EDITOR'S NOTE: CAFP member Michelle Look, MD is in Vancouver as a member of the US Olympic International Medical Staff and is providing a first-person perspective of the Winter Olympics as well as her duties.    

Posted on 02.25.10 by Michelle Look, MD  

With apologies to my husband Tor, an 8x10 of Petter Northug of Norway may be the new addition to my office. I went to Scandanavia today. At least it seemed like I was in Scandanavia at the Whistler Olympic Park. English was not the most common language spoken. The stadium was filled with flags from Norway, Sweden, and Finland which dominate the Nordic ski world. My friends from Switzerland were heavily represented with their four-foot cowbells and Alpine horns (Ricola horns as we call them). We watched as Northug bridged an insurmountable 27-second gap on his own in the last leg of the 4x10km cross-country relay and passed the Czech Republic and France to win the silver medal. Too exciting.

If you watched the women's two-man bobsled, you saw the difficulty that every country (except Canada) was having with turns 11-12. Right after our first run, coach called our center for footage of Canada1 and USA2 going through just that turn to be sent to his netbook at the sliding center start house. In the second run, pilot Erin navigates the turn perfectly. Enough to give USA2 the bronze and put smiles on our crew here at the high performance center. While our team has been studying the Canadians and video of the track for months, perhaps seeing the video at that moment may have had an influence on the positive outcome. What we do know is that four countries crashed at that portion of the track including world champions Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke from Great Britain (who jettisoned out of the bobsled, so scary), and favorite Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch from Germany. My favorite sled was the beautiful Japanese bobsled with the Geisha girl painted on it. Their pink helmets reminded me of Dr. Becca Rodriguez's pink power ranger costume from Disneyland. They also crashed spectaculary but fortunately everyone was OK.

If last week belonged to the USA, then this week has been for Germany. With less than 20 events left, it is going to be close. Each morning, I listen to the analysis by our sports performance team. I have seen first hand the ups and downs of high expectations. The pressure on these athletes and their support team is incredible. Like a fund manager, each team's performance is analyzed for the value of  their investment. Everything from the talent assets both now and in development, to the coaches, to the equipment technicians and even the sports medicine team is under the microscope. This is not a job for the faint of heart. Mistakes like the Norwegian longtrack speed skating coach made will live with you forever. 

Nordic combined Individual large hill is today. We'll see if going home to practice in Park City for the week was the right move. I'll be covering the four-man bobsled tommorrow night. Steve Holcom's best event. Think good thoughts. They call the Olympic games a marathon, not a sprint. We hope to build on our medal count today and keep them coming through the Gold Medal round of ice hockey.

Go Oohsa!