Edmonton

Thursday | 9 August 2001 | Edmonton, The World's | Day 7:  First off, my report on the reporting! You can all sleep better tonight knowing Sergei Bubka and Stacey Dragila have made up after their little spat. Bubka said women pole vaulters won't be taken seriously until they jump five meters. Stacey was devastated as Sergei is her HERO. Yesterday they had lunch and are now BFF (that means, in Lisa-speak, Best Friends Forever) AND Stacey can pick up a phone anytime and phone Sergei in the Ukraine for advice. His number was not printed in the article, which is a good thing as I am pretty sure Sergie lives in Monaco. Headline: SLAGGED AGAIN! The words are flying across the pond. Now that sleazy piece of pencil chewing rubbish from the Daily Telegraph has said Edmontonians know nothing about athletics (hockey and curling experts, though, to be sure) and that is why the stands are not full each evening. The local papers have slung-back more mud, though they are running out of insults - bad teeth, warm beer and the small size of the British Isles was all they could come up with this morning... oh, and the one about Admiral Nelson being an adulterer. There is quite a bit of talk in the papers about how dull it is here in the evening. The police were (for some reason) so worried about riots that they forbid any type of beer gardens. They refused to allow restaurants and bars to stay open later, since the games conclude each evening at closing time for most establishments, so there is nothing for people to do except go back to their homes, a few finer dining establishments or hotels. (You can try a drive-thru McDonald's if you can get there before the 11 pm closing time.) Restaurants say business is terrible. Even the (awful) restaurants at the West Edmonton Mall are short on customers. There just isn't any EXCITEMENT in this city. Good Guy Mo Greene is talking up Edmonton to the press - he just LOVES it here and wants to have a meet here every year! Even though Mo is not running in a relay (hammy) he is "stickin' around" to enjoy this lovely city! I am wondering if maybe Mo is one of the defectors?? Three more athletes have defected, making for a total of 5. A moose was hit by a car and killed just a few miles from our campsite - and very close to town - last night!

And now back to the real world. Again, we didn't need to be to the stadium until 6 pm, so we had all day to explore Edmonton... but it really doesn't take all day. We took Lisa down to the hospitality center so she could have a reunion will all her co-workers from her internship last summer at the US Trials in Sacramento. And, of course, we were hoping to spot a few athletes! Several of the African distance runners were at the center and also American 10,000m runner Abdihakem Abdirahman (known as Abdi). We chatted with old friends for a while and then headed back down to Strathcona to do more shopping and then we found a pub for our (now usual) late lunch/early dinner. Lisa had a glass of hard apple cider and is most upset no server has asked for her (actual, real driver's license) I.D.

Big Pants

Back at the track for this evening’s entertainment: From the stadium tonight, we had a view of a gigantic pair of Levi's. I don't understand how anyone could say Edmonton isn't an exciting town. It was a warm and sunny day in Edmonton, with little wind. It was a little chilly at the track after sunset (about 9:30 pm) - perfect weather for the women's 5,000m heats. Tonight was the final for the men's Pole Vault, 20k walk for women, 110m hurdle and 200m men's finals. Here are a few of my impressions: The pole vault was exciting, with the Australian winning while Sergei Bubka looked on - and later presented him the Gold! An Israeli athlete won the silver. During the 20k walk for women, the announcer kept reporting to the crowd on all the disqualifications in the race. Runners must have constant contact with the ground, and can have four warnings before they are booted off the course... they dropped like flies tonight. Stoopid sport. I can't stand judged sports. Allen Johnson won the 110m hurdles and we heard the Star Spangled Banner.

Allan Johnson during his victory ceremony

The men's 200m final was a confusing, yet exciting, race! The race was obviously won by Greek Konstandinos Kederis, but the rest of the runners came across the line at the same time! It was amazing. I have never seen such a close race. They put up the results, then took them away, put up different results and then nothing for a few minutes. Finally they gave a second place and two bronze medals... I still haven't figured it all out, as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th finisher all had the same time... whatever. Oregonian Marla Runyon looked very strong in the 5,000, but slid a bit to the back of the pack at the finish and we had to wait for the second heat to see if she would make it into the final on time - we don't think so. A 15-year-old Palestinian girl ran the first lap of the 5,000m, and then dropped out.

For the first time during the games we spent $1 Canadian for a 50/50 ticket. This is a type of sports lottery for Alberta Track & Field. Every ticket is one dollar. The prize is drawn every night at the track - the winner gets half, Alberta sports get the other half - and the prize is determined by how many tickets are sold each day. Tonight's purse was over $6,000 - but we did not win. Also tonight the crowd was entertained by a huge group of Bahamians. It is strictly printed on our admission tickets that you cannot bring in bottles, food, noise makers, flags from non-participating countries, video recording equipment, etc... but someone from The Bahamas brought in a TUBA! Actually, they had an entire band in the stands and had a regular old Junkanoo Party right here in Alberta! They were dressed in native costume, dancing and singing and we could not find one Bahamian in any event tonight. They were having a lot of fun though. (Tomorrow, we may try to sneak Goldie in to the stadium.)

And now for our BIG NEWS! We are keeping Lisa! She was supposed to fly home tomorrow, but she is having so much fun and just can't stand to miss the relays. She phoned the airline tonight and switched her flight to Monday morning - for some unknown reason she was able to get a flight out of Edmonton the day after the games and for another unknown reason, the agent did not charge her a fee.

Canada - What a Great Country!

RV Park: Glowing Embers RV Park in Spruce Grove, Alberta