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Nicole Garrido excited about new Richmond Oval
Last week the Canadian long track speed skating team gathered in Richmond, BC to train on the 2010 Olympic ice for the very first time. Among them was Nicole Garrido, who is getting ready for her first season as a senior. Garrido looks back on a very promising junior career and currently holds four Canadian junior records. In her own words, Garrido looks back on her last season as a junior and gives an eye-witness account of her first laps on the new Olympic Oval.
By Nicole Garrido
Last year was a year of experience and learning. I learned many valuable lessons and I was lucky enough to be surrounded by teammates who had great patience. Going into this new season as a first year senior, I now bring with me lessons of athlete/coach communication, the importance of good physiotherapy and massage treatment, listening to my body and learning the true science behind airplane turbulence (many hours of flying has led me to the conclusion that heavy turbulence does not mean the airplane will fall out of the sky J). Most importantly, a real champion does not inherit characteristics like discipline, organization and hard work, but has to be dedicated enough to his or her sport to make these sacrifices. Of course, factors such as a dedicated coach, a good program, hard working teammates and knowledgeable support staff are also invaluable.
The 2007-2008 season was my first taste of the World Cup circuit. At the first World Cup in Calgary in November 2007 I managed to break my previous junior national record of 4:09 in the 3000m by almost five seconds, finishing with a time of 4:04.4. That time got me a second place finish in the B group and if I had skated in the A group at that competition, I would have finished top ten! Unfortunately, I suffered a back injury right after the Calgary World Cup. This experience taught me the value of taking better care of my body. Massage and physio appointments can be just as crucial as training hard. The athlete’s mantra rings clear now in my ear: “train hard; rest hard!”
The World Junior Championships in China were not as big of a success for me in terms of overall placing. I had been sent to Milwaukee two weeks before to compete at the North American Championships. Having just returned from World Cups in Hamar and Baselga, I was understandably jet-lagged and thus prone to any viruses or bacteria that might want to make me their home. Well, the inevitable occurred, and I caught some sort of virus (I believe it was from the dinner I ate). Throughout the plane ride home I was either freezing cold or burning hot. One minute I was hiding under piles of blankets shivering like a newborn puppy, and the next I was stretched out with what seemed like wisps of steam slowly rising from my sweat-drenched T-shirt. Every ten minutes I moved from Antarctica to the center of the earth and back. Needless to say, I survived the plane ride and was in bed for a whole week with a constant migraine. Later I discovered that the virus was making my brain slightly inflamed and the extra fluid was giving me the massive headache. That week of continuous fever, dizziness, nausea, and cold /hot sweats was a long and blurry road through hell. I lost about ten pounds in just seven days.
I had lost hope. All season I had been working with my coach to accomplish one goal: to finish my last year as a junior with a podium finish at the World Junior Championships. My results throughout the season prior to this proved that I could do it. I was breaking junior national records and going to World Cups. But after my brief visit to hell, I had to do what was best for my body. I had made up my mind. I wasn’t going to China.
Not long after that I received a call from a former coach and mentor, Jacques Thibault. His call and reassuring words helped me realize it just might be possible. He had told me that no matter what the outcome, I should go to China and skate to my full potential. I had worked so hard for this competition, I wasn’t about to forfeit without a fight. Before I knew it, I was on the Air Canada Air Bus to China to meet with the rest of my team. It wasn’t all that bad. I had lost a lot of strength, but because I had also lost ten pounds during my sickness, I felt lighter and faster on the ice. Slowly a glimmer of hope grew in my mind that maybe this nightmare cloud had a silver lining. When the lights finally went out at the Changchun Oval, and the harrowing and exhausting competition was over, I couldn’t help but feel pretty satisfied with myself: fifth overall and third in the 3000m, and to think that a mere few days before my body was battling viral Encephalitis. What an amazing instrument it is!
Currently, I am in my second year of training with coach Xiuli Wang and teammates Clara Hughes, Kristina Groves and Shannon Rempel. As the youngest skater in my group, I have learned a lot and I am fortunate to be training with such experienced and disciplined athletes. I have Canadian junior records in the 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and the overall samalog points for the junior all-round long category.
Last week we were in Richmond at a training camp which I enjoyed to the fullest! Although a small town, the atmosphere was already beginning to feel Olympic. Richmond is almost ready to welcome the world, and when it does, it will not cease to impress.
My first thought upon walking into the oval was quite simple: "Wow, it’s big!" One of the main goals of this project was to create a facility that was spacious, naturally lit and overlooking a beautiful landscape of mountain and river. Being able to train under these conditions creates a more relaxed and happy athlete. I couldn’t help but feel at ease in front of such calm and beautiful surroundings. Although it is still undergoing heavy construction, I could not help but fall in love with the new Richmond Oval. Construction workers lined the mats as we were skating, taking pictures and smiling as we passed by. You could tell that they were so proud to have built a world-class facility and see it being put to good use by appreciative, not to mention blisteringly fast, elite athletes.
Without a doubt I consider it to be one of the nicest ovals I have ever had the opportunity to train in. The roof is lined with wooden beams and speckled with hanging lights. The great arching support beams remind me of Erfurt, except these are bigger and more beautifully intricate. It’s a combination of practical architectural genius and artistic aesthetic appeal that would make even the Romans jealous!
It was exciting to think, as I stepped on the ice, that this will soon be an international stage where athletes will compete to achieve one thing: gold. I wouldn't want it any other way. I believe when Richmond opens its doors to international skaters, they will step onto the ice with that same awe that I felt, but also sadness, knowing that it will be a speed skating facility for only two short years. After the Olympics, it will be turned into Richmond's main community center. Maybe something can be done about this tragedy. A hall of champions and heroics is no place for Bingo Night! I vote for a united uprising!
All in all, I felt extremely privileged to be one of the first to taste the fruits of the Vancouver Olympic Committee’s great effort, as they await all athletes in 2010!
Click here for more photos of the interior and exterior of the Richmond Oval, taken by Nicole Garrido.
Photo credits:
Photo 1: Arno Hoogveld
Photo 2: submitted by Nicole Garrido
Photo 3-5: Nicole Garrido
