Ryan Dollard's latest blog from Sochi: Meeting the parents and catching up with old friends

It's hard for me to imagine how special it must feel to compete in an Olympic Games. It's harder still to imagine what it must feel like to watch your son represent his country on the ultimate sporting stage.

I was lucky enough to chat to Angela and Michael King on that very subject. Their son David was flying the Cumbrian flag, if such a thing exists, in the Figure Skating Arena.

David and his partner, and fiancee, Stacey Kemp took part in the pairs figure skating. The event didn't go as well as they'd hoped. A fall for Stacey meant a low score for the Brits that ruled them out of the medal round of the competition.

David's mum and dad were full of praise for the games though, and said that they were 'blown away' by the atmosphere inside the arena. They took the time to come and meet me at the Media Centre on their last day here in Russia to tell me that the games had far eclipsed their previous experience four years ago in Vancouver, before leaving to take a final tour of the Olympic Park.

I hope to join David and Stacey on a sightseeing trip to Sochi before we go home to hear how they have found their time here in Russia.

The Olympic dream may be over for David and Stacey, but our curlers are very much in the medal hunt.

If you missed the report on ITV Border you can watch it below.

From a personal point of view one of the great things about covering these games has been the chance to meet some old friends from my time living in Russia.

I bumped former colleague Anna McIntosh at a press conference the other day, shortly followed by another in Oksana Avdeeva, I then found myself sat next to old chum, Richard Van Poortvliet, in the Press Centre yesterday.

It has been lovely to share stories of old times. I have not checked off my whole list however, my old flatmate Martin Anrdews is in the mountains of Rosa Khutor reporting for Russian TV and seasoned ITV Border viewers will remember the name of Andrew Farmer. Andy trained me when I first became a journalist and is also working out here. I would love to catch up with him before the games end.