In the ongoing efforts to promote Reno-Tahoe and Nevada as a world-class sports tourism destination and to support the athletic efforts of our region’s fifteen Olympians competing in the Winter Games, the RTWGC’s Vice Chair, Hawley MacLean and Executive board member, Jill Savery, are in Sochi this week. Jill, fresh off her recent duties as the Chief of Sustainability for the America’s Cup in San Francisco, will be blogging about their experience and for those of you who know Hawley; you’ll see some of his latest efforts as an accomplished photographer.
Following is Jill’s latest submission:
Post #2 while in Sochi
By Jill Savery, RTWGC Executive board Member
The Olympic Games (winter or summer) bring people together from all over the world – hundreds of thousands of them! We are all here to celebrate our athletes and our countries, our cultures, languages, traditions, food and much more. It is really extraordinary to experience! When you walk around the Olympic Park you see smiling faces – people enjoying each other. Today at dinner we sat next to two Russian men and they immediately congratulated us on a U.S. Team win today. We, in turn, congratulated them on their countries win. They taught us words in Russian and we did the same for English. We then toasted to a good day and to new friendships. One of the men told us he is from Sochi, and he said that the people in the town are all very proud to host the Olympic Winter Games. While the world stage can be filled with politics and unfortunately conflict, the Olympic Games bring people together to celebrate their heritage – to learn about our differences and enjoy them. A young Russian boy was at the USA vs. Slovakia hockey game tonight and he was cheering for the USA! We’d high five when the US men’s team scored a goal. In another area of the venue people from both countries sat side by side and cheered and sang as loud as they could for their home teams. Athletes on the field of play and on the medal podium hug each other and support each other through wins and losses. This is perhaps the most important thing about the Olympic Games.
