Alex blazes Whistler trail
09-02-10
For a couple of days last week, anyone visiting the Australian team accommodation at the Whistler Olympic Village would have seen more Australian flags than people, with biathlete Alex Almoukov being kept company by a handful of team officials (and a couple of soft toy Boxing Kangaroos).
“I was just excited to be here,” said Almoukov, who came to the Olympics slightly below par. “I was enjoying the food and the gym and trying to get better, so I wasn’t really lonely at all.”
On Friday night the numbers swelled with the arrival of four burly bobsledders – Jeremy Rolleston, Chris Spring, Duncan Harvey and Duncan Pugh – along with skeleton slider Anthony Deane.
The next morning a ‘ring in’ arrived, as snowboard cross racer Steph Hickey came to visit, more to spend some quality on-snow time than for the pleasant company, but a more than welcome addition to the Whistler population nonetheless.
Then suddenly on Sunday afternoon the Australian floor of the athlete lodge became a hive of activity, with the arrival in quick succession of alpine skiers Craig Branch and Jono Brauer, bobsledder Anthony Ryan and luge representative Hannah Campbell-Pegg, accompanied by a couple of coaches.
“It’s definitely getting busier and more social,” Almoukov noted late on Sunday evening, “and it’s better to have someone to sit down with at dinner and talk about your day.”
With the anticipated arrival of the team’s three cross country skiers – Esther Bottomley, Paul Murray and Ben Sim – on Monday afternoon, and then skeleton competitors Melissa Hoar and Emma Lincoln-Smith on Tuesday, the Australian presence in the picturesque athletes’ village will soon be much more substantial.
Former cross country skier Almoukov says the location of the Australian team accommodation - which consists of 13 two-bed rooms, eight bathrooms, three equipment storage rooms, a medical/physiotherapy treatment room, an office and an athlete lounge – is ideal.
“We’re probably the best location in the village. Right next to the gym and just across from the dining hall - which is great for me because I love food so much,” the 19-year-old biathlete explained.
He is equally enthusiastic about the biathlon course at Whistler Olympic Park after having his first training session on Sunday morning.
“The course is really great. It’s probably one of my favourite courses I’ve been to on the World Cup.”
“It’ll be a really good course if it ices overnight and a fast course, too. It’s a course for me, for my technique and I’m really happy with it.”
Murray Brust
Team Media Liaison - Whistler
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