It was an exciting experience for a young athlete.
Brianne Theisen, originally of Humboldt, competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics Games in London, England at the begining of August.
"Making it there was a big deal," said Theisen. "It was really exciting."
Theisen was competing in the heptathlon, a track and field athletic competition consisting of seven events: the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m dash, long jump, javelin and 800m run.
She placed 11th overall.
Although she placed well for her first Olympic showing, she had hoped to do better.
"I wanted to finish in the top 10," she told the Journal last week.
Theisen had a rough start in her first events - the 100m hurdles and high jump - but pulled up her socks and pushed herself to do better in the other five.
"I did the best in javelin and the 800 metre," said Theisen. "I ended it on a high note."
Her family, parents Cal and Kim Theisen, and her sister Jessica, were all proud of Brianne's accomplishments at the games, even if she wanted to do better.
Her father, Cal, explained that making it to the Olympics has been Theisen's goal since she was still in school in Humboldt.
They would take her to track in Saskatoon for training and do whatever they could to support her.
"Once we saw how she progressed, we thought (making it to the Olympics) could happen," said Cal. "We are really proud of her."
Theisen said the whole Olympic experience was overwhelming, especially walking into the stadium for the first time.
"When we walked out, the crowd went wild," said Theisen. "I was in the same event as the British girl (Jessica Ennis)."
Ennis was the crowd favourite in her native country and went on to win the gold in the event, explained Theisen, which may have contributed to why the crowd was so loud.
After walking into the roar of the crowd, Theisen said she had to refocus and regroup.
"It was pretty insane, but I eventually got used to it," said Theisen.
Although Theisen has competed in other world events, such as the World Cup in 2009, she had never been to an event at the level of the Olympics before.
"It was a new environment and I had a lot to learn," said Theisen. "Mentally, I just wasn't prepared for it."
She said she still feels a little overwhelmed by the experience.
"I'm still processing it," she noted. "It went by so fast. Maybe in a month I'll be able to process it better."
It wasn't just the stadium and events that were amazing, explained Theisen and her family, but the way the athletes and their families were treated by the Olympic committee.
There were about 10,000 athletes staying in the Olympic village, which was complete with vending machines, bus service, shops and even salons, all of it free, she explained.
"You could walk into a salon and get a massage, free of charge," she stated.
Families of the athletes could visit their country's Olympic house, where they were made comfortable with food, drinks, comfortable seating and big screen TVs to watch their loved one's events if they didn't have tickets.
Theisen's family had tickets to a few of her events, but not all of them, so they spent some leisure time in the Canadian Olympic house.
The events they had tickets to, Cal said CTV contacted them to see where they were seated in the stadium.
Not only was it a thrill to see Theisen in the Olympics, it was also exciting to see her fiancé Ashton Eaton, a decathlete from the United States of America, win gold in his event.
Right now, Eaton and Theisen are backpacking through Europe, on vacation after their Olympic competition, said Theisen.
"Brianne is coming home in September, so we are hoping (Eaton) will come too," said Cal.
Once she heads back to North America, Theisen is already looking forward to the next Summer Olympics, which will be in Brazil in another four years.
Next time, she hopes to do better, she said, adding that she hopes the experience of this Olympics will make it easier to deal with all the fanfare included in the games, but that may not be the case as "every place is different. It's never exactly the same."
