Whistler Vancouver 2010 Olympics Day 4

The fourth day of the 2010 Olympics falls on my birthday and I have to say it doesn’t get much better than this.

Big thanks to my boss for giving me tickets to the Victory Ceremonies on my birthday. Which was awesome because I was able to watch the athletes of the Women’s Cross Country 10km, Mens Cross Country 15km and Mens Downhill Alpine Skiing.

The day started off with a Live show from Inez and her band. Inez is an Aboriginal singer grew up learning the traditional Sto:lo singing and dancing with her Metis grandfather which is where her music evolved. Inez’s blending of her traditional native sounds and her passion for contemporary hip hop along with R&B showcases the best of her culture to the mainstream music scene.

Inez exploded into the Canadian music scene in 2008 with her hit album Singsoulgirl and she was recognized as a National Aboriginal Role Model by the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) in Ottawa for her contribution s to the community.

“I always tell fans that whatever their passion, they should go for it. But I don’t just paint a pretty picture. I let them know that achieving their dreams is all about hard work, determination, and asking for help when you need it.” – Inez

In 2009 Inez swept the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards in Winnipeg, taking home 4 awards that night including: Pop Album of the Year, Best Album Cover, Best New Artist and Single of the Year for her hit song Breathe. During her acceptance of the awards she acknowledges the struggles that mothers have when trying to balance work and their careers and encourages them to follow their dreams.

The Second band to his the stage was George Leach and his band. George Leach is a Canadian Musician and Actor from Lillooet, B.C. Leach release his first album Just Where I’m At in 2000 and has performed in several movies including: Nikita, North of 60, PSI Factor and This is Wonderland. Leach also was acted in the miniseries Into the West.

George Leach and his band put on a great show, with a very fun to watch rock and roll style that really made me enjoy watching them rock out to the music. It’s always fun watching the different acts that come and play on the live stages in Whistler because you can always find new music from bands you might never heard of before. I love getting to watch live shows from the more independent bands that you wouldn’t see on MTV or Much Music.

When I finished work that day I went and met up with a good friend Doug to grab a beer at Tapley’s before we went over to the Medals Plaza to watch the Victory Ceremonies. After a few beers and Tapley’s we walked by the stage in the Village Square and listened to a few songs of Misteur Valaire and let me tell you I thought Matisyahu was a high energy show, but Misteur Valaire was at the next level.

Misteur Valaire is a group of 5 guys from Montreal who put on a very high energy show. These guys move around the stage with so much momentum while playing more than one instrument, it’s something else when you watch it.

The band is comprised of Jules (drums, turntable, programming), TB (trumpet, piano, synthesizer and programming), Drouin (synthesizer and saxophone), Luis (tablas and other percussion) and France (bass and synthesizer) .

The group plays and electronic music instrument sort of rock meets jazz. With their original music style and very unique stage performances Misteur Valaire plans to make it to the top of the Electro-jazz scene internationally.

Misteur Valaire believes that their music should be distributed freely to reach a maximum of fans. Their latest album Night Friterday Internet is available for free download at www.mv.mu with over 40,000 downloads since its release I’d say there doing pretty well with creating new fans.

After watching a few songs from MV we walked down the medals plaza just in time to catch the broad cast from Vancouver of Alexandre Bilodeau being awarded Canada’s first Gold medal on Canadian Soil. Following the broadcast of Alexandre receiving his gold medal was the Mens 500m Speed Skating medals and the Mens Snowboard cross with a Silver medal being rewarded to Canada’s Mike Robertson. It was nice to see Canada picking up some more medals on home soil.

After the broadcasting of the Vancouver Victory Ceremonies the real excitement started.

We where first presented with the winners of the Mens Luge Singles with Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler in 3rd place being rewarded the bronze medal.

Then everyone got to enjoy watching the Germans take second and third place. Ceremonies David Moeller pulling in the Silver medal for Germany.

After watching the Bronze and the Silver medals be rewarded, the Olympic Champion from Germany Felix Loch bowed down to be rewarded the Gold medal in Mens Luge Singles.

Once the Mens Luge Athletes finished getting there photos taken at the media pit the next set of Olympic Medalist where welcomed onto the stage.

The next athletes who where welcomed onto the stage where the Womens 10km Cross Country Medalists. Starting with the wonderful Marit Bjoergen from Norway being awarded the Bronze medal for her outstanding performance in the 10km Cross Country race.

Up next was Kristina Smigun-Vahi from Estonia. Stepping up on the podium in front of thousands of people must be pretty mind blowing let alone all the camera’s and everyone watching from all over the world. Kristina pulled it off well with a lot of pride for her country.

Lastly the Gold Medalist Charlotte Kalla joins the podium with the biggest smile on her face, bigger than any other athlete I saw that night, simply amazing.

Next up on the podium where the Mens 15km Cross Country Medalists. The first Cross Country skier to honor the podium was Lukas Bauer from the Czech Republic receiving the Bronze Medal in 15km Cross Country.

Soon after Lukas received his medal Italy’s Pietro Piller Cottrer stepped up the the podium receiving his Silver medal for his speedy finish of the 15km Cross Country in the Callaghan Valley.

Today’s Mens 15km Cross Country Gold medal goes too… Switzerland’s Dario Cologna receiving his first Olympic Medal and you could when he stepped up onto the podium how ecstatic he was about winning the medal.

To end off the Medals ceremonies that night everyone was able to enjoy the Mens Downhill Skiers receive their well deserved medals for risking their lives skiing down some very steep slopes at over 130 km/hr.

The first medalist to receive a medal this evening was Bode Miller from the United States receiving the Bronze medal for his country.

Receiving the Silver medal for Mens Downhill was our friend from Norway Lund Aksel Svindal who was very proud to be receiving the medal in Whistler.

The last medalist to receive a medal was adding a second gold medal to the Swiss team that night. Didier Defago won his first Olympic Gold Medal that night along with his fellow country mate Dario Cologna who also won a Gold Medal for Switzerland placing first in the mens 15km Cross country race.

After the Medals Ceremonies the stage rotated around to reveal Pierre Lapointe and his band for the Medals Ceremonies after show. It was nice to see another large act from Canada on stage that day with some awesome music. Lapointe is from Montreal and speaks fluent french. This made it hard for myself to get involved when he was addressing the crowd only speaking in french.

Doug and I stayed for a few songs before we headed up to the Swollen Members show at the base of Whistler for the Fire and Ice remix show.

Swollen Members are a Canadian group from Vancouver and have played many shows in Whistler before. I saw one of there shows at Garfinkles here in Whistler a few seasons back and It was one of the best live shows I’ve ever been too. So you can tell I was pretty pumped to see them again live on stage.

The show was happening the exact same time at the Fire and Ice which was happening right behind the tent where Swollen Members was playing so you really got the full meal deal with this show. Snowboarders and Skiiers jumping threw rings of fire and Swollen Members playing live on stage. It couldn’t get much better than that.

About half way threw the show people in the audience started throwing snowballs around in the crowd. Basically throwing snow balls at each other until someone threw one at the stage. That’s when it all started.

For the next half hour Swollen Members continued their set while people where hucking snowballs at them and I have to say they took it all in a good manner. They where playing along while trying to catch the snowballs while doing their show and Prevail (one of the band members) even did some crowd surfing while getting snowballs thrown at him.

Eventually Swollen Members finished up their set and the snowball fight just expanded when the crowd started to get thinner the crowd started to turn into 2 sides. It continued for easily another 20 minutes which is when we left to grab some beers at the Brew House to end of another day at the Whistler Olympics.

Previous Posts: Whistler Vancouver Olympics 2010 Day 3, Whistler Vancouver Olympics 2010 Day 2, Whistler Vancouver Olympics 2010 Day 1