[flight_from_kamakura]

Originally Posted by officedweller

what a cool looking building.

in other news, more weather worries (to be honest, i'm a little worried about the rain myself, but only for the vancouver party scene, hehe):

For athletes and tourists, weather will be the wild card for 2010 Olympic Games

By Stephanie Levitz (CP)

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Olympic organizers want a fairytale experience for the 2010 Winter Games, so the weather they need is what Goldilocks wanted from the three bears' porridge.

It can't be too hot, it can't be too cold. It needs to be just right.

"The weather for us is always been one of our major concerns in sport, it obviously affects our field of play and so anything that affects that is always a concern," said Tim Gayda, vice-president of sports for the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, in a recent interview.

"We took the weather into consideration way back even in the bid phase, about how we go about planning where the venues are (and) how we schedule the competitions, so the weather is pretty much at the forefront of our minds from years ago."

Too much huffing and puffing from Mother Nature in 2010 could blow the entire Olympic system down.

Adverse weather that forces the delay of an event impacts staff, volunteers, spectators, security, transportation and of course, the athletes.

It could also put a damper on the vision of Vancouver that officials need to help lure tourists back after the Games.

While red mittens might be the appropriate souvenir up in the crisp, snow-capped mountains of Whistler, B.C., the more practical souvenir for Vancouver itself might be the official Olympic umbrella.

On the dates the Games are being held, there's been an average of eight days with no precipitation at all over the last six years.

"The rain has never stopped Vancouver from doing anything, so if we can't play in the rain, we can't do anything so we learned to adjust to it and work with it," said Paul Welsh, general manager of Edelman Vancouver, a communications firm handling marketing for several Olympic-related events and sponsors.

"It could be a shocker if you're not from around here."

There are dozens of outdoor events planned around the Games and planners have been mindful that rain could ruin the fun.

Wary that rain could transform one of the city's sites into a mud hole, Vancouver officials found flooring made from old tires to cover an entire park.

When GE was looking around for its Games showcase, it went with a covered downtown plaza being turned into a skating rink. Tourists will stay dry but also get the feel of winter in a city better known for biking in February than blades.

For the 2010 Games, forecasters are predicting an El Nino winter, meaning balmy climes and the potential for fog.

Though the Games are just weeks away, organizers said they weren't prepared yet to discuss what contingency plans they have in place if there's a weather delay or how they'd handle something like an unexpected dumping of snow hours before a competition.

With the federal government investing $9 million in forecasting for the Games, surprises aren't likely.

Teams and organizers will get regular briefings from forecasters and Olympic officials on what to expect come competition day.

Decisions on cancellations or postponements will be made by the international sports federations in conjunction with meteorologists and organizers.

Only a few Winter Olympics have been pulled off with no weather delays at all, the most recent being the Lillehammer Games in 1994.

At the Calgary Games in 1988, every sport scheduled for Canada Olympic Park, including luge and bobsled, was postponed at some point. A warm Chinook wind had rolled in during the Games, softening ice on the tracks and knocking skiers around the hills.

Several test events for the 2010 Games were delayed or cancelled altogether this past year because of bad conditions, which also gave organizers a chance to refine their plans. They declined an interview request on what exactly they'll do differently in a few months time.

Though organizers can't control the weather, they can have some control over conditions on the field of play.

In 2010, they are removing all of the natural snow at the base of the ski jumps and replacing it with man-made snow in order to give jumpers consistent landing pads.

At the alpine ski runs, there will be a snow maintenance crew of 40 staff, working around the clock with a fleet of 20 snow cats.

According to the organizing committee, the snowmaking system for that venue has the capacity to make 21,000 litres of snow per minute.

Weather can also be a factor for indoor venues.

Five ice meisters were hired by the organizing committee to monitor conditions in the venues as anything higher than 45 per cent humidity in air creates frost, which ruins speed and control.

They'll each have access to a wireless environmental monitoring system called Eye on the Ice which will send them regular reports and alarms if conditions become unacceptable.

How simple it is to control indoor climate does make snowboarders a bit envious, said Christian Hrab, high performance director for the Canadian Snowboard Federation.

But the unpredictability of performing outdoors is in part what attracts people to sport, he said.

"It's definitely one of the parts that makes the sport so interesting is that there is so many changing factors all the time that we have to prepare for," he said.

One key for snowboarders will be their wax technician, who will mix a different combination of wax for boards depending on humidity and temperature.

In addition to the logistical nightmare that comes with delaying an event, weather can also take a toll on athletes' morale.

That's something ski jumpers have become used to.

"Whenever you have a sport that is controlled flight, wind makes a big difference and trying to minimize the effect on the athletes with wind is very important," said Brent Morrice, chairman of Ski Jumping Canada.

Delays and postponements for ski jumping is common and it's why their event is on the first day of the Games, to allow room for rescheduling.

Recently, the international body that governs the sport changed the scoring system to take wind speeds into account when awarding points during competition.

But while in the fairy tale, Goldilocks ran away from the three bears, athletes don't have the same choice if they aren't faced with just right conditions during the Games.

"The best athletes can deal with anything," said Hrab. "The very best will show up on a bad weather day and see the advantage they can have over everybody else and just be strong."