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Why Canadian snowboarder Caroline Calvé is happy to skip the Olympic opening ceremonies
For some athletes, marching behind your country's flag and taking in the spectacle of the opening ceremonies is a crucial part of the Olympic experience. For others, though, the ceremonies are more of a distraction ahead of their events, which, after all, are the reason they're there. Caroline Calvé and the rest of the Canadian women's alpine snowboard team won't be attending the opening ceremonies, as they plan to keep training in Italy through the first week of the Olympics before their events start on Day 13. Calvé told the Canadian Olympic Committee's Callum Ng that she's more than okay with that, though:
"Some people might be inspired by the craziness of the Games and some people might need to be away from it. I don’t think there’s a magic situation. Personally I’m happy that we’re not going just because we’re adopting the same sort of schedule as we do in normal World Cups. We go 4-to-5 days before a World Cup, we train a little, we compete, we have a day off, we train, we compete and then we leave. It’s pretty much the same as usual, I think it personally helps me to get in the zone.”
The 35-year-old Calvé, who hails from Aylmer, Quebec and has been competing on the World Cup circuit since 2005-06, is off to her second Olympics, but the first one wasn't a particularly great experience for her: she only finished 20th in the parallel giant slalom in Vancouver 2010. She told Ng the lesson she took from that disappointment was to prepare an intensely-focused plan and stick to it:
“The idea is to be on automatic pilot. You want to have a plan established for absolutely everything, and the idea is to follow your plan. The Olympics are no different than a World Cup.”
While a few observers may be disappointed that some athletes like Calvé aren't going to attend the Opening Ceremonies, it's notable that everyone's preparation routine is different. The pageantry on display in the ceremonies and the chance to march with teammates from other sports can provide a mental boost for some athletes, but for others, it may be more of a distraction. Zoning in on an event and sticking to a tight routine in advance seems to have worked for Calvé so far, as she's posted some impressive results since 2010. In December 2011, she became the first Canadian woman to win a World Cup parallel giant slalom race with a victory in Carezza, Italy. She has six World Cup podium finishes to her credit, as well as three career World Cup victories and a third-overall finish in the World Cup standings in 2012-13, so she could be a medal threat in Sochi. Don't look for her in the opening ceremonies, though.
