Skip to main content

The Two Faces of Drama

The Olympic Sport for Day Twelve:

Women's Figure Skating, Short Program

The Olympic Athlete for Day Twelve:

Joannie Rochette

Her Moment:

I doubt there was a dry eye once she started sobbing immediately upon finishing her performance. Heck, I'm teary right now just typing about it. Honestly, what a champion. I really felt bad for her, the cameraman closing in as her coach hugged her, although it wasn't as simple as media feeding off of people's suffering. A skater gets off the ice after a performance, cameras are going to be there. Still, I think I wish they had given her a moment right then -- or even just afforded her the appearance of a moment, by backing off physically and letting her feel less intruded upon. She is in a position where she has to choose between grieving so very publicly or letting go of everything she has worked for in the past few years. Is it too much to think television cameras can choose to use their zoom functions to show a little respect?

Honourable Mention:

Ladies Ski Cross. Quarterfinals. Spain's Rocio Delgado is missing for much of the run shortly after jumping out of the gate. When she does show, she goes down within metres of the finish line, losing both skis and completing a tumbling sommersault to slide across the finish line belly-down. Once she stops sliding, she arches her arms and legs backwards like a killer whale posing on a platform at Sea World, to the cheers of the crowd. On replay, we see why she was late getting to the finish line: after stumbling over the first jump out of the gate, she slammed spread-eagled into the second gate like Wile E. Coyote after the Roadrunner disappeared into a trompe-l'oeil hole in a wall that doesn't allow him through. Excelente for getting back up, and retaining your sense of humour after that, Rocio! Ex-ce-lente!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Picture Puzzler

A friend sent me another picture from the wrap party. As I looked at it, and recalled the good times, I was struck by something really unusual. See if you can spot it: I'll give you all some time to guess...

A Debbie at her Deepest

Think about Facebook for a moment. Are you thinking about it? Okay. Hear me out here. When you look through your newsfeeds, seeing all the things your friends post -- the thoughts they express, the novelties that tickle their funny bones, the issue-windmills against which they are tirelessly compelled to tilt -- you realize how very, truly, inexplicably you yourself are fractured into tiny personalities, each being expressed by the hearts and minds of the friends you chose. Done. Thanks for bearing with me. Now it is dinner time. Carry on in my absence, oh bitty pieces of myself. Oh. What if none of my friends exist and my FB newsfeed is truly a manifestation of the varied corners of my own mind? (The hairs on my forearms just stood up.)

Dear Canada Post:

I have a complaint regarding two Canada Post Employees. One of the employees accepted my money when I have been told it is against Canada Post policy to do so, and the other employee escalated my query call into this complaint letter. I wish to be reimbursed for the money the employee erroneously accepted from me, and to inform you of the glitch in your customer service line. The Background: 1) On January 29, 2010, I went to Canada Post at 1032 Pape Avenue, Toronto Ontario. I gave the Canada Post Employee there (I do not have this employee’s name, and will refer to her as Pape Employee) a package I wished sent to Alberta. I told her that my package was a bottle of wine, and asked “Can I send wine – do people send wine in the mail?” Before she responded, I continued to explain that I put it in bubble wrap and a cardboard wine container (a cylindrical tube, a little over a foot high and a couple of inches in circumference, which I wrapped in brown paper and addressed to the recipi...