Snow Skills

Torino 2006 begins today! The Opening Ceremonies will be televised tonight in the USA, starting at 8 pm local. The United States Olympic Committee has made a terrific decision in selecting Chris Witty to carry the American flag and lead her teammates into the stadium. The teams generally march in in alphabetical order, based on their spelling in the native language of the host country. In Italian, the USA is Stati Uniti, so Chris will bring in the American flag as the 67th nation out of the 85 nations attending the Games. Greece will be the first country, as is tradition, and the host country, Italy, will be last.

This will be Chris’ fifth Olympics and she’s won three medals along the way. She’s competed in Winter Games including Lillehammer 1994, 1998 Nagano, and Salt Lake City 2002 in speed skating, winning a gold, a silver, and a bronze mdeal along the way. She also competed in the 2000 Sydney Games in track cycling and became the ninth American athlete to compete in both summer and winter games. Chris achieved these amazing accomplishments in the face of personal demons caused by sexual abuse as a child.

Check out the Opening Ceremonies tonight; NBC is estimating that 2 billion people will be joining you as viewers. Even if you don’t enjoy big productions, its an amazing moment when the people of the world literally come together and Chris Witty will surely be part of tonight’s history.