we go back to the Stanley hotel which is in the bad area of Athens.
Thats it for now, flikr has lots of photos now so check them out... remember route 3 David Kramer is our photographer....
Debbie
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Special Olympics Website
Hey Everyone - we have been taking a bunch of photos but for some reason they are difficult to find on Flickr.com. If you want to see a few go to www.specialolympics.org and there are some on the site. As soon as I have some time, I will download some to my computer and post them....
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