Sometimes fate deals you the hand you hope for - today was one of those days. Only 72 hours prior it seemed Foxtel would be supplying my Olympic experience then a chance conversation with a friend, an opportunistic last minute air fare and some furious packing later I was in Whistler, in the grandstand watching the mens Super G.

Aussies are without a doubt the loudest contingent, even the Canadians with their superior numbers can't compete with our ear splitting cheers, and when the first of our racers, Jono Brauer, hit the course we did our best to bring down the grandstand. It was phenomenal and the rest of Whistler thinks so too. All around us people joined in with our cheering, swept away by the enthusiasm. The giant blow up boxing Kangaroos that travel to every event are also venerated, people wanted to touch and hold them endlessly.

Jono and Bud skied a phenomenal races. As they left the start gate we screamed and screamed, but through the middle of the race, as they teetered each turn between perfection and disaster, we collectively held our breath, willing them to come out of each compression and make it smoothly across to the next.

They did, but others were not so lucky. Several bad crashes had the images being quickly whipped from the big screens - since the NBC gaffe of playing the death of the Georgian lugist last week sensitivity to accidents being screened on TV are running high. The helicopter was not called but one racer was brought down the course in a banana boat - which would have been logistically very difficult for the ski patrol considering the pitch and surface of the course.

As the race finished, us Australians became the new celebrities, everyone wanted photos of the Aussies with their blow up kangaroos and unbridled enthusiasm. People wanted to tell us stories, about skiing with Australians once, or knowing someone who lives somewhere in Australia. All were delighted by our presence.

Jono finshed 30th, Bud 29th. The race was won by Aksal Lund Svindal of Norway ahead of the USA's Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht in third.

As the day ends it has to be said this was an incredible journey. After the 14 hour direct flight we had four hours to get from Vancouver airport to the base of the super G course in Whistler. It seemed impossible when we were told there were no available seats until the 12pm bus, but a lost piece of luggage held back a family of three and - sparing a thought for the family left behind - we climbed aboard at 8:30am.

And so with much running and asking of directions we manoeuvred ourselves from the bus stop, dispatching luggage and making a quick dash to the Red Bull House - the house for the friends and family of Red Bull sponsored athletes - to get tickets we were there.

After the chaos of the morning there has been little time to reflect, and now it's off to Jono's official retirement party - thrown by Red Bull...

tags: olympic, feature, features, photo, photos, alpine, skiing, super, g, jono, brauer, craig, branch, aksal, lund, svindal, bode, miller, retirement, red, bull

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