While athletes from around the world are set to descend on Korea for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, two New West men are already hard at work getting ready for the big show.
In January, longtime residents Ken Elmer and David MacGrotty departed for Korea, where they are working and volunteering at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. They previously worked at the Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.
“This is like a real winter Olympics. David and I were in Sochi – it was right on the Black Sea. There were palm trees. We were walking around in our running shoes and our shorts and T-shirts the whole time. Of course, you remember Vancouver – people were cycling around the seawall. With this one, the high this week is -7 and the low is -16 for the next four days,” Elmer told the Record before heading out of town. “I had to go buy long johns. My wife packed me toques and gloves and long socks. It’s the real deal. Who would have thought snow at the winter Olympics?”
When the Record spoke to Elmer, he wasn’t sure exactly what work he and MacGrotty would be doing at the Winter Olympics. All totalled, they’ll be in South Korea for 51 days.
“We are helping them set up,” he said. “I ended up driving the NHL VIP guys around last time – Gary Bettman and some of the crew doing the NHL network. We are working and volunteering with NBC when we are over there.”
After the balmy weather conditions in Sochi, temperatures are much different in PyeongChang, dipping well below the freezing mark. In addition to installing wind screens around the stadium and portable heaters in the stands, organizers will also be providing the 35,000 attendees of the opening and closing ceremonies with a rain coat, a small blanket, a winter hat and heating pads so they can stay warm in the outdoor stadium.
Elmer, who competed in athletics for Canada in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, was last in Korea 30 years ago. He was in Olympic Stadium for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics when Canadian Ben Johnson beat American Carl Lewis in the men’s 100 metres – only to be stripped of his medal a couple of days later after testing positive for steroid use.
As of the Record’s deadline on Wednesday, Feb. 20, Canada had won 21 medals.
