Trish Jordan (Monsanto Canada) Blog: Sochi 2014 – The Adventure Continues

By Trish Jordan, Public & Industry Affairs Director, Monsanto Canada

Carol Jones, mother of Team skip Jennifer Jones, farmer and rancher Jesse Lawrence, and Trish

Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly pack more into a day, my Day #2 at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia became one of my longest yet.

There was curling and NHL players and Elvis, oh my! And figure skating, coaches and bus trips that went awry. I got lost (with Carol Jones, mother of team Canada skip Jennifer Jones) and then found my way after pounding pavement for miles. Then I finished my day – well it was actually well into the night - with more walking and finally supper at 1:30 am and back to the room by 2:30 am where I collapsed with sore feet and aching arthritic hips but some great stories in my head and more memories to share.

The day started off early as Team Canada had the first draw at 9 am. To get to Olympic Park we have about a 10-minute walk to the bus stop and then about a 20-minute ride to the gates. Once there, you have to walk through security where your accreditation is swiped and checked and your backpack emptied for inspection – all part of the intense but impressive safety precautions for this Olympic Games. Once inside the gates, the hike to the curling venue is about another 30 to 40 minutes to the furthest spot within the massive “coastal cluster” where all the ice sports are held.

The girls’ second game was against Sweden – a team that is highly ranked and expected to medal. From the very first end, you could tell the girls were “on.” It is such a treat to cheer on your country and your favourite team and see them curl so well. And to experience that alongside their families has just been amazing for me. We had a lot to cheer for with some terrific shot making by all team members that resulted in another Canada win by a score of 9-3 in 8 ends and Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones curling 100 per cent!

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitols is the face of Team Russia

After the game we hiked back to Canada Olympic House (COH), our home away from home within the park and a place that is a welcome respite for the friends and family of all the Canadian Olympians. We bumped into Daniel Sedin of the NHL Vancouver Canucks along the way - or possibly it was his twin brother Henrick? I was too awe-struck to ask.

The NHL players have started to arrive for the hockey games later this week. They, too, are filtering into Olympic Park and can be found attending other events. Daniel Alfredsson of the Detroit Red Wings, who will play for Team Sweden, was at the morning curling draw and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who will play for Team Russia, was at the pairs figure skating last night. I have yet to see Alex Ovechkin from the Washington Capitals but he is the face of the games here for Team Russia and you “see” his gap-toothed grin branded in various spots throughout the park.

The Canadian athletes often stop by Canada House to meet up with their families and this has given me the opportunity to meet and see many past and present Olympians. I have met former Canadian Olympians such as figure skaters Tracy Wilson, Brian Orser and Elvis Stoyko, as well as Gold Medal winner Charles Hamelin, who was fresh off his 1500-metre short track victory. I have also met many parents and family members of speed skaters and figure skaters. It has been great to get to know these folks and experience the Olympics through their eyes as parents, spouses, brothers and sisters.

While hanging out at Canada House, I also met some more Canadian farmers! I love it when things turn back to farming and I can chat with Canadians about agriculture, their farms and communities. Jesse and Jim Lawrence are cattle ranchers from Kennedy, Saskatchewan. Their daughter and sister, Paige Lawrence, and her partner Rudi Sweigers from Virden, Manitoba, are in the pairs figure skating competition. Thanks to Jesse, I was able to grab a ticket to last night’s short program. The three Canadian pairs teams all skated well, with Lawrence and Sweigers recording a personal best score on their first-ever Olympic skate.

Olympian Elvis Stoyko and Trish at Canada House

Our group was split up yesterday for the return trip at the end of the day as we were all doing different things. I learned this morning at breakfast that several of us ran into trouble getting back to our hotel after getting dropped at the bus stop. Our hotel is well-hidden and unlike North American hotels, they don’t have obvious neon signs and welcoming lobbies. We had a good chuckle sharing stories about each of the adventures we had and the people we met trying to find our way home.

What was comforting though, as Carol and I wandered the streets in the dark, lost – two women alone in city and country we don’t know and where we don’t speak the language – is that I never felt nervous, scared or threatened. Not even for a minute. This city has welcomed its visitors and the volunteers constantly ask us if we are having a good time.

Those of you back home worried about our safety need not fret. The Sochi I am coming to know is safe and welcoming. And it continues to offer up new adventures every day.

Sochi at night

With Permission From and Originally published February 12, 2014 by Monsanto

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by OntAG Admin on February 12, 2014 at 9:57am: Check out Trish Jordan's Blog:

Sochi 2014 – Full of Surprises on Day One

here: http://ontag.farms.com/profiles/blogs/trish-jordan-monsanto-canada-...

RSS

Welcome to
Ontario Agriculture

Sign Up
or Sign In

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Climate change worries Canadian farmers: poll

A poll released Dec. 11 suggests that Canadian farmers worry more about the impacts of climate change than they do about input costs and market prices for canola, corn, wheat and cattle. The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern. “When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture. The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey. It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8. The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years. The results? 17.9 per cent said climate change. Input costs were 17.2 pe

Livestock producers are warned to watch for a larval disease

A disease that lives off the flesh of living mammals has been confirmed in Chiapas, Mexico. New World screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic larval disease of warm-blooded animals where the female fly will lay eggs near an open wound and the larvae can infest the wound and cause significant infections. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people. Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton said the confirmation comes on the heels of a report in October from Guatemala where the first case was identified. “This larva and the fly were identified at the Mexican border in cattle that were coming through in Guatemala and so this is a very significant concern of especially grazing animals but really of any warm-blooded animal,” she said. “It does cause destruction when a wound gets infected.” Animals can exhibit very painful draining wounds that don’t heal. It has a negative impact on production and can include mortality o

Durum Ending Stocks Tighter from November

Agriculture Canada has whittled down its 2024-25 durum ending stocks estimate from last month, although it remains up from a year earlier. Monthly government supply-demand estimates released Thursday showed durum ending stocks at 650,000 tonnes, down 150,000 from the November forecast but still well up from the previous year’s 407,000. The reduction reflects Statistics Canada’s Dec. 5 crop production report which put this year’s Canadian durum crop to 5.87 million tonnes, down from the federal agency’s previous estimate in September of just over 6 million. However, this year’s durum crop is still 44% larger than the 2023 harvest, 20% above average and the sixth largest on record. Ag Canada trimmed its domestic use estimate slightly to reflect this month’s downward revision in the durum crop, but left its export forecast unchanged from last month at 4.9 million tonnes, up from 3.558 million in 2023-24 but still below over 5 million in 2022-23. At $325/tonne, the average expecte

Alberta Canola Seeks Grower Support for First Service Charge Increase in 20 Years

Alberta Canola is urging canola growers to approve its first service charge increase in over two decades. The proposed change—from $1 per tonne to $1.75 per tonne—will be put to a vote at the organization’s Annual General Meeting on Jan. 22, 2025. The increase is critical to addressing financial challenges and ensuring Alberta Canola can continue supporting farmers amid rising operating costs, declining production, and evolving industry pressures. A Challenging Landscape “Alberta Canola was built by farmers, for farmers, and that hasn’t changed in our 35 years,” says Karla Bergstrom, Executive Director of Alberta Canola. “What?has?changed is the world we operate within.” Bergstrom highlights the dual challenges of reduced public research funding and increased regulatory demands. Meanwhile, consumers, increasingly removed from farming, are demanding greater transparency in food production. With over 90% of its operating revenue coming from its service charge, Alberta Canola has face

BMO underscores trends affecting Canadian agriculture

The Bank of Montreal has published an in-depth analysis of nine key trends. Here’s a topline of several economic indicators and what to expect in 2025. ???????

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service