Rich Roszel

Well, as promised, here are some more memories of Vancouver2010 as captured in photographs. (Click on any of the photos to see an enlarged image.) As I mentioned in an earlier post, lack of time and lack of a good internet connection kept me from keeping this blog as up-to-date as I would have liked. Now, at last, here is the payoff.

I start with a photo I like to call “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”  Canadians, it seems, have no concept of cold.  In fact, I’m not sure a word for cold exists in the Canadian vernacular.   Moreover, Canadians seem to use mind control on people of other nationalities to get them to freeze to death voluntarily.  I suspect this is how their gold medal count got so high.  These chests come in all shapes in colors, but the blue background on the chests is completely natural due to the lack of oxygen and/or blood circulating beneath the skin.  These guys are a cheerful lot, and they kept the beer stands in business throughout the games.  Go Canada Go!

Next, we have my “Nell Fenwick” collection of photos.  For those who don’t know Nell, she’s involved in a rather complicated love triangle with Dudley Dooright of the Canadian Mounties and his horse.  Dudley loves Nell.  Nell loves Dudley’s horse.  The horse is uncommitted.

I ran into some Canadian Mounties in Whistler Village.  Yes, they were hard at work posing for pictures so I got in on the action.  Very nice folks, the mounties.  Part constable.  Part park ranger.  Part Canadian icon.

This fellow to my right seems a likely candidate to play the part of Dudley, though his IQ is much too high.  Method acting is out of the question. The mountie who took the picture was only about 5 feet tall, so you really get a good look at his chin.  This will probably help him land the part of Dudley since Dudley’s chin is the most pronounced feature on his body.  (See picture of Dudley above right for comparison.)

Now, back to techie stuff. Camera crews were all over the place during the Olympics. Every network and, for that matter, every local station around the world seemed to be out trying to get their own angle on the games and the people involved. Here’s one such crew interviewing some notables who were out for the afternoon in Whistler Village.

Meanwhile, back down the beaten path a little ways, a crew from BBC Sports was interviewing some of the athletes about their earlier performances. They are sitting on a picnic beside a river that runs through the village. These tables are almost always occupied. The setting is peaceful. There’s a covered bridge next to them that is illuminated by constantly changing colored lights every night. During the weekends, groups would roast marshmallows here and tell camp stories.

Speaking of stories to tell, my best one from the Olympics is probably my story of trading Olympic pins with Prince Albert of Monaco. Prince Albert is a former Olympic bobsledder. He competed in every Olympics from 1988 to 2002. I understand that he is now a member of the International Olympic committee. What brought him to these Olympics, though, was an invitation by French Television to be guest commentator for the bobsled events.

French TV began the day with an interview with the Prince at the finish platform where athletes exit the bobsled course. Since the Commentary Control Room maintains the coordination circuits for the finish platform (which is referred to as the Pre/Post position since this area is often used for interviews before the races start and after they have ended), I had to be on hand to monitor communications with the French TV studio back in Vancouver. For those who have worked in television studios, I was sort of like a floor director, though my main job was to ensure that the interviewer could hear his cues from the producer. That’s me in the background on the right side of the picture.

After the pre-game interview was over, my boss, David Gebe, introduced me to the Prince. As we chatted briefly, I offered him an Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) pin. Most broadcasters bring their own branded pins to the games to trade. OBS is no different. The prince graciously accepted it, then called one of his secret service men over and asked him to get one of his pins.
The prince then presented me with the official pin of Monaco. You can rest assured that I kept that pin safe for the remainder of the games. I was not about to trade it by mistake!

In addition to the excitement on the course, our Olympic hosts in Whistler tried to build some excitement in the streets by way of live concerts and street performances. Here’s where I got my first dose of Canadian rap. It was actually pretty good — and this from a guy who doesn’t care much for rap music. These guys didn’t use a DJ to provide the rhythm track. They had a drummer and a percussionist. Yep, it was all live — the way God intended it :-).

This guy is a juggler who performed at various venues throughout the town. There was also an acoustic vocal group, a marching band and, during some of the medals ceremonies, performances by some well known groups such as Bare Naked Ladies and Devo. (Remember “Whip It!” from the early 80s?). Our production crew certainly did.

One of the hallmarks of Devo was their creative, uh, wardrobe. This included hazmat suits and inverted flowerpots for hats. The suits didn’t make it out of storage for the concert, but the flowerpots certainly did, and this time they came in Olympic Blue. Our team made sure to pick up a few to supplement our uniforms. Not that the uniforms needed that kind of help…

I mentioned in a few of my earlier posts that the people are what make the Olympic experience special for me. In my Have a Coke and a Smile post, I highlighted my group of heros who made life at the Whistler Sliding Center that much better. I took them out to dinner
at a Greek restaurant in town as a way of saying thanks for their efforts. These ladies don’t get the meal allowances the production crew gets so working here is almost costing them money. The picture was taken after the table had been cleared and we had cleaned all the food off of our faces. A good time was had by all.

Not all of the people I saw in my travels made sense to me. For example, there were a variety of security people in various places, but many seemed, well, OUT of place. Case in point, this lifeguard posted in downtown Vancouver. I’m not sure why she was here. I’m not sure who she was supposed to be watching. I’m not sure why she was in a lifeguard chair. The nearest pool was probably many city blocks away. But here she sat, reading her latest magazine, having her picture taken by more than one confused tourist. Incidentally, this was in Vancouver — NOT in Whistler. We had more sense in Whistler.

Another of the people who make the Olympics special is my friend, Brian Gray. Brian hails from the UK but seems to have lived all over. When I worked with him in Beijing, his official residence was Bangladesh.
Brian and I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the patio between the IBC (International Broadcast Center) and the Olympic Flame. Incidentally, if you happen to be paying close attention, all of the signage in the IBC appears backward in this photo. That’s because all of the signage is translucent and I’m taking the picture from the inside of the building. You’re also seeing the backs of the signs outdoors.

As for the flame, I was stunned when, in mid sip of my coffee, I realized what a privilege I enjoyed by being employed by OBS. I know that sounds like a stupid statement, but it really is hard to fathom all the blessings we have when we’re waist-deep in them. Brian and I could walk right up to the flame to take our picture. We had access to almost everything Olympic. We had access to many things that weren’t Olympic that most of the public would love to be able to do. Why? Because we were fortunate enough to do what we do for a living and to get these cool jobs. As we looked at the flame, there were perhaps a thousand people 100 feet from us who were struggling to get a glimpse of it or to take its picture. Yet here we sat, enjoying it and a nice cup of coffee on our day off.

Incidentally, while we were enjoying said coffee, we were also watching a number of sea planes taking off and landing. As fate would have it, Brian and I both got the idea at the same time that going for a spin in one of these planes would be the thing to do so, $140 each later, we found ourselves about 500 feet above the water zipping along the Vancouver coast. It was an experience best shared with a friend and, as we both commented later, neither of us would have done it had a friend not be handy to convince us to do it.

After a pleasant day in Vancouver, we had one more day of snow in Whistler as we headed into the last of the bobsled competitions, the 4-man events. Aside from the US winning GOLD in that and SILVER in Hockey against the Canadians, our last days were unremarkable.
On the evening of February 27th, we were thrown a “wrap” party with a terrific spread of food and drinks. It was a great way to celebrate a series of successful broadcasts and the collaboration of an unlikely group of freelancers from around the globe.

Well, it’s been said that it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings. We were in short supply of singing ladies of any stature at the Whistler Sliding Center; nonetheless, we did find one viking not at all short on inhibition, as may be noted by the two drinks held proudly in this photo. He was more than willing to pose for pictures AND be our singing show-closer. So as the fading chorus sinks slowly into the sunset, I bid Canada a fond adieu and took off for home, cheaper prices, and a surprising lack of hockey, eh.

Next stop, London 2012.

– Rich