BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

With the 2022 Winter Olympics in full swing in Beijing, one longtime Clarkston resident was a part of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and recently took time to look back on his experiences in Canada.
Jim Meloche was a member of the event’s ski patrol some 34 years ago, making the cut as one of three Americans chosen in a total group of 24.
“In 1986, a fellow patroller at a race in Wisconsin told me about the Canadian Ski Patrol’s search for Nordic (cross country) ski patrollers for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary,” explained Meloche, who has lived in Clarkston since 1975. “I applied and was selected as one of about 50 candidates competing for about 25 positions. I spent two weeks undergoing training and testing at the Canmore Nordic Complex near Calgary in February of 1987 and made the cut.
“Once I was selected, I had to file an application with the Olympic Committee (Calgary was the first all-volunteer Olympics, they say) and that included providing a lot of personal and professional information, so I became part of a database.”
Later in 1987, Meloche got a call from the Calgary Olympics staff, saying, “It says here that you are a PR professional and a Nordic ski patroller. How would you like to run the press center at the Canmore Nordic Venue?”
“Skiing was my avocation, PR was my vocation, so, I jumped at the opportunity,” Meloche said. “As work area chief, I coordinated support for journalists and photographers from all over the world covering events like biathlon, cross country skiing, and Nordic combined skiing events.”
The role was a dream come true for Meloche, who has been skiing for most of his life, some downhill, but mostly cross country. He has been a member of the National Ski Patrol for 40 years, patrolling at Independence Oaks County Park, and was patrol director there for many of those years.
Meloche noted in Calgary, he met some wonderful people, especially among the athletes.
“I got to know the Scandinavian skiers pretty well because they kept winning and coming to the center for press conferences,” Meloche said. “The center was ill-equipped and not well-ventilated. Back then, everyone smoked, especially the Europeans. I bought out all the window fans in Canmore. Not too many on the store shelves in the dead of winter, though. The walls were all woodgrain paneling and dark, so I found a supplier of flags, and bought eight or 10 huge ones to use as camera-friendly backdrops behind the winners. I guessed pretty well choosing the countries. The food was boring, but plentiful.
“I caught a Russian journalist breaking into a locker to steal photographic paper, and the KGB rewarded me with a pin honoring the Russian hockey team. Trading pins was extremely popular at the 1988 Olympics. I worked at Canmore for three weeks and got one day off, so I found a guide and went fly fishing in the Bow River below Calgary. Lots of fun, but no trout. The only negative associated with my 1988 Olympics experience was coming back to the United States. The U.S. customs agents decided to make me pay duty for my Olympics uniform, valuing it at over $250 American.”
These days, Meloche enjoys watching the Olympic skiing events, mainly the Nordic and downhill events.
“Cross country events have changed due to the popularity of freestyle technique,” said Meloche. “Snowboarding was not an Olympic sport back then, I think. The pandemic has certainly changed this year’s Winter Olympics.”