BY WENDY ELLIOTT
Kings County Advertiser/Register
Sgt. Rich Walkinshaw returned from the Vancouver Olympics exhilarated by the experience.
Walkinshaw spent four weeks in Vancouver as part of the RCMP-led Olympic Integrated Security Unit. He joined about 6,000 RCMP and 1,600 other police officers, 4,000 Canadian Forces members and 5,000 private security officers to police the games.
Walkinshaw was assigned to a relief squad and ended up on duty at various venues. Sometimes the work was monotonous, but he says there were definitely highlights.
Handling the greater-than-anticipated crowds in the area of the Olympic flame and the media centre was always interesting. One estimate said 150,000 people per hour walked passed the cauldron.
Gold medal winners were often in need of shielding as they entered the media centre.
“It was chaos,” he says.
There were a few issues because of alcohol, but Walkinshaw says the majority of the flowing crowd were waving flags and randomly singing “O Canada.”
“That would reciprocate down the road. People were in a joyous, festive mood. I’ve never seen so many flags.”
Walkinshaw, one of six RCMP members from Kings County at the Olympics, got his photo taken often and enjoyed handing out pins to children.
The British Columbia native was on site during rehearsals for the opening ceremonies, during the gold medal women’s hockey game (“the crowd roared like thunder”) and at the Olympic Village as athletics returned from the closing ceremonies. There, he spotted Roberto Luongo with his gold medal. Elsewhere, Walkinshaw saw closing night performer Michael Buble and supermodel Cindy Crawford. He even ran into a former member of Acadia University’s board of governors, Peter Webster.
The security unit was housed on three cruise ships docked at Ballantyne Pier. Walkinshaw felt pretty lucky walking out the patio to view the mountains behind North Vancouver.
Editor’s note: Orthopedic surgeon Pete Connelly of Kentville served as a physician at the Richmond Olympic Oval, the speed skating venue. A team of culinary arts students from Nova Scotia Community College Kingstec cooked and served the public at Atlantic House throughout the games as well.
