Posted on 02.16.10 by Michelle Look, MD 

More rain and snow today. All of the Alpine events have been postponed. It has been on the quiet side for medical, but the delay has been good for our skiers Stacey Cook to recover from her crash, and Lindsey Vonn's boot bruise to heal.

In the meantime I have been gaining important skills in multiscreen viewing. With 3-6 screens running at all times, the technology is impressive. We receive all of the live camera views from the Olympic broadcasting feed, it goes into something called a 'Slingbox" that holds up to 60 minutes of footage and this is sent remotely to our coaches on the hill. Using their iPod Touch they can view, replay, and analyze curve by curve each run instantly AND in high definition.  The entire coverage is also taped and sent by courier to them. Sometimes coaches are not happy with the camera views so our staff will climb up trees, hike up parallel hills too steep to snowshoe or even ski to try to capture another viewpoint. Women's luge is starting from the Junior start and they are unhappy with that, but at this point we are glad they are thinking of safety first.

We were happy with the results of Nordic Combined. Finishing second, fourth, and sixth is the result of many years of preparation. Their success is a representation of how our USOC development program in smaller sports can work. Cross-country athletes are scouted at the International level. They are tested in the lab to see whether they have the baseline VO2 max, lactate profiles, forceplate and vertical leap ability to be considered to add ski jumping. Their levels are then compared to previous US and truthfully Norwegian Olympians and if they meet the requirements, basic training begins, which includes, a mandatory move to higher altitude living. If you look at our top two Nordic combined athletes they were both born in Steamboat at 7,000-foot elevation and have lived and trained there as well.  Just prior to coming to the games, we flew over several tanks of oxygen from Colorado Springs for them to do high intensity training breathing 100 percent O2 in their backpacks with the nasal canula in their mouths. This allowed them to basically "train low" while living "high" at 7,000 feet. A formula that apparently worked.

Our wall is filling with the pictures of US medals won so far. The pressure our HPC staff feels for our team to win medals is fierce. I have not heard such shall I say "vigorous" cheering  for the US to beat Canada since my days at UCLA-USC games. We were able to make it into the village last pm for Bode Miller's bronze medal ceremony. The gold went to Switzerland and they went crazy. To win the gold medal in Downhill skiing is the ultimate in their country. They become superstars. They tell me Didier Defago will never have to work or pay for a meal again for life. Singing and dressed in flags they marched their medal winners from the stadium to the village ringing huge cowbells, These 60-80 year old men carried bells up to four feet large and required their whole body weight to ring.  You could feel their national pride.

Ahh the Olympics, nothing beats this.