The Golden Ticket

This morning I pretty much won the lottery! My name was one of four drawn out of a hat of 40 Aussie athletes to go to see USA and Canada in the gold medal hockey match. I sprinted to the stadium, and who do I find sitting next to me? Teammates Scott Kneller, Ramone Cooper and young Scott James. Things couldn’t get any better!

(Scott, Ramone, Scott and I having the time of our lives at the Hockey final)

(The golden ticket!)

(It doesn't get much better than this! Olympic Games hockey final)

Seats were extremely hot property as you can imagine. Tickets were being sold for as much as $15,000 USD on eBay for two seats in prime position. Standard tickets were averaging $4,500 each; $1,000 more than the superbowl. Crazy! I could have lived off that one ticket for months! Haha. But it was so worth going to the game; a lifetime experience, and something I’ll never forget. Definitely a highlight of my Olympic Games experience. It’s not every day you get to see Canada win Olympic Gold in the hockey…on home soil…with your friends…against their ultimate rivals, the USA! Does it get any better than this?

(Anticipation before the game started)

Following the Game was the closing ceremony. It was a great ceremony to wrap things up, yet I was sad that it was all over. The past 16 days have flown by! And I have had the time of my life. My parents attended so that made it even more special!

(Craig Branch and I before the closing ceremony)

(Sarah from Great Britain, Sophie from Denmark and myself before the ceremony)

(The colourful and bright closing ceremony)

(Chumpy and I getting involved at the ceremony)

We were very proud to have Lydia Lasilla as Australia’s flag bearer. Our whole team is extremely proud of our performances. This has been Australia’s best ever Winter Olympic Games, with two gold medals, one silver, nine top 10 finishes and another 6 top 15 finishes (including mine!).

(11 of the 40 Australian Olympic athletes)

A huge party followed the ceremony in the village. It was great to celebrate with all of the athletes from every nation and every sport.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Europe for the remainder of the World Cup season. I have 3 more world cups, one in Sweden and two in Switzerland. Although it would be nice to go home and celebrate my Olympic success with friends and family, I feel that I’m performing very well at the moment, so why not finish off the season with a few more great results?

(Dad, Mum and I at the Inukshuk in Vancouver)