Purely a monster name drop post of some of the awesome athletes I was fortunate enough to photograph during my Olympic Adventures:

Jasey-Jay Anderson, Gold medallist for Snowboard Parallel Slalom

The entire Men’s Gold medal winning Speed Skating Team, including double Gold medal winner Charles Hamelin

Clara Hughes, Bronze medalist for speed skating

Ashleigh McIvor, Gold medalist for Women’s Ski Cross

Gold medalists for Ice Dancing, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue

Kevin Martin and members of the Gold medal winning Men’s Curling team

Cheryl Bernard and the Women’s Silver medal winning Curling team

Maelle Ricker, Gold medalist for Snowboard Cross

Team USA figure skater, Johnny Weir

Canada’s new drinking buddy, Jon Montgomery, Gold medalist for skeleton

Silver medal winning Woman’s short track team

Jenn Heil and the Women’s mogul team

Alex Bilodeau, Canada’s first Gold medal on home soil for Men’s Moguls

and finally, the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky

Click through on any of these photos for more from each of their photosets.

Here’s some more amazing people that I’ve come across during my Olympic adventures:

Jon Montgomery

After winning the gold medal in skeleton, he walked through Whistler Village to do an interview and someone handed him a pitcher of beer which he drank from…to me this is one of the defining moments of the games that really make them Canadian for me…after hearing Jon be himself in interviews and in person, watching him enjoy his time in the spotlight in his own uniquely Canadian way is just awesome.

Shane Koyczan

The slam poet that for me, stole the show at the Opening Ceremonies in BC Place. I had a chance to shake his hand and say thanks for writing and performing such an inspiring piece.

Jane Roos

Jane is the founder of CAN Fund which helps Canadian athletes to continue to be athletes by bridging funding gaps and raising money on their behalf. I met Jane at the CANFund Athletes House which is an amazing space (donated by Shaw Communications, overlooking the Olympic Cauldron) that gives athletes and their families a more private place to relax during the games. Jane is another person that works tirelessly in the background to make the games happen for all of us.

The Fans

No matter how tired I am or the time of day during the Olympic Games, I never get tired of the fans I’ve encountered around town. Nothing has made me happier during these past few weeks than the positive vibe the city has…I hope we find a way to keep it going because the city has never felt so alive to me.

The Winter Olympic Games have brought thousands of people to Vancouver and I’ve been able to meet a ton of amazing people during my adventures over the last couple of weeks. I thought I’d profile a few of them here and make a few other posts as the Games progress.

Lindsey Anderson

One thing that has struck me is how many people have directly and indirectly contributed to the Games without being an athlete or in sport at all. Lindsey works for Nk’Mip Cellars which is one of the official suppliers of wine for the Games. Nk’Mip is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated winery. Based in Osoyoos, she is a participant in a mentorship program that has been helping people in her community get training in various aspects of the winery business. She is very excited to be a part of the Games.

Kristy Richards

During the press conference after the Women’s Moguls, Kristy heartfully described her run the day before in contrast to the medal winning run her teammate, Jenn Heil had. She fell about half way through the run, lost a ski and then collected herself and completed her run with an amazing jump on the second half of the course. You don’t get more Canadian than that!

Eleanor (Mackenzie) Miller

While waiting to board the train in Whistler to go back to Vancouver, Rebecca & I stopped off at a little pub. We sat a large table as the place was pretty empty. It was about an hour until the big Switzerland vs Canada Men’s Hockey game so people were trickling in. Next thing we know, Eleanor and her friend Marge ask if they can sit down at our table. We say sure and then Marj mentions that Eleanor is a former Olympian. Turns out she had competed for Canada in the 1952 Summer Games in the 100m and 200m races in Helsinki and had participated in the Opening Ceremonies rehearsals in Vancouver. She proudly wore an Olympic (temporary) tattoo on her face and a commemorative Olympic scarf around her neck that was given to her by the City of Vancouver. She was quite a character and I’m glad I had a chance to spend some time with her.

Team Spandex

Also while in Whistler, I came across these crazy people that were roaming around in spandex uniforms, posing for ‘sexy pictures’ and getting a huge crowd of people around them, interacting with them and of course taking their picture with them. I have no idea who they were, but they were awesome.