IOC wants Nightly Olympic Medal ceremonies in Whistler to go ahead

[mr.x]

If this does go ahead, this would make Vancouver the first Olympic host city in history to have TWO nightly medal ceremonies sites: the main one at BC Place and the second one at Whistler Village.

The BC Place Stadium medals ceremonies will have a 30,000 seating capacity, while the Whistler venue will have 8,000. BC Place alone would make it the largest medals ceremonies venue in history, nearly four times the capacity of the Salt Lake and Torino nightly medal ceremonies venues.

Olympic medal ceremony plans for Whistler not dead yet


By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
March 30, 2009 4:16 PM

Plans to hold Olympic medal ceremonies at the celebration plaza in Whistler are back on the table.

Only months after Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said the presentation ceremonies would likely be cancelled in light of a drastically reduced budget, Vanoc and the International Olympic Committee are trying to reach a deal to allow the events to take place.

That deal could come as early as Wednesday at the conclusion of the IOC’s Vancouver Coordination Commission meeting.

At that meeting, the penultimate one before the 2010 Games, both sides have to decide whether or not to cancel outright the medal presentation ceremonies in the plaza.

The commission is the IOC’s watchdog committee for the 2010 Games and it can direct Vanoc to change its plans if it feels they don’t reflect its wishes.

At issue is about $7 million that Vanoc needs to operate the ceremonies. A large part of the cost involves power safeguards and redundancies for broadcasters who would carry the events live.

Furlong said Monday he was “cautiously hopeful” that Vanoc can find efficiencies in its budget that will allow the ceremonies to be held in the municipality’s central plaza.

The alternative is for athletes to receive their medals at their places of competition.

“We have to make a decision at this meeting whether the plaza will be used,” Furlong said. “We’re not there yet, but I am hopeful we will have some good news later this week.”

Whistler municipality wants the ceremonies held in its new $13.6-million plaza, which was specifically built for the Olympics. It and Vanoc believe the plaza will create a dramatic and festive atmosphere for athletes and spectators. In January, despite intense lobbying from Whistler municipality, Vanoc said it expected to cut the ceremonies back.

Since then, however, the IOC has told Vanoc it would like the plaza ceremonies to take place and has recommended changes to Vanoc’s budget to free up the $7 million needed.

The medals plaza issue tops a heavy agenda for the coordination commission, which will also deal with the new transportation plan, the latest sustainability program, security, workforce and the outcomes of this winter’s sport test events.

The commission meets for the last time in August.

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http://www.vancouversun.com/Olympic+medal+...5427/story.html






Stadium seating for 8,000 people
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