sportphysio2010

Peter on standby at the Richmond Oval

Not all our member physios are working as physiotherapists during the games.

Last week we heard from the inline skating physio, Dan Hewson about his experience in the opening ceremonies. This week we hear from a physio who is volunteering as a driver for the games.

Here’s what Peter Goyert had to say about his time driving the Olympic glitterati around town:

I’m volunteering as a driver at the 2010 Winter Olympics. We drive IOC officials, Olympic family members, athletes and sponsors to and from hotels, venues, and the airport. Officially we only drive to approved venues but we’ve been given some flexibility.  One IOC official wanted to know if I could drive him back to Canada Hockey Place through the downtown eastside so he could see that looked like. Another IOC official wanted a ride to to The Bay to go shopping.

The SUVs we drive are all brand new with less that a few hundred kilometers on the odometer on loan from GM. The vehicles are GPS guided and OnStar is always available if we get really lost. Some days are busier than others, so when it’s slow there is always the camaraderie of the other drivers. The shifts are 10 hours long and drivers are required to be on duty 24/7 for the duration of the games.

On one drive from YVR to the Bayshore Inn the traffic was the worst I’d seen in years. It was a bumper-to-bumper crawl up Granville, Oak or Cambie. My ‘ride’, an IOC official from Cairo, commented how few cars there were in Vancouver and how light the traffic was. When I told thim that this was the worst traffic I’d ever seen he laughed, said that there were seven million people in Cairo and everyone of them has a car on the road, all at the same time. He was joking of course, but there’s nothing like a bit of perspective from the other side of the world to make me realize how fortunate we are to live here.

reflections from Peter Goyert, The Driving  Physio