Austria

I was very excited to hear that I was the winner of the DayTripper TV Photography Competition – both the Grand Prize and first prize in the Portraiture category for the photo below (and I won something in another category as well).

This image was taken in Innsbruck, Austria in January, 2012 during the Youth Olympic Winter Games. My niece, Roni Remme, was invited to represent Canada for Alpine Skiing so twelve of her family/ fan club members made the trip over. On the final day of racing, she delighted her fans when she came in second in the Ladies Slalom event. Immediately after the race, they performed a small ceremony at the bottom of the hill and it was quite snowy. They were actually facing reporters and each were interviewed by television crew afterwards. Then they were whisked away for urine tests and received their actual medals later that night in the ceremony in the square.

The actual medalists for the Ladies Slalom were:

GOLD VLHOVA Petra SVK – Slovakia
SILVER REMME Roni CAN – Canada
BRONZE TKACHENKO Ekaterina RUS – Russian Federation

The first Winter Youth Olympic Games will begin in Innsbruck, Austria on January 13, 2012. I will be travelling there with a family group next week to watch the games, experience the skiing, scenery, and villages in the Tyrol area of Austria but most especially, to support our niece who is representing Canada for Alpine Skiing.

Roni Remme is just 15 and has already demonstrated that she is someone to watch. She is one of only two young ladies chosen for the Canadian Youth Olympic Team for Alpine Skiing, and in the youngest age possible for this event.

Her ‘fan club’/family will be sporting red and white hats knit by her maternal grandmother and red sweatshirts with the following graphic (of her competing in the Whistler Cup), purchased by her paternal grandfather. I do hope we don’t embarrass her too much. 🙂

I’ll publish updates from Innsbruck on Roni’s and other Team Canada results as well as any new adventures. The famous Kitzbuehl downhill race will be happening nearby, while we are there so we may go watch that, as well.

Go Roni!

To keep track of events and schedules, here are some URL’s:

http://www.olympic.org/

http://www.innsbruck2012.com/en

www.youtube.com/innsbruck2012

The athlete list can be found here:

http://www.innsbruck2012.com/en/sports/athletes

http://www.innsbruck2012.com/en/sports/athleten/103444_remme_roni

and results on the FIS site:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=30465&cal_suchsector=AL