Knock You Off Your Feet

As I slid over the finish line, I was in complete disbelief. The two Americans were congratulating me and the whole of Vancouver, it seemed, was going insane. I just stood there, on my board, staring at the results on the screen.

1st place – Casey Burgess

I had just won the gold medal.

When that had hit me, I stepped off of my board and began jumping around, screaming. I was acting like an idiot, but I had just won gold. I think that people wouldn’t judge me on that.

One of NBC’s reporters came up to me. “Casey, can we have an interview?”

“Yeah, yeah!” I was breathless.

“Thanks, Al. I’m here with Casey Burgess, an American snowboarder who’s racing for Canada, and she just won gold. What’s going through your head right now?”

“Oh my God, wow. Um… not much, really.” I laughed. “I’m just thinking the same thing over and over again – ‘oh my God, I won the gold. Oh my God, I won the gold.’ Yeah, that’s about it.”

“How did you feel you did there? Your runs were great all week – how did this compare?”

“Well, to be honest, I think that this run was rivaling the one I did in practice on the first day, where I got the fastest time. I mean, there’re parts I could’ve done better on, but there were three other people out there I was battling with. So, yeah. It’s up there. Definitely.”

“Congrats, Casey, on bringing home Canada’s first home gold.”

“Thanks so much!”

Once the camera and the reporter went away, I looked through the crowd. There were my parents, waving the Canadian flag and jumping up and down just as I had done. And standing next to them was Shaun, who was smiling at me and cheering.

I ran over, hugging my mom first. She kissed my hair. “Oh, I’m so proud of you, baby!” she cooed in my ear.

My father was next, and we jumped around for a moment or two. “You did so great! Casey, that was awesome!” I laughed as his mustache tickled my cheek.

I walked over to Shaun and he smiled at me. “I told you you’d do wonderful, Squirrel. Congrats.” He held his arms open and I launched myself into them. I looked at his face and saw the genuine happiness that was evident in his eyes, which caused me to do something I hoped the cameras didn’t catch.

I pulled back and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Thank you, Spaz.”

He looked a little shocked, but I couldn’t stay around to see what he had to say. Someone dragged me over to the podium they had put up quickly and handed me a bouquet. I stood on the tallest part and shook the flowers around, screaming “yes!” at the top of my lungs.

I looked back at my family and saw my mother crying, my father hugging her, and Shaun still looking shocked. He was clapping, but I could tell his mind was far from what was going on.

The Americans and I posed for a picture and celebrated together for a few moments before we were let go to go prepare for the medal ceremony.

I waved to my group as I was led away, mouthing to Shaun that I’d text him. He nodded and patted his pocket.

I let out a deep breath and focused on the task at hand.