Seeing the Olympics in person was a shared dream for Valley couple Leslie Rogers and Chad Leduc, stemming from a lifelong passion for the Games.
The pair travelled to Italy by way of Switzerland just days before the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games began, with tickets for the opening ceremonies and five events at venues in Milan and Livigno.
They watched the Canadian women soar during the big air snowboard qualifications, flip and spin during slopestyle skiing, and outshoot the Finnish hockey team. They also saw Mickael Kingsbury attack the moguls course on his way to a silver medal, as well as several members of the short track speed skating team as they tore up the ice.
They posed in front of the Olympic flame in Milan and saw two medal ceremonies with Canadians on the podium in slopestyle skiing and speed skating.
When not at an event, they explored fan zones set up near the venues, merchandise stores, and some of the non-Olympic aspects of their host cities.
Rogers said the best part of the trip was meeting people from different countries and cheering for athletes from around the world. For example, they found themselves watching the big air event next to an Australian man whose daughter was competing in her third Olympic Games. “He still cries every time she jumps,” she said. “It gave us goosebumps at the same time.”
The pair would seek out other Canadians at events to add to the maple leaf contingent. “It’s crazy how much it affects the athletes when there are people from their country coming to cheer them on,” said Leduc. They met a freestyle skier from Quebec who placed 12th in the moguls event in her first Olympic experience who was grateful for the support.
Rogers explained that it is the people that make the Olympic Games so big, noting the speed skating venue in Milan seemed small until the crowd started cheering.