* Gina Rogers, mother of Coquitlam gymnast Brittany Rogers, will be contributing a blog regularly for The Tri-City News during the London 2012 Olympics. The following is her second installment:
The opening ceremonies looked glamorous, and full of British humour.As we couldn't afford the ridiculous price of attending the ceremonies in person, we chose, as many others did, to watch them in a pub. We started at the most appropriate pub in London, called the Maple Leaf Pub. They had huge red balloons out front and inside was a very large crowd of festive Canadians.The fire marshall likely would have shut the place down if he had come for a visit.
As we are friends and family of an athlete, we were also invited to attend a private function at Canada House, which is ideally situated in Trafalgar Square and is a government house that formerly was used for Canadian diplomats and government functions. Now, the large location has been converted to a beautiful meeting place for friends and families of Canadian athletes. Each day, they have on the big-screen televisions showing CTV live and usually having a CBC cameraman come into the House to get some unofficial footage as we watch, cheer and cry as our emotions spill over for our pride of Canada.
Day 1 - Our first day at the Games was spent watching the Canadian women's soccer game and the very long bike race.The weather has been marvelous, and has allowed us to walk from our hotel to the Canada House and around London. We cross the Thames River by foot over a walking bridge and from there, you get a marvelous view of the Olympic rings on a barge. The crowds weren't too bad, and we haven't come across any real drama - other than our daughter and Canadian gymnast, Brittany, losing her purse with all of her credit cards, Ipod and ID's. But she is an athlete in the village and we have no control over anything that goes on there.
Day 2 - This was the most stressful day so far as Brittany competed for the first time ever at the Olympic Games. There are some athletes who have competed at numerous Olympics, but as a female gymnast, with the minimum age to qualify being 16, their competition span is quite short due to it and they very rarely compete in even two Olympic Games.Coquitlam's Kate Richardson was a gymnast who was fortunate to compete in both 2000 and 2004. Since then, Canada hasn't qualified a full female gymnastics team to the Olympics -- until this year! Our goal is for each gymnast to do their absolute best so that the team can then qualify for Finals.Depending on the athlete, and their performance, there is opportunity for the team final (top eight), all-around final and four apparatus finals.
Day 3 - What a fantastic day for Canada! We got our first medal (bronze)for synchronized diving, and the Canadian Women's gymnastics team made history by qualifying for team finals by placing eighth. The top eight teams in the world go on to compete and our Canadian girls are one of them. Never has a Canadian women or men's team made team finals in a non-boycotted Games.And, on more of a personal note, our Brittany also qualified individually for vault finals. She placed seventh in the world to qualify for the top eight who will compete on Aug. 5. Now, I hate to be a pessimist but earning a medal either individually or as a team is definitely a long shot. We as a family, and knowing the girls on the team, are just so excited to be here and experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
