Alan in Montréal Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 (edited) Montreal showed it is a class-act city yet again, by hosting a huge parade through the centre of the city in honour of Canada's Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Athletes. Over 100 of our Winter Games athletes participated! The crowd was HUGE, large and very patriotic, as they eagerly snapped-up small Canadian flags passed out to everyone by the organizors. Montreal is the only city in Canada to have organized such an event. Nice! I'll post some pics later (yup I was there) and links to any follow up articles, but this was a great idea and the crowd loved it! The athletes were wearing the medals (those who won them) and were dancing, smiling and waiving at everyone. They eagerly signed autographs as numerous Montrealers approached them, with pens and paper. And security was classy enough to let the crowd touch and interact with the athletes. Well done! Article here: (article written before parade.) Montreal hosts Olympic and paralympic parade Edited April 23, 2010 by Alan in Montreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobase2010 Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 I'm amaze how many people showed up for the parade:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Why does that article say the West was spoiled with the Olympics? Montreal had something called the Summer Olympics in 1976... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 I don't think it was written in a negative way. And as I recall the writer is quoting a COC official, no? But first of all the Montreal Games were 35+ years ago. Secondly, how many medals did Canada win in Montreal? I rest my case. This referred ti the fact that the Canadian Olympic team was so successful at Vancouver. I refuse to believe it was meant in a negative way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 And here's an article written after the event, in the Globe and Mail: Olympians celebrated on the streets of Montreal You can watch a video report including video taken from live coverage here: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100423/olympic_parade_100423/20100423?hub=TopStoriesV2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Montreal is not the only city to do this. Squamish did a smaller one for local athletes about a week ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Montreal is not the only city to do this. Squamish did a smaller one for local athletes about a week ago. Ummmm... this wasn't to honour "local" athletes. There were over 100 athletes from across the country. Montreal's parade and celebration honoured and hosted athletes from the entire country, and they are here for the entire weekend. They were in Ottawa yesterday and were honoured in Parliament, and then all of them took a VIA Rail train from Ottawa to Montreal. This is a BIG national celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 It's a civic celebration, it's most definitely NOT a national celebration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 I meant that the athletes are numerous and national in scope. Look - this is kind of knit-picking, don't you think? It's true that no other Canadian city has thrown a parade where almost every gold medal winner was honoured. This is a big thing. Thousands of people turned out, waiving flags, cheering and celebrating. It's not the same as a local parade honouring local Olympians. Those were nice and fun too, but his is a big CIVIC celebration of athletes from across the country. Since Vancouver, I don't think there has been an event of any kind like this in Canada, on such a large scale, with so many athletes (over 100) and featuring almost all of the athletes who won a gold medal, in the same place at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympian Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 Why does that article say the West was spoiled with the Olympics? Montreal had something called the Summer Olympics in 1976... well teachnically the west is spoiled with the olympics. the last 2 olympics in canada were both in the west (calgary and vancouver) and both games are held in high regards. montreal has a reminder of what went wrong (though really beautiful) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 I'd say Quebec is spoiled, considering how it receives far more in annual federal transfer payments than it deserves based on population...they love pulling out the separatist flag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 I'd say Quebec is spoiled, considering how it receives far more in annual federal transfer payments than it deserves based on population...they love pulling out the separatist flag. Somehow, I doubt this had anything to do whit this conversation... And, yes, from an Olympics perspective the west has been spoiled. The last games east of Alberta was over 40 years ago, and we had two western Olympics in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 (edited) I'd say Quebec is spoiled, considering how it receives far more in annual federal transfer payments than it deserves based on population...they love pulling out the separatist flag. Oh really? I think Quebec receives the amount of transfer payments it is entitled to according to the legislation under which it is paid. Oh, and some of my tax dollars, like that of all other Canadians, went towards funding Vancouver's great 2010 Games. But we're not complaining about that here...Really Mr. X. You're sounding very negative and bitter. Get off the separatist clap-trap line. Separatism in Quebec is at an all-time low now and has been for several years. And if you would have been in the crowd on the streets in Montreal yesterday, you would have seen a flood of red Canada hockey shirts, T-shirts, and thousands of Canadian flags being waived by people. Separatists? Phhhhhh!. So let me go back to the original point of this post. Montrealers got out in the sun yesterdays by the tens of thousands and celebrated the success of their Vancouver 2010 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, loudly and joyously. Check out all those bad Quebec separatists: (love those Cirque du Soleil "medal" walkers, by the way...) Edited April 24, 2010 by Alan in Montreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan in Montréal Posted April 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 (edited) And from today's Toronto Star, quotes from the athletes: The Canadian athletes were gobsmacked by the turnout. Some of the athletes rode in antique cars or convertibles, while others were on floats. They were high fiving the fans, signing tons of autographs and taking pictures of the crowd and themselves in order to preserve the moment. "I rode with Scott Niedermayer and and I said 'This is as close to a Stanley Cup parade as it's going to get for us (the women's team),'" said women's team captain Hayley Wickenheiser. "You just don't expect to see six, seven rows of people lining the streets like we had. But you realize the impact Vancouver had on all of Canada." Niedermayer, a member of four Stanley Cup winners, was duly impressed. "It's the best parade I've ever been a part of," he said. "We didn't really have a parade in Anaheim; we had a rally. And in New Jersey, we just had rallies and a short parade." Olympic bobsleigh bronze medalist Lyndon Rush got emotional seeing the reception teammate Shelley-Ann Brown of Pickering, a silver medalist, got from some admirers. "I saw this group of what looked like young Jamaican girls and they were standing in a group and when they saw Shelly Ann come, they went insane," said Rush. "And they ran after the float. I was like tearing up. When you see these young Jamaican girls identifying with a winter athlete, obviously a role model — and there couldn't be a better role model than Shelly Ann — I think that that's awesome. I was touched by it." Moguls skier Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau provided a neat take on the spectacle. "Here we see the television spectators who came down to the street and told us how much we made them vibrate and live great emotion." They got to live it for another day. Full article: Canada's Olympians feel the love at Montreal parade Edited April 24, 2010 by Alan in Montreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobase2010 Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 Great job Montreal. Love the video clips:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taichi Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 I hoping that all of Canada will host the parade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 I hoping that all of Canada will host the parade. AGREED!! We should have the athletes march from Halifax all the way to Vancouver...without stopping!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobase2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Why not, will break another world record for the longest parade;) We already have the record for the longest domestic torch relay. AGREED!! We should have the athletes march from Halifax all the way to Vancouver...without stopping!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts