Olympic Hangover

It started this morning when I turned on the Today Show. I’d grown so used to watching Matt, Ann, Meredith and Al hamming it up on Grouse Mountain or in front of a rustic fireplace somewhere that I forgot it was temporary. And tonight I just realized that House will be showing a new episode, something I’m normally happy about. But somehow it seems so dull now.

Seventeen days! It went by so quickly. From the snowboarding to the crashes at Whistler, to the tremendous amount of mental & emotional strength displayed by Canadian Joanie Rochette, and to the USA-Canada gold medal hockey game, the whole experience could not have been better. Well, it could have – if I had been there in person like some lucky, lucky people I know. And if USA Hockey had won the gold.

But nowhere is the hangover worse than in Russia. I am curious to see what happens in 2014. Heck, I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the training centers throughout Russia as they prepare their athletes for Sochi 2014.

The pressure is tremendous. Russia ended up a disappointing (for them, anyways) sixth in the run for the medals.

And now Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev is reportedly furious. He not only cancelled his trip to the Closing Ceremonies (where Sochi 2014 was prominently touted) but he is also calling for the resignation of the officials in charge of training his country’s Olympic athletes.

This could get interesting. New coaching staff. New athletes, perhaps? (Would you want to be a Russian athlete with your eyes set on 2014?) Add to that the pressure of building a $7 million infrastructure from scratch within the next several years and making sure it all works. Currently, 16,000 workers are busy building the venue, with test events planned for 2012 and 2013.

Do vstretchi (see you) in Sochi!