Competition is fierce outdoors on the Sochi slopes, but a few Olympians from the U.S. and Canadian ski jumping teams are doing their best to bridge their friendly rivalries indoors — by breaking down walls.
Partition walls between the teams' changing rooms, that is.
"It all started when one of the Canadians leaned a little too hard on the wall and created a small crack," American ski jumper Peter Frenette told NBC in a tongue-in-cheek Twitter message highlighting the neighboring countries' competitive energy.
"Through this small crack our teams were able to exchange some pleasantries and witty banter, thus easing the tension between the U.S. and Canada, as we have been bitter rivals for years," he said.
"It all came to a climax tonight, as the wall came crashing down, nearly falling directly onto [Canadian ski jumper] Trevor Morrice's head," Frenette continued. He said his fellow Team USA athlete Anders Johnson and Canada's Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes both leapt toward the falling wall to prevent it from hurting anybody.
"Both teams were so moved by these actions that we decided to form a truce and tear down this great wall once and for all, and end the years of tension and anger. And that is exactly how it happened," he said. "Kind of."
Frenette and Morrice both tweeted photos of where the wall used to be. Morrice referred to the teams collectively as "#TeamNorthAmerica," while Frenette tweeted "#oneworld #peace # equality," in a playful celebration of Olympic spirit.
U.S. & World
See their tweets below:
Breaking down barriers between US and Canadian changing rooms. #oneworld #peace # equality #blamedusty pic.twitter.com/FmcdURRtr7
— Peter Frenette (@pfSKIJUMPING) February 13, 2014
Ripped the change room wall out between #TeamNorthAmerica @CDNOlympicTeam @USOlympic pic.twitter.com/PsOcTzIssl
— Trevor Morrice (@Morriceosaurus) February 13, 2014
The next competition finals in ski jumping, the men's large hill individual event, are set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
