How it all started......

As you all may know by now, I work for the RCMP....in July 2004, I received a phone call at home from an Officer in the RCMP. He asked me if met the President of Greece when he visited Ottawa a couple of years back, which I did, in red serge, and then asked me if I spoke Greek, which I do. He then asked if I would like to spend the month of August in Greece, for the Summer Olympics, on duty as a liaison person for any Canadian ministers that attended the Games.....believe it or not, I asked if I could think about it because I couldn't bare the thought of leaving my two girls behind for a whole month, my wife and my daughter,....well actually, my daughter moreso he he.
Well of course, as soon as I hung up, my wife simply said that I was crazy and should jump at the opportunity presented....she is so supportive. So the next day I called back and said yes.
I am a first generation Canadian from Greek parents. I have been to Greece three other times for vacation but this time.....I actually got to live there, in the heart of Athens in the Plaka district. I shared a house with three other Sport Canada personnel. I bought groceries there at the local market, worked with the local police and military, met a lot of the merchants in the Plaka, etc....I was Greek!! Needless to say, I worked my butt off, 12 to 18 hour days, but, when I had the time, I enjoyed it to the fullest, I visited the Olympic village, saw the opening ceremonies six rows from the track where the athletes entered the stadium, called my parents from the stadium and held up my cell phone while they played the Greek National Anthem, saw a few beach volleyball games, met Canadian silver medalist Karen Cockburn (see photo)...I was so overwhelmed by the experience, to the point when I came back home, I said to myself, I had to do something for Greece, and to honour my parents. I have always been proud to be Greek, but now I had a new found respect and pride for my heritage.
So, as I am telling you this story, I was telling it to a colleague of mine, Pascal Richard, in December 2004 while on a business trip to Boston after a workout and in the whirlpool. I was telling him that I was thinking about trying out for the Greek bobsled team, based out of Chicago, to represent Greece...that would be my payback. Unbeknownst to me, and by total sheer coincidence, Pascal turns to me and tells me that he was a Canadian Olympian in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in skeleton....well, I was so excited that I think I created a few more bubbles of my own in that whirlpool.....the long and short of it.....I asked him that if I tried my hand at skeleton, would he coach me....and even though he was out of the sport completly and he no longer had his sled building company (which he had in Calgary), .........he said yes!!