The Award Ceremony - I'm A Believer
By Torbjorn Karlsen

Feb 16, 2002

It's 5.30 AM Saturday morning. It was hard to sleep any longer with all the memories from yesterday's race and the following Medal Ceremony still going through my mind. Being at the Ceremony last night in Salt Lake City truly makes anyone understand why athletes do sports for the pure enjoyment and not for money. The memories from that night will stay with Beckie, her parents, teammates, friends, support peopel, and all ski fans for life. An outdoor stadium packed with approximately 20,000 people in downtown Salt Lake was the site for the awards. Pre-awards entertainment, live music, fireworks, and lightshow were all part of the presentation. Building-size large screen TV's were showing the entertainers, and then the athletes as they came out onto the stage to the thunderous cheers of the crowd. Humongous 40-story illuminated pictures of athletes covered the surrounding buildings and huge illuminated Olympic rings on the mountainside lit up the clear night with stars and a half moon. It was great! Beckie showed true enjoyment and joy.

The rock group Smash Mouth performed on stage following the Ceremony and their song I'm A Believer got the Canadians, and all the fans, rocking. That night we were all believers because we had been a part of a dream come true, a Bronze medal that was as good as Gold for Canada and XC skiing. One commentator live on Norwegian television during the race claimed that Beckie's result was the savior for the sport! That's pretty high praise from people who know their skiing.