In laundry and Olympics, three is the magic number

Former Olympian Pierre Harvey used to travel the world for months with only three pairs of underwear.

Onlythree.

How is that possible you ask?

Well, he'd wear one pair (obviously),the second pair would soak in detergent, and the last pair would be drying so it wasready to use the next day.

I was thinking about the legendary Quebec skier's system as I swished my hands through a soup of 10 days worth of dirty socks in a soapy hotel bathtub.

"Harvey had it right," I thought. Threeseems to be the magic number.

Last night, threemembers of Canada's men's biathlon team qualified for the an exclusive event called the "mass start."

• Sochi 2014: Biathlon

It's a Canadian Olympic first, and it is worth noting because only the top 30 biathletes in the world get to run in this race.

A spot is earned through performance. It's kind of like what the premiership is to British soccer.

It's quite an accomplishment for Canada's men's program.

Olympic team member Brendan Green put it in context before the results were out:"To havethreeCanadians in the mass start would be huge! Never been done before.Plus, it's the most fun race."

• PROFILE: BiatheleteBrendan Green

If you've never watched biathlon before, Sunday's mass start is the one to watch.

And if it's not for the three Canadians, it should be for France's Martin Fourcade. Three could be the magic number for him as well, as he tries to winhisthirdgold of the Sochi games.

CBC was the only North American broadcaster in the mixed zone waiting to speak to the Fourcade after he won his second gold.

A Parisian radio station noticed and asked me to do an interview about why Canada cares about a guy from France dominating in a traditionally European sport.

"You should see how many French (from France) live in the Plateau Mont Royal," I said.

"Both times he's won, I've seen a wave of tweets. Plus, since Jean-Philippe LeGuellec became the first Canadian man to win a World Cup in biathlon a few years ago, Quebec has its eye on this sport a little more. Besides, if Fourcade wins three, four or even five gold medals, he could become the story of these gamesacross the world."

At the end of the interview the reporter thanked me. I asked if he was planning to broadcast the interview, and he responded, "Mais oui! Ontrouvel'accent qubecois trs joli!"

There is thatthreeagain threefirsts.

It was the first time I'd beenasked to do an interview for France; the first time I'd heard a French person speak positivelyabout the Quebec accent; and the first time someone told me that I had a Quebecois accent, as opposed to an Anglo-Quebec-Canadian accent. (Yes, I know, language is complicated. Butifyou live in Quebec, you'll understand why what he said was so meaningful for me.)

So that brings me back to that bathtub of dirty socks.

You might be wondering why am I hand-washing my own clothes?

Well, the cleaner has athree-day turnaround.