Following Canada's Equestrian Team

The day everyone has been waiting for……outfitting day!!!!
Today was the day that we finally received our Canadian Olympic Committee clothing. I can tell you, we’ve all been very envious of the other countries walking around in their team gear while we had ordinary ‘civvies’ clothing.

The first challenge was how to get 15 people all to the Athletes’ Village at the same time. And an even bigger challenge to Eventing chef d’equipe Graeme Thom and manager Fleur Tipton as they were bringing all 18 suitcases of Eventing team clothing back to their hotel so that their athletes would have them straight away upon their arrival on Saturday.

I have to say, in comparison to the Rio 2007 Games I quite like the clothing for 2011. The colours are much nicer as well as the fabric. Although there is still 1 piece of clothing that is a little ‘out there’. Tina and I have somewhat affectionally dubbed them the “Flashdance” pants…..not quite as colorful as the pajama pants from 2008 Beijing….but still a bit ‘special’.

What is even funnier is the sound they make. When wearing them along with the matching jacket, you make a lovely ‘swish swish’ sound. So no fear of creeping up on someone!

I think overall, everyone was happy with their swag and are looking forward to being decked out when they are at the venue tomorrow.

Gotta love being at the Village….there’s always so much going on, and it really has the true international feeling with athletes from Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, USA Ecudaor etc. all mingling. We saw cyclists training, people jogging in the distance through the natural trails, and earlier the archers were practicing in the basement/parking garage in order to get out of the rain.

This was the first time seeing very obvious and heavy security with lots of Federali police officers and machine guns.

Tomorrow is the Opening Ceremonies, and I think the entire Dressage team are going to take part in the parade. This was an incredible experience for me in Rio and I’m looking forward to being a part of it again in Mexico. From what I hear, COPAG have a spectacular show in store for us. Can’t wait!!!!!