Props to Ryan Shimabukuro-Olympian

First off, props out to Craig Riddle for bringing Ryan Shimabukuro's Olympic participation to Wakeworld's attention. I was watching the live 5000 meter finals and there was Coach Ryan, off to the side of the track, shouting instruction to the eventual gold medal winner.

For those who don't know, Ryan is a devoted wakeboarder who has helped promote the sport in numerous ways all across the world. Nationally he is one of the most respected judges in the business and is as stand-up a person as you will ever meet. He comes from a family of dedicated wake enthusiasts as his brother Reid is a wakeboard instructor over on the island of Oahu and is an outstanding judge himeself. And anyone who ever attended the Hawaiian Pro/Am knew Reid and his partner Lance Brug well and both are greatly respected in the wakeboarding industry.

For years Ryan has done an incredible job juggling his responsibilities as an Olympic speedskating coach and a wakeboarding proponent. Although it has come to the surface now, Ryan has been coaching for these Olympics for at least the past 4 years while still maaking time to be deeply involved in the wakeboarding business. He is a testiment to the motto "If there's a will there's a way."

I have had a great deal of respect for Ryan for years, but seeing him there representing the United States, knowing how hard he has worked to make it all happen, I was incredibly stoked for him. Ryan, your hard work and dedication are inspirational. Congrats on all you've worked hard for.

JB,
You can't imagine how much your words mean to me. Thank you very much. It's about 2:30am in Torino and I just got back to the Olympic Village. My skater, Joey Cheek, won the men's 500m Gold Medal tonight. I'm so excited, proud & exhausted.

He had to do all these press conferences, interviews, etc after it was all over so it was a very nice surprise to get online and read your post.

I hope to see some time this summer!

Aloha

Congrats Ryan!

Ryan, you have been an advocate of wakeboarding as long as I remember, (and just an all around great guy) It's awesome to see great things happen to those that work so hard!! Congrats!! hugs, robyn

Very, very cool.

Ryan
I have never met you but did your brother when I was visiting the islands. I have always liked reading your posts whether it was hooking someone up with your brother to ride or just giving good sound advice.
I wanted to tell ya congrats I was watching all night tonight after reading this thread,thanks JB for the heads up.
Tell Joey he makes us all proud to be Americans.
ITCH

(Message edited by fullonsalesgrp on February 13, 2006)

Thanks everyone for your support and kind words! Like I said, it means a lot and makes this experience much more meaningful.

I've been passing along all the congrats to Joey and he really appreciates it. If you haven't heard, Joey is donating the bonus money he recieves from the US Olympic Committee for his gold medal to an organization called Right to Play. Please check out their website at www.righttoplay.com to get more info on their organization and the causes they aid.

It's just a testament to the type of person Joey is. Hard working, successful andvery grateful for what he's been given. That's why he's giving back in this fashion.

every time I turn on the speed skating I see that guy. He's all over the TV, opening ceremony, most races, I'm surprised I didn't see him try to ride his board in the half pipe!

Way to go US Team!

Awesome!

Thanks for the GOLD

Tell Joey America is proud

We have our own WW/WB representative in Italy!!!

Keep up the good work Ryan...... Bet you are still on cloud 9.

GO USA!!!

Way to go Ryan!!!!

Ryan is a great friend and a great coach, its great to see his success in Torino!!!

Here's a little feature on Ryan from our front page: http://www.wakeworld.com/getarticle.asp?articleid=582

Wow,
Thanks everyone, the attention this has brought is a little overwhelming, but very much appreciated.

We ran into a bit of bad luck tonight in the team pursuit events. Both our women's and men's teams were in position to get to the medal round tomorrow night but they were eliminated in the 2nd round after posting the 4th & 2nd fastest times of the night. Much faster then they needed to be in the medal round but time doesn't count in this event, it's single elimination. Frustrating.

But on the bright side, we look strong to win more medals in the men's 1000m on Saturday. 3 of our 4 guys have already medaled multiple times this season in this event.

Thanks again for the support! USA, USA!!!

Bad A$$ Ryan! Second to what everyone else has already said (I lack originality) and good luck on the 1000 and 1500! It's amazing to see the USA being so well represented. And I'm really confused on this team event. There's a QC next to the USA on a site I am looking at, and we had the second best time, so how does that boot us? Maybe explain this someday if you remember..

(Message edited by aep6475 on February 15, 2006)

Tony,
The TP event is a new event at the Olympics for speedskating, taken from the sport of track cycling. The format was a 2 day competition with 2 rounds skated each day.

The first round basically was for seeding purposes so no team was eliminated. Based on your time from round 1, you got seeded against the other team. Rank 1 w/ 8th, rank 2 w/ 7th, etc.

From then on, it was single elimination. Time didn't matter. Which ever team you were matched up against you just needed to beat in order to advance forward. If you won your second round heat, you were guaranteed to go to a medal round. If you didn't you would go to either the C or D final to decide who will finish 5-8th place.

So in round 2, our girls & guys teams got beat by the opposing team, despite posting the 4th & 2nd fastest times of the day respectively. This relegated them to the C Final (QC).

Tonight, our girls beat the dutch to finish 5th and our guys finished 6th, losing to the Russians.

Hope that clears it up. I'm not a fan of the elimination format. We're a time trial sport so advancing to the next round should be based on times. But that was the reality of these Olympics so we will live with it.

amazing ryan, i've been watching on tv. it was exciting to see you on the news too. have you ran into adam yet? did he make it over there. congrats again, and keep the medals coming. see you when you get back.

Dave,
I've only seen Adam once since being here. It was the night Joey won the gold and we were going around doing his media interviews. I ran into him as we were leaving the NBC studios. He's just as busy as I am so no time to really hang out.

This thread is hard to find. Congrats on the 2 new medals hopefully as this crap between Davis and Hedrich won't get blown out of control, the media is picking the hell out of it here. Who cares about all that, you guys are kicking ass! Good luck on the final skates.

Thanks Anthony,
Yeah, the media is just looking to create some story here between the both of those guys which is sad. It takes away from the competition itself and some of the athletes are biting the bait that the press is putting out there.

As for Joey's silver, again, I'm very proud. He skated the best race he could and tonight, it was good enough for silver. He's again dontaing the money he will recieve for the silver to the Right to Play organization. This is the kind of guy the press should be celebrating.

How's Iraq Tony?

What up Ryan, it's been crazy seeing your face on tv, I swear I got a crack in the screen when you were behind the flag in the opening ceremonies,, so you owe me a new tv. Thanks for sending me all the cool inside pics of the olympics, glad to hear that some of your boys are steppin up and pullin through with medals in the games. I'll be back in Utah from the end of July to the end of August, so we'll need to go riding a lot. Take care, and best of luck with the rest of the games.

Russ

Hey Russ,
Thanks a lot. My last race of these Olympics are tomorrow. Joey Cheek will be racing the 1500m, his weakest of the 3 events but he could challenge for a podium spot. After that, I'm just assisting the other coaches with their skaters for the rest of the Games. I'm going to try and get to the Men's Aerials finals on Thursday night in Bardonecchia, but not sure yet.

Glad to hear you'll be back for a month in the summer. We will definitely need to ride as much as possible when you're back.

Best of Luck Ryan, hope Joey pulls through in the 1500m, he looked strong in the other two races. Also I can't wait to try out the new board when I get back, as I'm already in need of a new one, stupid sliders. Make sure to take some pics of the aerials if you make it there, and kick Adam square in the nuts for me if you see him, tell him it's an old Italin greeting traditon from friends across the ocean.

kick ass, ryan goes home after what i can only imagine is the longest and proudest day of his life and whats the first thing he does?

gets on wakeworld...jea.

Mike,
How's that for being a diehard wakeboarder huh

This is such a classic photo Ryan, I have to post it. I apologize in advance if you didn't want these photos posted publicly.

Nice pic E.J. is Ryan in the red or blue? Glad to see things are wrapping up so nicely out there. One more to go right? Chad still has the 10k..? I haven't seen his recent stats but the media pumps him as a strong contender. Oh yeah, I'm not in Iraq at the moment, it D.C. this trip. This place is insane, I'm not good being around so much cluster. 83 more days to go, then it's back in time to catch some warming water.

EJ,
Of all the pictures I've emailed, you had to post that one. Those were for the kids.....really

Tony, thanks for clearing that up. Definitely looking forward to some great riding this summer.

Congrats on all the hard work Ryan!
I have never met you but you and your skaters are inspiring, to say the least.
Send my congrats to everyone on your team and keep up the good work!
You rock!

Thanks for the kind words and support Kelly. It's greatly appreciate!

Ryan,

Congratulations man!!! Its been years since I last talked to you but you're doing Moanalua and Hawaii proud!!! My wife and I are glued to the television, with the definite highlight of the games being the speed skating and short track. I'm glad you followed your heart and continue to do what you love. Hope to hear about you and your guys for the Vancouver games... Take care congratulations again!!!

Jason,
WOW! It has been a long time man. I don't think I've seen or talked to you since I left Moanalua in 1989.

Thanks for posting and I hope all is well with you. I'll be coming home to Hawaii for a vacation next month. Really looking forward to it.

Aloha

Ryan,
Hey, it was good to talk to you on Saturday. Phil and I were pretty bummed out we didn't get to see you on tv (except on the sidelines holding the "pit board")We're really proud for you, and think you've done a great job with that team.. Can't wait until you visit and show off some of your great moves on the water. Congrats to you and everyone on your team.. You've really made the U.S. proud! Abbie

Here is a little conclusion to the Olympics photo spread. Thanks for bringing us a little closer to the games Ryan!

Boat comes out of hibernation in 1 month!

out of storage in a month? Outstanding...we're still awaiting the spring thaw in Wisconsin, and of course a visit from Ryan.

Moanalua rocks! I knew I knew Ryan's name and then heard reference to Moanalua so I had to bust out the yearbook and what do you know... Class of '91!! Congrats!
Beth (Wilson) Bowen ( I also left in '89 though)

Hey Abbie,
It was great to hear from you as well. Thanks for the support and I'm looking forward to my next summer visit to Wisconsin and spending some good time on the Wolf River with the Fremont crew!

Hey EJ,
Thanks again for posting the pictures I sent to you all. I have 5 more days in Europe before heading Stateside. I can't wait to come home and then hit the nice warm water in Hawaii for 5 weeks )

Hey Brooke,
Is there open water yet on Okauchee? Can't wait to get some great riding in with you all this summer.

Hey Beth,
Wow, a blast from the past! Great to hear from you too. I checked your profile and saw you're living in Washington now. What area? Do you get to wakeboard much? What kind of supra do you have?

Well, it's 10 days until I get my board & bindings wet again. It's been 6 months since the last time I rode and I'm jonezin' to ride. Now, I just have to lose the 20 lb.s I gained while in Italy....ugh

Ryan,
No open water on Okauchee yet. Guido and I were out snow kiting last weekend with his 4 wheeler parked in the middle of the lake. The ice fishermen said there was still 8+ inches on the main lake. Hoping for it to thaw soon. In the mean time we will keep kiting if the conditions stay good. Let me know when you are getting back to WI.

Brooke should be the first one with the boat on the lake since all he has to do is wheel it out of the boat house. I am hoping they will get my pier in early this season so I can get the boat in.
Stan

Thanks for the update Stan. Take some pictures of you guys snow kiting. I want to see what you hooligans have been up to during the winter months

I can't believe I just found this thread, how'd I miss it?! It's great to read this stuff. It's great we had a wakeboarder in Torino coaching our skaters, makes me proud, haha! Really appreciate all the updates and pictures and everything Ryan, it was a great Olympics to watch and great for the U.S. Awesome picture of you and Shaun White, by the way. Enjoy the warm water in Hawaii, drink some Kona Island Lager's for me, I miss em!

Will do Cody!

How's the dealership been coming along? Did you get any orders from the boat show?