When Summerside Olympian Heather Moyse shoots down the Pyeongchang bobsleigh track in a little more than a week, she’ll have the reassuring presence of a small forest of Dr. Seuss hats in the audience.
It’s become something of a tradition for Heather’s family and friends to don the tall, red and white hats to cheer her on during the Games. They wore them during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and again in 2014 in Sochi so Heather could quickly glance into the crowd and see where her supporters were.
She won a gold medal on both occasions, so the hats are making a comeback, remarked Sharon Moyse, Heather’s mom.
“We’ve got our hats all ordered,” she said.
Sharon and husband Cyril Moyse, of Summerside, are flying to Toronto on Monday and then to Korea on Wednesday to watch Heather compete on Feb. 20 and 21.
This will be Heather’s fourth Olympic Winter Games competing in the two-man bobsled, and her parents have attended each event.
Making these trips and watching their daughter compete never gets old, said Sharon.
Though they honestly didn’t think they’d be making another one of these trips after Sochi.
After the 2014 Games Heather had retired from bobsledding. However, she decided in the fall of 2017, at 39 years old and without having trained for three years, that she would make a comeback and break for Alysia Rissling.
“We thought the last one was – the last one. But with Heather you never say never,” said Sharon.
In addition to their Dr. Suess hats, the Moyses are packing lots more items of support for their daughter, such as pins, flags and cards of encouragement.
“I think Summerside is her greatest fan,” said Sharon.
They are also packing some more mundane items.
They have been warned not to assume that their rental unit will come furnished with a western-style bed. So the Moyses and Heather’s other supporters are packing air mattresses and sleeping bags.
The Moyses have also been warned that they will be arriving during the Lunar New Year holidays, which is a huge time of travel for people in several Asian countries, including South Korea. The trip from their car rental place to their lodgings is usually a three-hour drive, but with Lunar New Year traffic it could take more than eight hours.
But that’s all part of the adventure – they’re just glad they’ll have the opportunity to support Heather at her second final (maybe) Olympic Games.
@JournalPMacLean
