The Village

We are a few days into our stay at the village and the giddy feeling is here to stay being amongst Canada’s best athletes is here to stay! The amenities are so good with what feels like hundreds of personal medical staff and COC employees pampering us like my mother would. Our room is tight, our beds have extensions and our suitcase contents are splayed everywhere since the drawers aren’t big enough. We definitely over packed since we now have more Canadian gear than we know what to do with but it is nice to wear a brand new item of clothing every day!

We have gone to and from the venue multiple times for practice and the ride takes about 45 minutes. We go through the center of town on double decker city buses, passing right beside Big Ben, the Wheel, Buckingham palace and then we walk through a beautiful park to the Horse Guards Parade to get to center court. The atmosphere is straight up excitement from everyone involved and we barely have to do anything as the volunteers are so numerous! I was forced to ask one of them not to pick up the balls near my feet because that is just too much! The fun girls (professional dancers) are out in full force and are training just as much as us. It gives us a chance to experience the buzz of center court without the 15,000 people.

Back at the village we have some pretty cool roommates. We are now a full apartment with 6 athletes and the place is rocking! We have two gymnasts, two fencers plus Josh and I.

Nathan Gafuik is our only male gymnast at the games and is a wicked guy. We have chilled in our living room a few times thus far and just had a great discussion regarding the evolution of male gymnastics. Apparently they used to score the bar (his specialty) out of  a max of 10 but now it starts at 10 with technical moves added to that. This means people are taking more chances and adding more difficult elements and combos. Also, the floor exercises are far more complex since athletes are doing 6 or 7 passes when they used to only do 4 or 5. Watch for gymnastics to be far more complex in London, I can’t wait!  Follow this Olympian national champion on his London quest - @gafuik_nathan

We are also rooming with the confident fencer Etienne Lalonde who is a beauty. He brings a breath of European style to the apartment that I can’t. Tall, French and not afraid to speak his mind; this guy is a blast. Check him out at @etzlalonde

Phillipe Beaudry is another fencer but a little more reserved yet equally as confident. He is a solid French Canadian athlete who is competing in his first games. Looking forward watching him and getting on his case about twitter.

Jason Burnett just strolled into our apartment this morning. He is our only male trampoline athlete at the games and was apparently a silver medalist in Beijing and has won a few medals in other games. Looking forward to chilling with this high flier and Olympic legend. Connect with him at -  @JasonBurnett_

And as always, you can connect with my beach partner, roomie and better half Josh Binstock @joshbinner throughout the games and beyond.

Connect with the boys and stay tuned for more on my end!

Martin