Winter Olympics

Kwame the "Snow Leopard"

"With just one day left of the 2010 Winter Olympics excitement continues to prevail across Whistler. And Saturday's Men's Slalom was no exception.

With a win for the Italian Giuliano Razzoli and second place to the well supported Croation Ivica Kostelic, the stands at Whistler Creekside went crazy as they watched the men fight their way down a tricky Slalom course. The Italians and Croations were probably two of the best sets of supporters that have blessed Creekside (maybe with the exception of the Swiss), upping the decibel level.

Their enthusiasm was only met by a small set of Irish supporters, and of course the Ghanaians who were out in force supporting the Snow Leopard. The story of the day was definitely Ghana's first ever Olympian Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong who managed to complete both runs of the tricky Slalom course and got the biggest cheer of the day.

Everyone embraced the skier in true Olympic spirit and was enthralled to see him complete the race, crossing the line with a huge smile on his face. For me that kind of moment is what the Olympics are all about and it was fascinating to see how the Canadians have taken him to their hearts – and the media! Our British boys, Andy Noble and Dave Ryding both put in a fantastic performance to finish 29th and 27th respectively.

So as the Games draw to a close there is no let up to the celebrations in Whistler. The Canadians won another three golds and I don't think can believe it. But they celebrated in style with an evening concert by Usher in the medals plaza starting things off (I didn't go because tickets were like hot cakes!) and then the bars and nightclubs were full to the rafters with red and white.

So just one HUGE day to go. The big gold medal Ice Hockey match. I can't even imagine what will happen if Canada win!"

Betony

To see more photos from Betony's Olympic journey visit the event photo gallery. To see more of her Olympic blogs visit the Winter Olympics news section.