The 2010 Winter Olympics are set to kick off in Vancouver, with Opening Ceremonies beginning at 02:00 GMT Saturday, and this time swimming, track & field, and basketball have been replaced by figure skating, alpine skiing, and, of course, curling. Every two years we get to enjoy the worldwide spectacle that is the Olympics. Friendly competition, elite world class athletes, and the opportunity to root for your country’s success all characterise the excellent event which brings out the best of people. The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is following on the heels of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, where the record breaking performances, incredible storylines and huge celebrations will be hard to top. In general, the Winter Olympics finds itself overshadowed by its more mass appealing summer counterpart. The Winter Olympics includes far less sporting disciplines than the Summer Olympics, but still has quite a variety. In alphabetical order, these include Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-country, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snowboard, and, finally, Speed Skating. Some events, such as figure skating, alpine skiing or ice hockey, are obviously much more popular than others like curling. For a full schedule of when to tune into your favourite event.

HISTORY OF VANCOUVER: The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be a major international multi-sport event held on February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia and in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. 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, Quebec and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. 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. It was the closest vote by the IOC since Sydney, Australia beat Beijing for the 2000 Summer Olympics by 2 votes. Vancouver’s victory came almost 2 years after Toronto’s 2008 Summer Olympic bid was defeated by Beijing in a landslide vote.

In 2004, the operational cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics was estimated to be $1.354 billion. As of mid-2009 it is projected to be $1.76 billion,all raised from non-government sources, primarily through sponsorships and the auction of national broadcasting rights. $580 million is the taxpayer-supported budget to construct or renovate venues throughout Vancouver and Whistler, $200 million was expected to be spent for security, of which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the lead agency. That number was later revealed to be in the region of $1 billion, an amount in excess of five times what was originally estimated.^[10] As of the start of February 2010, the total cost of the Games, including all the infrastructure improvements for the region that occurred is estimated to be $6 billion, with $600 million of the spending directly related to hosting the games. Projected benefits and revenues to the city and province are projected to be in the range of $10 billion. The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at BC Place Stadium, which received over $150 million in major renovations. Competition venues in Greater Vancouver include the Pacific Coliseum, the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, the UBC Winter Sports Centre, the Richmond Olympic Oval and Cypress Mountain. GM Place, home of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, will play host to ice hockey events, but because corporate sponsorship is not allowed for an Olympic venue, it will be renamed Canada Hockey Place for the duration of the games. Competition venues in Whistler include the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, the Whistler Olympic Park and the Whistler Sliding Centre.

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 was lit in Olympia on October 22, 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 relay will start its long Canada journey from the British Columbia capital of Victoria. In Canada, the torch will travel approximately 45,000 kilometers over 106 days, making it the longest relay route within one country in Olympic history. The Olympic Torch will be carried by approximately 12,000 Canadians and reach over 1000 communities.

Celebrity torchbearers include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Nash Matt Lauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Buble and Sidney Crosby.

Security and civil rights

In June 2009, the Olympics Resistance Network accused the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit’s (VISU) Joint Intelligence Group of “abusive and unlawful conduct” after allegedly harassing VANOC opposition activists.Concerns over policing methods have also been raised because of the head of Olympic security, RCMP Asst. Commissioner Gary Russell “Bud” Mercer, was part of the RCMP forces that blew up a truck in course of the Gustafsen Lake Standoff. Mercer was also among the RCMP who pepper-sprayed protests at the 1997 APEC conference at UBC, personally spraying a CBC cameraman and his camera, and also was part of the “War in the Woods” against tree-sit protestors in the Elaho Valley.

In October 2009, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia through the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2009, gave host municipalities (Richmond, Vancouver and Whistler) the power to enter residences and other private property to seize signs that are deemed to be “anti-olympic”, between February 1 and March 31, 2010.Another amendment changed the Vancouver Charter to allow for fines of up to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to 6 months for sign and bylaw violations.

Privacy rights advocates, including Chantal Bernier, assistant federal privacy commissioner, are concerned about the implementation of 900 security cameras placed by the RCMPDowntown area.Olympic Integrated Security Unit plus another 100 security cameras placed by the City of Vancouver in the

Border security questioning

A number of incidents in which people crossing the Canada – United States border were detained and questioned by the Canada Border Services Agency on political grounds have also been documented. The most notable of these, so far, was American Public Radio broadcaster Amy Goodman, who had been on her way to Vancouver to promote her book and was unaware of the Olympics.Her harrassment at the border received worldwide coverage.

FOR OLYMPIC EVENT SCHEDULES: to attend and check the listing of olympic events click here

FOR KNOWING ALOT MORE IN DEPTH WHATS GOING ON IN VANCOUVER GO TO: to check out the events and the buzz on Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics.

SEE YOU ALL AROUND VANCOUVER IN FEB 2010 AKA VANCITY

AND AT ALL THE FREE SHOWS, PAVILLIONS, CELEBRATIONS, AND CHEER ON TEAM CANADA LETS GO CANADA!!!!!!

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VC ARCHIVES 2010