Will the real Mike Robertson please stand up?
A local man got resounding praise this week for winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games - problem is he's 62 years old.
Squamish resident Michael Robertson works for engineering firm Knight Piesold and although he enjoys the outdoor lifestyle, he's the first to admit he's not exactly in Olympian shape. So he and his wife Didee were more than a little confused when they got a call from Mayor Greg Gardner to congratulate him on winning the silver medal.
"She took the call, and I think he must've said something like 'Is this where Mike Robertson lives?' and she 'yes' and apparently he said something along the lines of 'I just wanted to call him to congratulate him on his medal,' at which she sort of fell on the floor laughing," said Robertson.
His wife said the idea of her "silver-haired husband" on an Olympic podium did her in.
"I just collapsed laughing," she said.
And she couldn't allow herself to let the mayor off the hook.
"He said 'I've got the wrong number.' So I said 'No, no, no don't go, you must speak to my husband!' I said to my husband 'Come quickly, you have a phone call!' And then all I heard was Mike laughing his head off."
The situation is especially bewildering given that this Mike Robertson is a member of the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) board and knows the mayor.
"Actually I bumped into him on Sunday at the biathlon," said Robertson.
The confusion began late last month when a B.C. provincial news release introduced the entire world to B.C.'s 35 athletes - among them Mike Robertson of Squamish.
Media outlets quickly discovered the error -the Olympian is actually from Canmore -but the damage was done.
Squamish's Mike Robertson has enjoyed a little friendly ribbing ever since the 24-year-old Olympian added to Canada's medal thanks to his second-place finish in the men's snowboard cross at Cypress Mountain on Monday (Feb. 15).
"I've had a lot of people sort of accusing me of holding out on them and being a dark horse. And 'Why did I let that American overtake me at the end?' etc. etc." laughed Robertson.
Gardner said a municipal staff member provided him with a number for what she believed was Squamish's Olympian, Mike Robertson, and only afterwards discovered the province mistakenly called him a Squamish resident.
"I guess these things can happen in the excitement of the Olympic Games," he said.
