Time for the Teams from all over the world to arrive at the stadium. Just when I thought, “Oh man. Can we sit down now?” I realized, “Wait a sec, these guys came a really long way to come to these games, I’d better make sure they feel welcomed!” More pompom shaking ensued.
Also, if you’ve ever had to travel in a plane in a wheelchair, it’s a big deal. Those isles are tiny and they have a special tiny wheelchair they use to get the person to his/her seat. So when you think about the people who came from far away places in Europe, Asia or the Middle East, and who those had to transfer from plane to plane, it takes extra time.
The DJs started announcing the names of the countries and the athletes started arriving. Here are only a few of the countries who participated – in alphabetical order:
Australia!
Looks like they have quite a few skiers on their team.
Germany:
They have some wheelchair curling athletes on their team.
My vote for best wheelchairs goes to Great Britain. They looked great as they entered the stadium.
Team Japan arrived next. As an aside – we saw them today at the Sledge Hockey game – they were checking out their competition.
In the “flattery will get you everywhere” category, Korea! Welcome Team Korea!
Next in – Team Norway. We learned today they have an awesome Sledge Hockey team.
Team Poland:
They also have many skiers on their team.
A very small team arrived from South Africa:
That’s weird. I can’t figure out who the athlete is for South Africa. I’ll have to get back to you on that. And shortly after that, the Swiss arrived with my vote for second best wheelchair decor:
These were only a few of the teams that we welcomed. There were teams from Russia, China, Iran, and even Mongolia. When the Spanish speaking teams arrived, we all sang, “HOLA! HOLA!” to them.
So great.
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I taped it, and finally had the chance to sit & watch it tonight after turkey supper. Didn’t even fall asleep. Very well done–I cried for Rick Hanson & Terry Fox.