2010 Vancouver Olympic & Paralympic Super-Thread

[Yume-sama]

VANOC opened their BS scalping website today. A quick browse sees tickets to the Gold Medal game going for $7,000

Wasn't this the Olympics where there was not going to be many scalpers due to their "security measures" I guess they just meant non-approved scalpers.

[johnjimbc]

The one thing I will say is there is knowing how the new ticket re-sell system works, I would be very concerned for anyone who purchases re-sell tickets in any other fashion . . . even handing cash to someone in exchange for the tickets.

Now that this system is in place, someone who purchased tickets originally could have those tickets in hand now (assuming they were part of the initial delivery), then go online and "re-sell" them via the ticket site. Then that same person could "sell" the tickets they possess. The tickets are inactivated as soon as they offer them for resell, but it's not like the ones they are holding disintegrate. Officially, the instructions released today indicate the original purchaser should destroy those original tickets.

But what that means is that, if dealing with someone unscrupulous, a person could walk up to the gate with tickets that appear perfectly legitimate (because they once were). But at the gate they could find that those tickets were "inactivated" due to an official re-sell from an unscrupulous original owner.

The person who actually has those seats would have their own legitimate tickets, freshly printed when they picked them up at the main ticket booth possibly weeks prior.

Obviously in a case like that, the original buyer could be traced. But I'm not sure what good that would do for the scammed party, as they purchased the tickets in an unofficial manner. I'm not even sure they'd have a legitimate case.
_____________________

Personally, I'm of mixed minds on the re-sell site. It seems kinda crummy to see official ticket scalping. But the reality is people are re-selling tickets anyhow. To my understanding, Canada law doesn't really prevent outright scalping effectively. At least by creating this system, they have created a means for folks to re-sell tickets officially. That means the purchaser who buys re-sold tickets on-line via the official site can be assured they are obtaining legitimate tickets. In fact, they can retrieve and have those tickets in their possession as soon as they go downtown and pick them up. That's a good peace of mind for the new purchaser.

But it is far from peaceful for those who acquire the tickets in any other fashion. I have no doubt those stories will surface when the Games begin, just by the way this has all been rolled out . . . with tickets already delivered to thousands and thousands of people.

For the people who really, really want to get a ticket, at least they've allowed an option, even if might prove an expensive one. And for those folks who weren't able to get any tickets in previous rounds but really wanted to attend at least a few sporting events just for the experience, it does look like there are some fairly good options for preliminary round events. It's the marquis events that are climbing to extreme levels, but that is how a market works . . . any market.

[sacrifice333]

Is there any way to see/track selling prices? Or can we only see asking prices?

[johnjimbc]

For the auctions I'm not sure . . . guessing probably not.

But they have a "Fan to Fan" resell option which is where the original purchaser basically names a price. If you happen to be the person who clicks and buys at that price, that ticket (or those tickets) are yours at that price. So you can see exactly what various people are asking for similar tickets to the same event.

But you cannot see what tickets have sold for in the past. Once the sale goes through, the tickets for those seats drop off the site (as you'd expect).

I am also glad to see that tickets are resold using the re-sell mechanism are final sales, with the new purchaser picking up hard-copy tickets at the ticket office. So you won't have the same seats sold and resold multiple times. Or at least that is how it appears to work, from reading the instructions.

Has anyone actually purchased tickets using the re-sell option?

[SpongeG]

Canada police can do drug raids at Games villages-Pound

By Allan Dowd and Steve Keating

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canada has all the legal power it needs to enforce anti-doping rules in athlete villages for next year's Winter Olympics, including authorizing police raids, Vancouver Olympics official Dick Pound said on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been working with organizers of the 2010 Games and Canadian law enforcement officials on a protocol on sharing information to combat use of banned performance enhancing drugs.

Canada does not have specific laws dealing with athletes' use of performance enhancing drugs, which has raised questions about police being able to conduct raids in athlete villages, such as those conducted by authorities at the 2006 Turin Games.

...

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE5BL0ES20091222

[sacrifice333]

Looks like they're out of options...

Female ski jumpers lose final bid to compete at Vancouver 2010 Olympics


BY JEFF LEE, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE DECEMBER 22, 2009 11:52 AM


STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )VIDEO ( 1 )



Zoya Lynch is a 17-year-old ski jumper from Calgary who has signed her name to a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Organizers because women cannot jump in the Olympics.
Photograph by: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald

VANCOUVER - Female ski jumpers hoping to compete in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics have reached the end of their court fight.

On Tuesday the Supreme Court of Canada refused their application to hear an appeal of a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling dismissing their case against the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

The 14 women appellants, lead by Womens Ski Jumping USA, had sought to argue that Vanoc was discriminating against them on the basis of gender, something prohibited under the Canadian Charter of Rights.

But a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled earlier this year that the right to organize the Games and decide which sports could be admitted belonged to the International Olympic Committee, not Vanoc. It said the IOC was discriminating against the women, but it had no jurisdiction to force the IOC to comply since the IOC isn't covered under the Charter.

The women had hoped the courts would force Vanoc to hold at least one event for them. The IOC has said the women's sport doesn't yet meet three critical tests for inclusion in the Olympics but has promised to review the situation in time for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

The Supreme Court of Canada, as usual, gave no reasons for its dismissal.

Ross Clark, the women's lawyer, who worked the case for free, said his clients were disappointed.

“We are very disappointed the Supreme Court of Canada does not view this as matter of national importance and will not have the opportunity to hear our arguments,” Clark said in a statement. “This case was not just about women ski jumpers. The textbook gender discrimination found by the lower court judge should have been examined by the highest court in the land in light of its significance to our Charter case.”

Deedee Corradini, the president of Women's Ski Jumping USA, said she was “very sad” at the court's refusal.

“We won't stop working at this cause until women are ski jumping in the Olympics,” she said in a news release. “Although we are hugely disappointed by the Supreme Court's refusal to hear us this time, we won't give up. This is about human rights and discrimination. It's a wrong that must be righted.

© copyright (c) CNS Olympics

[officedweller]

Torch relay in Mississauga (with Marilyn in the background)

Pic posted by Jasonzed at SSC:



And by Kristopher at UrbanTO:



http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=4337&page=74

[LotusLand]

Looks like the huge mural on Beatty Street is coming down as it obviously conflicts with the 2010 Live venue site on Georgia street.

http://vancitybuzz.blogspot.com/2009/12/vancouver-paints-over-beatty-street.html

The readers of this blog aren't impressed. I kinda liked that but knew as soon as that site was selected that, that mural was coming down. Its a shame as it was really awesome

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

Looks like they're out of options...

This definitely deals a big blow to my hope for Mens synchronized swimming in 2012.

Chalk another one up for the sexist IOC

[SpongeG]

IOC is antiquated at best

[sacrifice333]

Ever wondered about those crazy CoSport and Jet Set Sport "hospitality" packages?

I stumbled across an article from the Seattle Times on it, and the man behind them, earlier today.

Quite the little operation including more than 60,000 customers for Vancouver2010, cash bribes, kickbacks, and $20-30M in profit from Beijing 2008 alone!

Article posted here.

[Yume-sama]

Oh noes! SOMEONE IS PROFITING OFF OF THE OLYMPICS! This is MAJOR BREAKING NEWS!

They are even official Olympic "sponsors". So what can you do about it. VANOC doesn't like scalping unless it's them doing it.

BTW, does Seattle have some jealousy issues regarding Vancouver and the Olympics and getting World attention? They have had a few pointless and little more than obvious articles.

Inferiority complex much?

[sacrifice333]

^I've got no problem with profits. They make the world go round afterall.

What I find interesting is how they guy built a business from next to nothing to a pretty serious venture, with the majority of growth in the last 15 years, through not just "hard work".

[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."

[Denscity]

50 days to go!!

[SpongeG]

it will be weird weather for a winter games - no nice snow piles for the tV viewers

[nobase2010]

This is probably what the look of the game will look like during the Olympic. It looks very nice. Check the begining and the end of video.
• Video Link

[touraccuracy]

Originally Posted by LotusLand

Looks like the huge mural on Beatty Street is coming down as it obviously conflicts with the 2010 Live venue site on Georgia street.

http://vancitybuzz.blogspot.com/2009/12/vancouver-paints-over-beatty-street.html

The readers of this blog aren't impressed. I kinda liked that but knew as soon as that site was selected that, that mural was coming down. Its a shame as it was really awesome

well that sucks.

why does it need to be removed because of the olympic live sites? because they'd have to pay royalties on the characters or something?

otherwise i don't see why it'd possibly need to be removed.

[SpongeG]

Latest removed mural example of "tragic sanitization" of Vancouver: advocacy group

VANCOUVER — A fresh coat of "Olympic blue" paint over a mural located in one of the city's Olympic venues for the 2010 Winter Games was deliberately done to cover-up a blemish before the Games, says one of the artists who worked on the design.

A wall of murals, commissioned in 2007 by the Steve Nash Foundation, located on Beatty Street in downtown Vancouver was painted over in light blue on Wednesday.

Milan Basic, of High Fi Murals, along with 15 other artists painted the mural for charity.

In an interview on Christmas Eve from his home in Prince George, Basic, 39, said the city never informed him the art was getting a paint job.

"It is a shame to delete that mural because someone thinks it's a blemish," said the father of two children.

The news though didn't come as a complete shock.

Basic said an unnamed friend on the city's graffiti management program told him several weeks ago that "they did not want to have that graffiti style for the Olympics," but that he did not know they were going to paint it blue.

"I got it straight from the horse's mouth," he said. "I knew for a fact that it was deleted because of the Olympics. Painting it that blue colour was obviously a last minute decision."

David McLellan, a spokesman for the city of Vancouver, said the mural was removed as part of regular maintenance in the area.

"It was temporary in nature and it was just its time to go," said McLellan, adding that the city may fund a new project for the wall under the public art program in the new year.

As for the colour, McLellan said he "had no idea why" that shade of blue was chosen by the city's anti-graffiti coordinator Daniel Paquin.

A legal advocacy group called the move another example of the "tragic sanitization" of Vancouver in time for the Olympics.

"It's totally linked to the Olympics," said David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

"They painted it over in Olympic blue. The only thing they didn't do was paint on the Olympic rings."

Basic said the artists stuck loosely to a children's theme. On one part of the wall there was a painting called "Choir Piece" depicting dozens of small green figures which appear to be coming out of the Earth and singing.

Now it is a solid blue.

"The city is throwing light blue paint over everything, which is a real metaphor for what is happening right now," said Eby.

In November, the city removed an anti-Olympic mural outside the Crying Room art gallery in the Downtown Eastside.

"It's a shame those artists were allowed a voice and that was taken away because some grown-ups were scared of what some other grown-ups might think," said Basic.

In 2007, Basic proposed that adorning the Beatty wall for charity should be an annual event, and that graffiti artists be allowed to paint over it every year with something new.

"I wanted to make a cultural commitment to Vancouver. The city is starved for culture," said Basic.

The artist anticipated a backlash from the Vancouver graffiti community after receiving dozens of e-mails expressing anger over the city's move.

...

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/L...couver+advocacy+group/2379597/story.html

[nobase2010]

Wow that was an ugly mural. All the characters were made by an American.

Originally Posted by touraccuracy

well that sucks.

why does it need to be removed because of the olympic live sites? because they'd have to pay royalties on the characters or something?

otherwise i don't see why it'd possibly need to be removed.