Travel Canada: Visit Olympic Vancouver in 2010. Join millions!
Travel Vancouver, BC – LET THE OLYMPIC GAMES BEGIN!
At 7:30 PST yesterday I had a burst of olympic spirit and sat down in front of the PC to check out the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympiad. Having some technical difficulties, my family and I frantically surfed until I located a couple of live streamed telecasts. Finally we were ready to go, and enjoyed the next few hours of wonderfully synchronized skating, poetry, music, and aerial acrobatic super slalomers and snowboarders. It was a very heart warming celebration punctuated by
the appearance of many sporting celebrities, a skin shivering performance by KD Lang, and hundreds of meticulously timed olympic performance artists. Of course the colour scheme was classic Canadian White and Red. Very bold, very vibrant and very patriotic. The only minor snafu was a mechanical failure that caused one of the four massive icicle torch supports to malfunction. There were a few anxious minutes with closeups of Wayne Gretzky and Nancy Greene being shown nervously fidgeting, waiting for the frigid torch pedestal to be raised. Seemingly at long last, there’s a relieved crescendo of applause and a massive “standing O” at BC Place as the “Great One” jogs out with the torch.
BID FOR BC
Many years before this momentous opening ceremony was to take place, from Bid to Burrard Inlet, a key decision point was taking place in the spring of 2003. The three front runners were Salzburg, Austria; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and of course, B.C. The Austrians were eliminated in an earlier round of voting so it was down to the remaining two vying cities. The final tally from the International Olympic Commitee squeaked out in favour of the Canucks in an incredibly close 56 to 53 count. The Vancouver win was not without controversy, amidst some scandalous accusations of Samsung lining pockets of voters with Plasma and LCD displays. The IOC is no stranger to scandal, with the infamous Salt Lake City bid and previous other balloting embarassements showing up in international headlines. But, as they say, the show must go on.
TREK OF THE TORCH
The defining moment that exemplifies this Olympic spectacle is the iconic journey of the torch relay. This 45 000 Kilometer relay trek took over 100 days and nights which marks this as the longest in Olympic history. It seems only fitting as Canada is the second largest country on the planet. Over 12 000 loud and proud Canadians carried the torch by foot and by the following less traditional methods: tractor, scull, surfboard, snowboards, bull, ice canoe, chuckwagon, zamboni, mine clearing vehicle, ice-skate, speed skate, and dog sled. I had the pleasure to personally hold one of these Olympic symbols or Oly Spliffs, as some have dubbed it. While some don’t care for the design, I like the smooth form, and it’s proven functional nature. This is especially true when compared with some of the other olympic torch designs. Yes, Barcelona and Albertville, I’m looking at you! While I did not have the opportunity to run any leg of the trek (Do I really want to embarrass my country with my fitness level?), the torch sure had the ability to conduct national pride through one’s body. Wayne Gretzky putting the torch to the much larger re-creation of the flame cauldron (which malfunctioned in BC place) marks the inauguration of this Winter Olympics until the closing ceremonies. There is still some minor controversy surrounding the torch, the relay, and the cauldron. Non-Canadians like Arnold Schwarzenegger bearing the torch on a very public Vancouver leg and the flame cauldron itself now residing behind chain link fence (keeping it at a substantial distance away from the public at the newly dubbed Jack Poole Square) have caused some public clamour. Still, it is nearly impossible to quell the Olympic Spirit, the sense of cammaradarie and competition that these events represent. CTV put together a heart warming montage of the relay here.
OLYMPIC FEVER!
Vancouver plays host to the world for a little over two weeks from February 12th to the 28th for this 21st Olympiad. If you are in the region and don’t mind the extra 2 million plus athletes, media, and accompanying rabid sports fans, please join them! With glowing hearts we say… ”GO CANADA GO!” (NOTE: Canada has now received it’s first medal award.)
You might also be interested in more articles about Vancouver.
Happy travelling!
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