R.I.P, Локомотив Яросла́вль

Hey folks,

Originally, I wanted to write about the Youth Olympic Games' Culture and Education Program (CEP) today. However, there are some events in life so tragic that things that seem important at first just don't matter any more. The terrible plane crash of the Yaroslavl ice hockey team is one of them.

Like people all around the world, I was shocked and devastated by the dreadful images. Today I have learned that one of the 44 people killed in the plane crash was our fellow Young Ambassador Olga Salei's uncle. The scope of this tragic event - an entire sports team killed on their way to their opening match - is just too horrifying to be put into words. When realizing that all those people where not only great athletes, but also loving husbands, fathers, sons and relatives, it becomes even more impossible to understand.

My condolences and deepest sympathies go out to all people that have lost loved ones in this tragic incident. I am not sure if anything we say or do can make a difference to those people in such an hour of grief. I just hope that, by standing together, sport fans from all over the world can honor the memory of Lokomotive Yaroslavl and discover that, not only in light of such tragedies, supposedly important things like a game's outcome just don't matter any longer.