2010 Winter Olympics

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XXI Olympic Winter Games
The 2010 Winter Olympics logo was unveiled on April 23, 2005 and is named Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq. Ilanaaq is the Inuktitut word for friend
Host city	Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nations participating	(Unknown)
Athletes participating	(Unknown)
Events	86 in 7 sports
Opening ceremony	February 12
Closing ceremony	February 28
Officially opened by	(Unknown)
Stadium	BC Place Stadium

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will take place in 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. The villages of Whistler and Garibaldi bid for the games in 1976 but failed to win. These will also be the first games to be held in an NHL market since the league allowed to its players to participate starting in 1998.

Following Olympic tradition, current Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, which was also attended by Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell. The flag was raised on February 28, 2006, in a special flag raising ceremony, and will be on display at Vancouver's city hall until the Olympic opening ceremony. At the same time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that the Olympic flame had begun its journey to Vancouver.^[1]

The Call for Volunteers program was launched on February 12, 2008 to find 25,000 volunteers.^[2]

Contents 1 Training 2 Bidding 3 Construction 4 Logo and mascots 5 Sports 5.1 Additional events 6 Controversy 6.1 Women's Ski Jumping 7 Venues 7.1 Greater Vancouver 7.1.1 Vancouver 7.1.2 University of British Columbia 7.1.3 Richmond 7.1.4 West Vancouver 7.2 Whistler 8 Broadcasting 9 Torch Relay 10 Opposition 11 See also 12 Footnotes and references 13 External links 13.1 Official Venue Links

[edit] Training

The TerraNW program is set up to facilitate international snow sports teams seeking training venues, logistical support and community resources in the Pacific Northwest Region prior to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. TerraNW.org has a full list of regional venues to accommodate athletes preparing for the Winter Olympics.

[edit] Bidding

Main article: 2010 Winter Olympics bids

The Canadian Olympic Association chose Vancouver as the Canadian candidate city over Calgary, which sought to re-host the games and Quebec City, which had lost the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995. On the first round of voting on November 21, 1998, Vancouver-Whistler had 26 votes, Quebec City with 25 and Calgary 21. On December 3, 1998, the second and final round of voting occurred between the two leading contenders, which saw Vancouver win with 40 votes compared to Quebec City's 32. The win allowed Vancouver to prepare its bid and begin lobbying efforts internationally.

After the bid bribing scandal that took place with the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City (which saw Quebec City asking for compensation (CDN$8 million) for their failed 2002 bid^[3]), 1999 saw many of the rules around the bidding process change. The IOC created the Evaluation Commission which was appointed on October 24, 2002. Prior to the bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics, often host cities would fly members of the IOC to their city where they toured the city and were provided with gifts from the city. The lack of oversight and transparency often led to allegations of money for votes. Afterward, changes brought forth by the IOC bidding rules were tightened, and more focused on technical aspects of candidate cities. The team analysed the candidate city features and provided its input back to the IOC. The bid books from the three candidate cities were submitted in January 2003 and inspections occurred before May 2003, when the final report was submitted.

Vancouver's residents were asked in a referendum whether they accepted the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents accepted the proposal. The referendum was held only in Vancouver, though the infrastructure tab was to be picked up by the province as a whole.

Furthermore, this victory was helped by a media campaign which saw those who supported the Olympic bid outspend those who were against the bid by 88:1.^{[citation needed]} Regardless, it was the first time such a referendum was successful. In neighbouring Washington state to the south, both the state legislature and Governor Gary Locke passed a resolution in support of Vancouver's bid, and sent it to the IOC.^[4]

Vancouver won the bidding process to host the Olympics by a vote of the International Olympic Committee on July 2, 2003 at the 115th IOC Session held in Prague, Czech Republic. The result was announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge.

Vancouver faced two other finalists shortlisted that same February: PyeongChang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. Pyeongchang had the most votes of the three cities in the first round of voting, in which Salzburg was eliminated. In the run-off, all but two of the members who had voted for Salzburg voted for Vancouver.

Two years earlier, Canada had put in a bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Toronto, but lost out to Beijing. British Columbia had refused to support Toronto's bid that,^{[citation needed]} had it succeeded, would have ended Vancouver's chances of hosting the 2010 games as the IOC preferred to rotate the Games among continents.

2010 Winter Olympics bidding results
City	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2
Vancouver, British Columbia	Canada	40	56
PyeongChang	South Korea	51	53
Salzburg	Austria	16	-

[edit] Construction

The initial problem Vancouver faced in winning the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics was fundraising for construction of venues. The Bid Committee, and subsequently VANOC, arranged for commitments of investment on a 50/50 basis by the federal and provincial governments, primarily for amounts to cover venue construction costs. It later began to achieve sponsorships and donations from private corporations and institutions. Such commitments were made enthusiastically as a chance to build on the world prestige Vancouver already gained as host of the 1986 World's Fair and to improve on the technological advances made during that event, like the expansion of the SkyTrain transit system.

The expansion was a pledge of the BC government, and not the responsibility of VANOC. Construction of the rapid transit link between Richmond, the adjacent international airport and downtown Vancouver is now underway and is expected to be completed by late 2009. The BC government also indicated it would pay for a C$600 million upgrade of the Sea-to-Sky Highway to accommodate increased traffic between Vancouver and Whistler, although this highway upgrade has been overdue for more than a decade and will still not meet the basic needs of the corridor.^{[citation needed]}

The three main venues -- constructed at a cost of $580 million, about 23 per cent above the 2003 bid forecasts -- have already had their work largely completed. The $40-million Hillcrest/Nat Bailey stadium park, which will host curling, will be finished later this year. The Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) spent $16.6 million on upgrading facilities at Cypress, which will host the freestyle (aerials, moguls, ski cross) and snowboarding events. The athletes' villages in Whistler and Vancouver are still under construction, as are the main media centre in Coal Harbour and its Whistler counterpart.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2004, the operational cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics is estimated to be in the range of C$1.4 billion. In 2006, VANOC CEO John Furlong estimated it would be about C$1.7 billion, all raised from non-government sources, primarily through sponsorships and the auction of national broadcasting rights. C$580 million is the taxpayer-supported budget to construct or renovate venues throughout Vancouver and Whistler, C$200 million is expected to be spent for security, of which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the lead agency.

[edit] Logo and mascots

Main article: 2010 Winter Olympics mascots

The 2010 Winter Olympics logo was unveiled on April 23, 2005 and is named Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq. Ilanaaq is the Inuktitut word for friend. The logo is based on the Inukshuk built for the Northwest Territories Pavilion at Expo 86 and donated to the city of Vancouver after the event. It is now used as a landmark on English Bay beach.

The mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games were introduced on November 27, 2007.^[5] After the unveiling, many people were displeased with the look of the new mascots because they represented a small population of Vancouver. ^[6] Inspired by traditional First Nations creatures, the mascots include:

• Miga - A mythical sea bear, part orca and part kermode bear.
• Quatchi - A sasquatch.
• Sumi - An animal guardian spirit who wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty Thunderbird and runs on the strong furry legs of the black bear.
• Mukmuk - A Vancouver Island marmot, Mukmuk is not an official mascot but acts as their sidekick.

Miga and Quatchi are mascots for the Olympic Games, while Sumi is the mascot for the Paralympic Games.

[edit] Sports

Eighty-Six winter sports events have been announced as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The eight sports categorized as ice sports are: bobsled, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track speed skating, and curling. The three sports categorized as alpine, skiing and snowboarding events are: alpine, freestyle and snowboarding. The four sports categorized as Nordic events are: biathlon, cross country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined.

Alpine skiing Biathlon Bobsleigh Cross-country skiing

Curling Figure skating Freestyle skiing Ice hockey

Luge Nordic combined Short track speed skating Skeleton

Ski jumping Snowboarding Speed skating

The opening and closing ceremonies and the events categorized as ice sports (excluding bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held in Vancouver and Richmond. The sports categorized as "Nordic events" will be held in the Callaghan Valley located just to the west of Whistler. All alpine skiing events will be held on Whistler Mountain (Creekside) and sliding events (bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held on Blackcomb Mountain. Cypress Mountain (located in Cypress Provincial Park in West Vancouver) will host the 2010 freestyle skiing (aerials, moguls, and ski cross), and all 2010 snowboard events (half-pipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross).

Vancouver 2010 will also be the first winter Olympics in which both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 200 ft × 85 ft (61 m × 26 m), instead of the international size of 200 ft × 98.5 ft (61 m × 30 m). The games will be played at General Motors Place, home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow an additional 35,000 spectators to attend Olympic hockey games.^[7][8]

[edit] Additional events

There were a number of events proposed to be included in the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[9] On November 28, 2006, the IOC Executive Board at their meeting in Kuwait voted to include skicross in the official program.^[10][11] The Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) subsequently approved the sport to be officially part of the Games program.^[12]

Events up for inclusion but were ultimately rejected included:^[13]

• Biathlon mixed relay
• Mixed doubles curling
• Team alpine skiing
• Team bobsled and skeleton
• Team luge
• Women's ski jumping

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Women's Ski Jumping

The IOC voted in 2006 not to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Games, on the grounds that the sport was not yet developed enough and did not meet basic criteria for inclusion. The members of the Canadian Women Ski Jumping Team filed a grievance with the Canadian Human Rights Board citing gender discrimination. So far the IOC has yet to comment or change its decision.[1]

According to lobby group Women's Ski Jumping USA, a group composed of "some of the top women ski jumpers", will file a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of British Columbia suing the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee for excluding women ski jumpers from the Vancouver games. ^[14]

[edit] Venues

For the first time, the Winter Olympics will be held by the sea and some venues, such as the Richmond Olympic Oval, are at sea level. Also, for the first time ever the Opening Ceremonies for a Winter Olympics will be held indoors.

Vancouver is also the warmest city ever to host a Winter Olympics.^[15] In February, when the Games will be held, Vancouver has an average temperature of 4.8 degrees Celsius (40.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

[edit] Greater Vancouver

[edit] Vancouver

• BC Place Stadium - Opening and Closing Ceremonies, nightly medal presentations
• Vancouver Olympic Village

• Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre - Media centre
• GM Place - Ice hockey (primary venue)
• Pacific Coliseum - Figure skating, short track
• Hillcrest Park - Curling

[edit] University of British Columbia

• UBC Winter Sports Centre Ice hockey (secondary venue)

[edit] Richmond

• Richmond Olympic Oval - Speed Skating

[edit] West Vancouver

• Cypress Mountain Resort - Freestyle skiing, snowboard, ski cross

[edit] Whistler

• Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village
• Whistler Creekside - Alpine skiing
• Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley - Biathlon, cross country skiing, ski jumping (fomerly the Whistler Nordic Venue)
• Whistler Sliding Centre - bobsleigh, luge, skeleton

[edit] Broadcasting

Vancouver 2010 will be broadcast worldwide by a number of television broadcasters. As rights for the 2010 games have been packaged with those for the 2012 Summer Olympics, broadcasters will be largely identical for both events. Confirmed broadcasters include:

 Australia

Nine Network

 Brazil

TV Record.^[16] and Record News

 Canada

CTV, TQS, TSN, RDS, RIS, Rogers Sportsnet, OMNI Television, OLN, CTV Newsnet, Rogers radio stations, as well as third-party broadcasters APTN and ATN, Discovery Channel, BNN, and The Biography Channel.

 United Kingdom

BBC

 Hong Kong

Cable TV

 Japan

NHK

 Mexico - Televisa and TV Azteca

 New Zealand - TVNZ

 Philippines - Solar Sports

 South Korea

SBS

 United States

NBC Universal

[edit] Torch Relay

The Olympic Torch Relay is the transfer of the Olympic flame from Ancient Olympia, Greece - where the first Olympic Games were held thousands of years ago - to the stadium of the city hosting the current Olympic Games. The flame arrives just in time for the Opening Ceremony.

For the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the flame will first be lit in Olympia in late 2009. It will then travel from Greece, over the North Pole to Canada's high Arctic and on to the West Coast and Vancouver. The Torch will be carried by thousands of Canadians of all ages and cultural backgrounds: on foot, dog sled, snowmobile, horse, plane and virtually every means of transport known to the people of Canada.^[17] The torch relay is said to be the longest in winter Olympic history and will travel across all of Canada on its journey to Vancouver.

For the first time in Olympic history the Olympic flame will be lit indoors,^{[citation needed]} as BC Place is a covered stadium. This has caused some speculation on how this will be accomplished, as such a large flame burning for the required 15 days would cause environmental issues inside the stadium. Possible solutions to the problem include installing a special ventilation system to house the flame or even building a new retractable roof over BC place. It has yet to be officially stated how this problem will be solved.

[edit] Opposition

Opposition to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver^[18] has been expressed by hundreds of activists and politicians, including Lower Mainland Mayors Derek Corrigan and Richard Walton. Many of the public Olympic events held to date in Vancouver have been attended by protesters.^[19] Non-violent environmental protests at Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver resulted in the arrest of over 20 people and jail time for two local women, Betty Krawczyk and Harriet Nahanee.^[20] Protesters have also vandalized branches of the Royal Bank of Canada, an Olympic sponsor, in Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria.^[21]

There are several reasons for the opposition, which are reflected in the documentary film Five Ring Circus.^[22] These issues include:

• Large expense to taxpayers (estimated at CAN$580 million^[23])
• Destruction of the natural environment (such as Eagleridge Bluffs^[24])
• Loss of affordable housing . The Anti-Poverty Committee has promised that they would target VANOC officials in their homes and businesses,^[25] and on 22 May 2007, "evicted" the British Columbia Cabinet and VANOC officials by trashing their offices in downtown Vancouver.^[26]

On another front, local First Nations people as well as Canadian Inuit expressed annoyance concerning the choice of an inukshuk as the symbol of the Games, with some Inuit leaders such as Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq complaining that the inukshuk is a culturally important symbol to them. He stated that the "Inuit never build inuksuit with head, legs and arms," he says. "I have seen inuksuit build more recently, 100 years maybe by non-Inuit in Nunavut, with head, legs and arms. These are not called inuksuit. These are called inunguat, imitation of man," he said. Local First Peoples also expressed annoyance that the design did not reflect West Coast native culture such as that of the Squamish or Haida, but rather that of the Inuit, who are indigenous to the Arctic far from Vancouver. One chief also said that the design lacked dignity, comparing it to Pac-Man. However, other First Nations and Inuit leaders praised the design.^[27] The First Nations governments of the Squamish, Musqueam, Lil'wat and Tsleil-Waututh (the "Four Host Nations"), on whose traditional territory the games will be held, signed a protocol in 2004^[28] in support of the games.^[29]

[edit] See also

• 2010 Winter Paralympics
• Winter Olympics
• Olympic Games
• Royal Canadian Mint Olympic Coins

[edit] Footnotes and references

[edit] External links

• Backgrounder: 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
• Official Website of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
• Official Website of the Government of Canada - 2010 Federal Secretariat
• Official Website of the Province of British Columbia - BC Games Secretariat
• Official Website of the City of Vancouver - Games Site
• Official Website of the Resort Municipality of Whistler - Games Site
• Official Website of Tourism Vancouver
• Official Website of Tourism Whistler
• Unofficial Winter Olympics Site
• NO2010 Olympics on Stolen Land
• TerraNW Regional Training Facilities

[edit] Official Venue Links

• Official Website of Cypress Mountain, West Vancouver - Venue for 2010 Snowboard / Freestyle skiing events
• City of Richmond: Olympic Skating Oval - venue for speed-skating events

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