Athletes crowding Whistler anxious for 'go time'

The foul weather hovers over Whistler, a community full of high performance athletes, which seems ready to burst at the seams.

Something has to happen and soon.

People milling in the village centre pause to hear bands playing upbeat music as if to assure them everything’s going to be OK.  Big screen TVs blare out the action of Olympic sports taking place under protective cover in the arenas of the city.

They might as well be watching something happening on the moon.

Everyone in this majestic ski resort craves the downhill and the cross-country dashes, indeed the sense of wonder that punctuates all Olympic gatherings. They want the white circus of daring alpine racing and the thoroughbreds to blaze Nordic trails.

The athletes need to compete.

“Bring it on,” said Chandra Crawford, the cross-country gold medallist from the 2006 Games.  “We’re used to the mayhem and the bad weather in Canada.  Let’s go!”

Even the death of 21-year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili hasn’t been able to extinguish the fire that roars in every one of the Olympians who wanders the streets of Whistler like a wild animal resigned to temporary captivity.

They grieved for a time. Now they’ve closed ranks and gritted their teeth, determined to get on with what it is they came here to do. Their lifeblood and life’s work is competition – pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

“One thing I know for sure,” downhill demon Manny Osborne-Paradis said in an anxious sort of way when he stopped to chat. “We will race. It’s inevitable.”

Max Gartner, the Chief Athletics Officer of the Canadian alpine team, peered out from under the hood of his raincoat and beamed.

“It’s going to happen,” he exclaimed.  “One way or another, it’s going to happen.”

Such is the universal sentiment that pervades Whistler. All of this waiting will somehow be worth it once the athletes have their say at these Olympic games against this awesome backdrop.

All will be right with their world once someone gets them in the gate and shouts the final command.

“It’s go time!”

– Gemini Award winner and author Scott Russell is the Host of CBC Sports Weekend seen Saturday afternoons. A 20-year CBC Sports veteran, he has covered a variety of professional and amateur sports including nine Olympic games and numerous world championships.