Gentle Reader,
Such a fun Twitter chatter tonight. The gif game was strong. The Office references flowed freely. Poutine and colonoscopies were discussed (the one does not necessarily lead to the other). The Norwegian curling team’s pants were admired. I was graced with honourary Canadian status. (See what I did there)?
I love these people.
Kate says: beauty.
Go.
I’ve so enjoyed watching the Olympics this year.
As a child I loved figure skating, my heart captured by the artistry of athletes like Oksana Baiul and Gordeeva/Grinkov. As an adult, I discovered ice dancing, which is like ballroom dancing and a skating rink got together and made something truly magical. In 2010 I watched as Canada’s Virtue/Moir and the United States’ Davis/White battled it out. In 2014, they battled again, but with a different (and, in my opinion, incorrect) outcome. Heading into the PeyongChang games, I was more than ready for the Virtue/Moir comeback and to be very #TeamCanada. (All the “noooo” in the world for France’s Papadakis/Cizeron).
Odd, this love, since I’ve never glided across the ice or even pushed my foot into an ice skate. Never had the opportunity. Now, because I have to live in a protective bubble at all times, I can’t go skating, no matter how much I want to.
Thus I content myself with watching men and women defy gravity and tell stories with blades strapped to their feet. It’s art. It’s sport. It’s thrilling.
That’s the beauty of the Olympics, I think. All the politics and doping aside (really, guy who does curling? You had to use drugs?), the world is treated to 10 days of good fun. Competition and elation and heartbreak and the reminder that we’re all the same, no matter where we come from. In a world fraught with increasing and constant tension, this beauty, this space, is necessary.
Stop.
The Virtue/Moir programs. Watch them both. There will never be better ice dancers.
Also this, which is the most Canada thing to ever Canada. Dude is gold-medal winning ice dancer who gets worked up at a hockey game. I love that.
