What we did. . . . . 

The list is endless but I will try to put down some of the highlights of what the SIC was all about.  I think I will start off by telling you about 'bibs'.  Nope, not baby bibs, but racing bibs and those in particular for the Cross Country and Biathlon-Nordic competitions.  

Above is Raymond, Riikka and Julie.  Riikka is from Finland and what a sweetheart she is!  She is an athlete herself and owns an Interior Design business in her hometown.  I won't even try to spell her last name.  Her name is pronounced R  and trill that, the two ii's sound like eeee, then kah.  

The three of them are putting training bibs in order numerically which is very important!  Then the bibs  are folded a special way so that the number on them is visible. It makes it much easier to give them out that way and to keep the list correct. Every person has a particular number so that security and racing officials can keep track of who is out there skiing.  

This is Raymond and Dave.  Dave and his wife, Barbara, were the ones  in charge of all of the bibs for both the Olympics and Paralympics at Soldier Hollow.  When there were 3-4 races a day, it really kept them hopping, putting them all in order, folded and the lists made so a lot of the time, we all pitched in and had an assembly line going. 

Dave created this marvelous system of organizing all of the bibs.  Using a box like those cardboard magazine storage ones, he cut them down and put consecutive numbers on the box.  The corresponding number of the folded bib, just fit into the box and everything was neat and tidy, plus not taking up much room.

 Notice the green and red armbands.  They don't even get close enough for anything down in the racing area where they start, unless they have those armbands on.  They were also kept out of sight when not being worn as they were so important.  The coaches had to have them and the  bibs, for them to be down on the course.

The two men were basically the ones who trudged down the hill to the course to pick up the bibs after the training time as  the red ones were only for training and you had to wear a different one for the races. <smile>  The racing ones  were given out at the coaches meeting the day before the race and  some of them were on a draw system.

Some of the bibs in different races, had to have a particular number on it for a particular person according to their points, etc. from previous events.  Lots and lots of paper work and I jokingly called our place, "the paper mill" but I wouldn't have changed one thing for the world!!  What experiences!

How about a "photo finish" picture about now!  This one was a dead heat even to the bumps on the toes of their shoes.  You can't really see it in this one, but if you can enlarge it, you can tell.  What a race that was and yes, they both won a silver medal.

Three guesses and the first two don't count on who our Toni is pictured with! Somewhere on Al Roker's hat, is an Olympic pin of the Arches that I gave him and for that I got a handshake!  Gosh, one of the guys got a hug  and a handshake!

Here are 'some more of us' with Al Roker.  Left to right:
Barbara, Cindi, Toni, Raymond, Al,  Patty, Shirley, Dave and Ken.

We are standing with our back to the course, on the patio at the day lodge. What a view from there!  You can see everything. That area is where NBC filmed their morning program when they were at our venue. The other time they were there, they were in the visitor area in the pioneer village.  

I wish I had some pictures of that area as it was unbelievable.  They had a complete homestead type area built from old wood.  The furnishings, tools, well, everything were actual items from that era. They had even a small wire cage with chickens in it.  Our laugh for one day is when one of the children was holding one of the chickens and petting it.  Some one asked her where did they put the batteries to make it move its head and eyes like that!!!!  A few of the other comments:  Are you really cooking? (They did actual cooking of their meals over the outside fire).  Is that fire real?   The men were also doing blacksmithing using original tools. Laundry was on a clothes line, grandma was mending clothes.  It looked so real that you felt like you were imposing upon their private lives.

There was a small building that was their home and it was just one tiny room complete with a dirt floor.  I would certainly get claustrophobia if I had to live like that so I am glad I am alive during the time that I am.  They even had an old fashion bath tub of sorts.  (continued on next page)