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My lifelong Olympic dream comes true

August 25, 2009 11:32 AM | Posted by   Jessica Gregg  

I was hoping I'd have good news for this blog… and it turns out that I do!

We just finished our Olympic trials a couple days ago, and I am relieved and excited to say that I officially made the short track team for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

It hasn’t fully hit me yet, but everyday I'm getting more and more excited. I was almost speechless after my final when I clinched my spot on the team, and after I got my skates off the first thing I did was run over to my coach, Jon Cavar, and give him a huge hug. My eyes started to fill with tears — happy ones, obviously — and at that moment I realized I had accomplished my dream goal, the goal that I have had since I was a little girl when I first started racing around the track.

Of course, right when I had the chance, I ran up to the stands to share the moment with my family.

As I had skated in the previous Olympic selections four years ago, I had a bit of an idea of what to expect in this competition. But with so many good new skaters ranked in the top 16 in Canada and the sport evolving, it was almost an entirely new experience. Unlike in 2005 when I was young and fairly inexperienced, this time my goal was to make the team and I knew I had a pretty good shot at it. It was a roller coaster of emotions the whole two weeks we were in Vancouver, but one of the keys to short track is keeping those emotions positive and not letting any negative ones get in your way.

Bittersweet day

My best distance is the 500 metres, so I was very focused and determined to win that distance. We had three finals for every distance spread out over the competition so I knew I had to keep my motivation up the whole time.

The first 500 final was an exciting one. I got out in the lead, but with a couple of laps to go Kalyna Roberge passed me on the inside. I passed her back right away, but she came back and got me on the inside to get first place, and I finished a close second. I was happy with the race, but I knew I had more in me.

The second and third 500-metre finals played out much the same way, as I got out in front right from the start and was able to keep first position the whole race. Going into the last final I knew that if I skated well, I would make the team. I tried to keep that thought out of my head before the race, just trying to focus on the fact that it was the same race I have done so many times in my life, and I just needed to go out and skate. With two laps to go in the race the thought of making the team was taking over but I tried to stay focused, and apart from a little slip coming out of the last corner I skated a perfect race and accomplished my goal of winning the overall 500.

The day was kind of bittersweet, though, as two of my teammates from Calgary missed out on making the team by just fractions of a second. It’s hard to believe that in that short period of time, your dream can either come true or be changed. I was upset after watching my teammates' two races, but at the same time I needed to celebrate.

I think now would be a good time to thank the skaters in Calgary who have been training with me for a very long time. We've all been through so much together and even though they won’t be joining me on the Olympic team, they will be a huge part of my experience. So thank you Jessica, Gabby, Marie Eve, Tyler, Mike, Liam, Richard, Dustin and Cory. I couldn’t have done it without all of you! And of course, thanks as well to my coach, Jon.

We have about a week off now, and then I’ll be back on the ice preparing for the World Cup season. It’s time to start learning French!

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