TEAM CANADA
What It Must Feel Like to Be an Olympic Athlete
> Morgan Hibbert
I can only imagine and speculate since I have never actually been to the Olympics. I have, however, watched a lot of them on TV and thus I am somewhat of an expert. The experience I had at the World Games in Cali, Colombia was so incredible that it just had to be what an Olympic athlete feels when they make it to the show. For two short weeks in the summer of 2013 I felt like an Olympic athlete, a dream I had given up on a long, long time ago.
It all began when I landed in Colombia. I had previously “washed” my passport several times, and the Colombian customs lady was struggling to scan it - something I had experienced several times before. But this time the outcome was much different. The lady didn’t even have to ask why I was coming to her country. I was a tall, pasty white dude: it was clear I was here for the World Games. She was embarrassed that she couldn’t scan my passport and was extremely pleasant and welcoming - something I am not familiar with when it comes to customs guards. After she consulted with her boss, they graciously let me into their country without so much as a fuss over my useless passport. “Welcome to Colombia!” Yes I felt very welcome indeed. I love Colombia.
At the airport there were greeters to guide us to our bus and help us with our luggage. The bus took us to the accreditation center where we were greeted with food and drink and endless smiles. Then followed the photo ops. I can’t imagine we looked all that appealing after 17+ hours of travel, but no matter, there were photos to be had! This is where we first got to meet athletes from other sports and other nations: an American archer, who was tall and rugged and very popular with the much smaller Colombian girls; and the Venezuelan beach handball team, athletically powerful men who looked more like football players
26
World Game
than anything else. Whatever sport they played, I felt compelled to watch.
Eventually we were taken to our hotel. A place so new, that it had literally been opened the day before and still had workers laying down tiles as we arrived (side note, one thinks of Colombia as a cheaper nation, which is true, except for higher level hotels - rooms in this place ran $200 a night!!). At the hotel we met our personal security detail, Jon and Gustavo, a couple of Colombian Policia assigned to us for the duration of the competition. Every minute that we weren’t in the hotel, they were with us. These two turned out to be the two most badass tour guides that anyone could ask for. Jon even came and partied with us when we were done competing and he was finally off duty. That man can bust a groove with the ladies on the dance floor!
All of this felt very special, but the opening ceremonies were where I first truly felt like a big deal. People who had never seen or heard of us before this day were screaming for our attention, waving and smiling. We queued up outside the stadium with all the other athletes representing Canada, along with all the
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