Special Olympics
The week of February 7th thru the 14th the Special Olympics were here in town. A and I volunteered to help. A ended up helping out at Olympic Village that was set up downtown. His job was basically to play with all of the athletes. He got to put on sumo wrestling outfits and wrestle, play video games, meet starts like Johnny Knoxville, and have a great time. He loved it and got to meet so many people from around the world. I was a "Venue Sector Coordinator". Which was really a fancy title for gopher for the guy in charge of the Speed Skating events. I spent four days helping round up athletes for their races and then round them up again to receive their medals and ribbons. It was an incredible experience. I don't think I have ever seen such a happy group of people and it was contagious. There were some participants that needed extra help and other participants that were just amazing athletes. There was one girl from Russia that I swear could win the regular olympics. I am including a picture of her. Also pictured, are Dr Cox from Scrubs, and some of the races I saw. A side note that I found cool was that Darigold had yogurt at all of the events and so people from all over the world were eatting our product. Great exposure in such a short time. Also, S was helping with security at the downhill skiing events. He was even able to present a couple of the athletes with their medals. Lawenforcement was treated like rock stars by the athletes. They wanted to have their pictures taken with them and trade pins that were on their credentials. I wish they would come back but I have been told that it will never come back to the same place again since so many places want to host. So it was a great once in a lifetime experience.
