Tales from Torino, Part 5
by Laura Fawcett |
People asked me when I came home from Salt Lake City in 2002 the same question over and over “Did you have fun? Oh you must have had so much fun!”
Fun is not really the operative word. It's an experience for sure, but I'm not sleeping in, spending time at an outdoor café sipping cappuccinos, and visiting cathedrals. But last night I had fun.
I was in the Main Media Center working at around 4:30 p.m. In two hours I was planning to hit the Palavela for some Apolo Ohno action … short track speed skating.
That's when I got the call from Lindsay. It went something like this:
“Hieeee,” Lindsay said.
“Yes?” I answered.
“I know you had your heart set on short track tonight, but (this is where I start to panic because I think we have a new commitment) I just got medals plaza tickets and I wondered if you wanted to go.”
Medals plaza tickets are like gold here, and getting them is tough.
“Well …. I don't know,” I said. Apolo? Medals? Apolo? Medals? Apolo wins that one.
“There's this really famous band playing …”
Suddenly I start to get excited.
“Lindsay, who is playing?”
In a silent voice I hear … “Duran Duran.”
O.K., I freaked out. Really. Seriously. I am a child of the 80s, and I always knew that if Simon LeBon would just meet me he would fall madly in love with me. Duran Duran? Apolo? Duran Duran? Apolo? Are you kidding? The idols of teenage heaven always beat out any newcomers.
So off I went in a cab by myself down to Piazza Castello, site of the Medals Plaza. It's amazing how many people were down there! Thousands and thousands. First I amazed myself by ordering a gelato completely in Italian. It wasn't a complete sentence, but the lady there working enjoyed listening to me try.
The medals plaza is pretty cool. We had special tickets, provided by the greatest person in the whole world … I won't mention her name, she knows she made my whole Olympics. So we were literally right in the front. I would be 20 feet from Simon!
The one crazy thing about Medals Plaza is the lack of capitalism at work. Hundreds of people in the plaza and absolutely no food for sale. They gave away small cups of hot chocolate (but you got your ticket punched so you could only go once) and some cookies. We were there for 3 and a half hours and would have paid 50 euros for a hot dog.
At 8 p.m. there were three medal ceremonies, including one for combined champion Ted Ligety. Hearing the national anthem played was as patriotic as you think it would be. And when you're standing there, you look around and realize you are in the middle of 500 or 600 year old buildings.
But I was really waiting for Duran Duran.
Lindsay is not a child of the 80s. She had to ask me where they are from (England of course). I think she only knew "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf," which they played, but I was bopping up and down to old school Duran like "Planet Earth" and "Girls on Film," and singing "na-na-na-na" to "The Reflex."
This is actually the first time I've ever seen Duran Duran live with their original five members. Missing them in concert when I was in the ninth grade is still a deep wound in my heart. But this made up for it.
All I can say is … it was too great for words. Simon of course looks as good as ever. I basically danced and jumped and screamed like a 17-year-old.
Now, finally, when someone asks me “Did you have fun?” I can honestly answer “oh yeah!”
P.S. Wednesday was an off day for us, so that's why there isn't much skating-related to talk about.
