Spectacular wonderland awaits 2010 Olympics
In the current cycle favored by the International Olympic Committee, scarcely does one Olympic Games end when the build-up to another begins. It's the nature of this biennial beast.
Thus, with memories of last summer's spectacular Summer Games in Beijing still fresh, the world's biggest snowball fight is only a year off. That's right, Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics begin a year from Thursday on Feb. 12 and run through the 28th in the beautifully bifurcated British Columbia locales of Vancouver and Whistler.
This will be the first Olympic Games, summer or winter, to hold its Opening Ceremonies indoors. BC Place will be the place to be for 55,000 spectators to see the Olympic Torch brought in at the conclusion of its 28,000-mile journey throughout Canada.
Whatever Vancouver organizers have planned for that day will have trouble matching what little Lillehammer did in 1994 when a ski jumper holding a lit Olympic Torch soared into the frigid Norwegian night on his way to lighting the cauldron of those Games.
Athletes from 80 countries expected
Upwards of 2,500 athletes from 80 countries are expected to compete in sports ranging from flat and sedate (curling) to downhill and terrifying (Alpine skiing).
The IOC could not have chosen a more spectacular setting for a Winter Olympics than Vancouver when such factors as quality-of-life city and world-class winter resort are combined, accessed as they are by a narrow, winding road that runs from the sea to the mountains.
Whistler's reputation as a party destination for the winter set is well deserved. Recall that at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Whistler native Ross Rebagliati won the first-ever gold medal in snowboard and tested positive for marijuana.
His defense? Second-hand smoke from simply being in Whistler prior to the Games. He got to keep his gold medal upon winning an appeal from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Rebagliati, by the way, now runs a snowboard camp at Kelowna Mountain in British Columbia called ... RASTA, an acronym for Rebagliati Alpine Snowboard Training Academy.
With the Olympics looming, organizers of Vancouver 2010 have not had all smooth skating over a sheet of Zamboni-groomed ice. The global economic downturn has impacted the $1.3 billion (USD) budget of these Winter Olympics and construction of an Athletes Village beset with funding problems needs more than $400 million for completion.
Hockey could take center stage
Things look better on the fields of play, as they usually do. Whereas such individual sports as figure skating, speed skating and skiing usually dominate a Winter Olympics, Vancouver might be an exception, given the importance hockey has in Canada.
The field of eight men's teams will be filled with NHL players coming together in the name of national pride as the league takes an Olympic hiatus. Canada's men struck gold at Salt Lake City in 2002 but were shut out of the medals at Turin in 2006. The U.S., which earned silver at Salt Lake City, was likewise skunked at Turin.
It's not surprising that the most expensive ticket in Vancouver will be for the men's gold-medal hockey game on Feb. 28, 2010, costing $612 ($775 Canadian).
In women's hockey, Canada is the defending Olympic champion from Turin, with Sweden earning silver and the U.S. bronze. Leading the U.S. team in Vancouver will be head coach Mark Johnson, a former NHL player who - as a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team - scored two goals in the "Miracle on Ice" victory over the Soviet Union.
In Vancouver, the cheapest ticket is about $20, American, for a look-see at biathlon and cross-country on the Callaghan Valley course on the other side of Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler.
Course stirs debate
A recent test event on the cross-country course drew negative comments from some skiers, like Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy, who said it was an easy track and preferred those in the three most recent Winter Olympics in Turin, Salt Lake City and Nagano.
"I have to admit the previous courses were better," he told the Vancouver Sun.
However, American Bill Demong, the country's best cross-country prospect, said, "There is no such thing as an easy course. This course has lots of transition that makes it exciting."
Transition is the best way to describe women's figure skating.. The best U.S. prospects are 2009 national champion Alissa Czisny of Bowling Green, Ohio, Rachel Flatt of Del Mar (San Diego County), Caroline Zhang of Brea (Los Angeles County) and 15-year-old Mirai Nagasu of Montebello (Los Angeles County), the 2008 U.S. champ.
Internationally, the best skaters are Mao Asada of Japan, Yu-Na Kim of South Korea and Caroline Kostner of Italy.
For the men, Jeremy Abbott of Colorado Springs was an upset winner of the recent U.S. nationals in Cleveland, where for the first time in five years, the top American skater was not named Evan Lysacek or Johnny Weir.
6 to see
Expect these teams or individuals to make headlines at the Olympics a year from now:
U.S. men's and women's hockey teams: They will be expected to excel in Canada and against Canada and bring home medals.
Shani Davis: He began skating on frozen ponds in his native Chicago. Now he's the overall world champion in speedskating.
Noelle Pikus-Pace: Her name sounds like "pick up the pace" and that's what she does in skeleton as the 2007 world champion.
Lindsey Vonn: The World Cup overall champion in Alpine skiing hopes to be whistling a happy tune in Whistler.
Johnny Weir: The 2008 World Championship bronze-medalist skater is a crowd-pleaser.
Just the facts
What: 21st Winter Olympic Games
Where: Vancouver, B.C., and Whistler, B.C.
When: Feb. 12-28, 2010
Sports: 15
Venues: 9
Countries: 75-80
Athletes: 2,000-2,500
Mascots: 3 - Quatchi (young Sasquatch), Miga (part bear, part killer whale), Sumi (animal spirit)
Budget: $1.3 billion (USD)
Tickets: 1.6 million (48,000 to U.S.)
Price range: $20 (biathlon) to $612 (men's hockey gold medal game)
Olympics in Canada: Montreal 1972 (Summer), Calgary 1988 (Winter)
E-mail John Crumpacker at
[email protected].
This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/10/SP3B15IUL1.DTL
comments:
amerikanik2/10/2009 9:29:25 PM
"Spectacular Winterland".... but no pictures? In the digital age????? Not.
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ciaobello2/11/2009 2:32:58 PM
For me the Olympics are must-see TV. The dates are on my tickler file. Cannot wait.
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