From no-fun city to party central
Vancouver, Whistler step into the global spotlight
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun columnist
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
BEIJING - There are so many differences between the Olympics that have just ended and the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010 that it's hard to extrapolate what they will be like.
It's especially hard since this is a city and country where spontaneous eruptions by the masses usually end badly and where security was pleasant but so tight that even sunscreen was suspect.
However, there's also a near world of difference between Summer and Winter Games. The Summer Games have 28 sports with 38 disciplines and about 300 events, while the Winter Olympics include seven sports with 15 disciplines and about 80 events.
In Beijing, the venues are not only spectacular looking, they're on a scale scarcely seen before at any other Games. In Vancouver, only a few venues are new and some of the older ones are small enough that getting tickets to popular events like curling, hockey and figure skating will be difficult.
Plus, Beijing is a city of more than 17 million. Metro Vancouver has just over two million and Whistler has fewer than 10,000 people.
So, differences aside, what can people in Whistler and Vancouver expect? For a few months and weeks before the Games, every wart and problem in Canada, British Columbia and Vancouver will be dissected and disseminated by journalists from around the world, causing much consternation among the politicians, organizers and the civic-ly proud.
There will be disruptions and traffic snarls.
There will be lots of security. Even though Vanoc's president John Furlong repeatedly says protest is a right in Canada, the International Olympic Committee doesn't view protests so benignly. Its views on dissent are closer to China's and it requires that demonstrators be kept as far away from the Games as possible. The IOC doesn't like the placidity of its bubble disturbed.
And there will be a whole lot of fun. It will be a bit like fireworks night combined with a really short Expo 86 even if you don't get tickets.
For some Olympic visitors, that will be more important than the events themselves. Certainly, that's the view of most Olympic Family members, who prefer to party and schmooze than use the sporting events seats designated for their use only.
Because Vancouver and especially Whistler are so much smaller than Beijing, the Games - banners, bands, theme song and all - will literally be in many people's neighbourhoods.
There will be free entertainment and medal ceremonies within walking distance of venues, hotels and homes. There will be lots of chances to meet people and celebrate. In Beijing, that was sadly lacking because of the tight security.
There will be no escaping the funny hats, wigs and faces painted in the colours of countries you won't even recognize. Everywhere people will be wearing T-shirts, jackets, scarves, hats and pins imprinted with their country's name or swaddled in their flags.
There will be lots of crazy Eastern Europeans, Brits and Aussies drinking and roaring with laughter. And lots of puzzled people staring at maps.
Unless you've got good connections, it's unlikely you'll rub shoulders with celebrities, superstars or the super rich. You might spot a few. The Sun's editor-in-chief Patricia Graham saw Cindy Crawford at the Forbidden City. Hockey star Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and David Schwimmer of TV's Friends were glad-handing at a reception promoting the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
A China Daily photographer spotted former United States president George H.W. Bush shopping at the Silk Market, which is famous for its knock-offs of trademarked goods. The paper rather cheekily put his photo in its English-language edition, but refrained from any comment about the hypocrisy of Bush shopping there when the U.S. has been one of the most vociferous countries pursuing China to clean up its intellectual property laws.
But don't expect too many celebrities bundled up and tromping their feet at the finish lines of obscure events or even the early rounds of hockey.
The place to see them will be the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. David Beckham, Sarah Brightman, Lang Lang, Placido Domingo and Jackie Chan were on stage here. In the stands were Canto-pop star Andy Lau, actresses Carina Leung and Zhang Ziyi, Bill Gates, Princess Anne and, of course, the heads of state for dozens of countries (Canada being one of the exceptions).
Some stars will also be on a busman's holiday. Brightman and Andrea Bocelli gave concerts in Beijing during the Games.
Dozens of theatres, museums and art galleries put on special exhibitions both of Chinese works and the best from other countries so visitors had things to do when they weren't at events.
There will be lots of culture lite at corporate pavilions. Coca-Cola's pavilion at the main Olympic site was hugely popular and had line-ups nearly three blocks long most days. At one of Coke's two "live sites" downtown, there were terra cotta warrior replicas dressed in Olympics colours. But despite a stage where young women in gold lamé twirled ribbons, the real purpose was selling Coke Olympic pins and commemorative Olympic Coke bottles. Yet, bizarrely, it also had a sign that read: Please do not stay.
Of course, there will be world and Olympic champions all over the place.
The Olympics is one the rare opportunities where, while waiting for a bus, you can meet people from Mongolia, Latvia, Trinidad and Moose Jaw. The person you ask to take your photo might be a coach or a competitor, an athlete's mom or some guy who is at his ninth Games and has a thousand pins to prove it.
The Olympics are coming and so is the world.
So, complain if you want. But if you want to enjoy the Games, brush up on your geography and some languages. Take up pin collecting. And be prepared to meet some interesting people.
Oh, and be prepared too for your brain, unbidden, to assimilate the ubiquitous theme song in both official languages.
dbramham@vancouversun.com
The heat is on
Forget Beijing's bucks and let the good times roll
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun columnist
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
BEIJING - Now comes the pressure. How can Vancouver, any city for that matter, possibly match the Beijing Olympics, a $50-billion mega-show? And does anyone really want to?
China's Olympic fireworks, the Beijing Games' Opening and Closing ceremonies and promotions costs alone probably added up to more than Canada's entire operating budget for the 2010 Olympics. Beijing's fireworks were so massive they raised the temperature in the Bird's Nest, the stadium China's leaders ordered up for the Games.
"Beijing has given us a lot of pressure," Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan acknowledged in Beijing the other day.
He's right about that. But when it comes to the question of topping China, however, the answer for Vancouver and B.C.'s leaders is not to even think about emulating Beijing in terms of 2010's theatrical scope. It's simply impossible to match.
There won't be another country in our lifetime that can carry off the nationalistic, regimented extravaganza we saw in Beijing over 16 days. Do you really think we're going to get soldiers to dress up in Christmas lights and Lycra to play acrobats in the Opening Ceremony, as China's army did? Our PhDs and future astronauts aren't going to be volunteering to hold doors or serve Big Macs to the masses as they did in Beijing.
We do have an edge over China in 2010, though. If we think ahead, we can distinguish the city by doing something that China's government didn't do: Throw a real party.
China's Olympics unquestionably ran like clockwork. But it was ultimately an event staged by an authoritarian government. Predictably, it often felt like something of a security event surrounded by sports. It lacked spontaneity.
The opposite needs to happen at the 2010 Olympics - staged in Vancouver, Whistler and Richmond - say Canadian organizers. The trio of cities will need to create a feeling of intimacy and the feel of a winter festival during the Games.
But how to do that?
One of the goals of John Furlong, head of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee, is to create a collective eagerness to hold the Games within the cities involved.
It's not an easy task. There are many Vancouverites who plan to use the Games as a stage to protest urban and aboriginal poverty. There also will be inconveniences, when access to bridges and roads is restricted.
Given that backdrop, Furlong believes it's essential to make as many Vancouverites as possible feel a part of the event. Citizens have to understand that they will in many ways be ambassadors for the city when visitors arrive and create the atmosphere that will pay long-term dividends for British Columbia, and Canada.
Transportation is going to be crucial. One of the notable elements of Beijing is that special Olympic lanes were set aside, to ensure no major traffic delays. Similar systems will be in place in Vancouver - bridge traffic will be restricted at times - and Vanoc and Metro Vancouver's mayors will have to convince commuters to accept the delays.
Another element is public transit. In Beijing it was free for the thousands of journalists, athletes, officials and ticket holders. TransLink, the provincial agency that handles public transit around Metro Vancouver, needs to do the same thing to help keep congestion down. During the Games, it might even be wise to give the general public a free, or reduced rate, to get people out of their cars.
Another major issue for Vancouver is what might be called "the flavour" of the security in 2010. The security apparatus will be massive, since the Olympics represent a terrorist target. But the staff at the security gates can be trained to make it a relatively smooth experience. Beijing's organizers were for the most part able to offer easy access.
More importantly, though, is that the Olympic party shouldn't just be inside the security bubble, as it was in Beijing. It needs to be brought into the city proper, where the majority of people will be.
There will be live sites to watch the events, and the nightly ceremonies at BC Place to celebrate medal victories. But the Olympic party should be extended around the city, possibly to the waterfront around English Bay and Kitsilano Beach. Vancouver has gotten used to handling major crowds in these areas, thanks to the summer fireworks. The concept can easily be extended into the winter of 2010.
Perhaps more importantly, though, is how Vancouver's Olympics will look. Let's face it, we didn't build a Bird's Nest or other buildings that are going to set the world on fire (though I bet the views from the convention centre will be a hit). So there has to be another way of dressing up the city.
Behind the scenes, Vancouver's organizing committee, as well as Premier Gordon Campbell, are now giving the issue of how to "drape the city" some serious thought. A major part of how the Olympics will be regarded around the world will be based on how Vancouver looks to the television cameras. How much esthetic whimsy can we come up with on a budget that by Beijing standards will be limited?
Here are some ideas being tossed around:
. Put the Olympic rings on the Lions Gate Bridge, atop one of the North Shore mountains or perhaps on a barge in the middle of English Bay.
. Ask Vancouverites to keep their holiday lights on past New Years, to give the city a festive air.
. Keep bars and restaurants open for longer hours - perhaps around the clock - to give the Olympics a party atmosphere.
. Use lasers and lights to illuminate the North Shore mountains, to give the city a stunning backdrop.
. Buy into new technology that will allow the projection of images throughout the city. Most people forget it, but one of the hits of Expo 86 was the nightly laser show.
It's far too early to say how Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler will look in 2010. But the ideas need to start now.
mcernetig@vancouversun.com
Early birds test Olympic waters
Vancouver, Whistler welcome a host of elite competitions fans can catch on the cheap
Gary Kingston, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Demand will far outstrip supply when it comes to tickets to the 2010 Olympics.
And the lottery allocation system will almost certainly leave a large segment of the Vancouver-Whistler public on the outside looking ... well, looking, at their television sets.
But fear not luge lovers, bobsleigh bunnies and all you winter sport enthusiasts who just can't get enough of nordic combined.
Assuming our always fickle winter weather co-operates, the Vancouver-Whistler area will be awash in elite level biathletes and 'boarders, sliders and sledge hockey players this winter as several sports hold pre-Olympic and pre-Paralympic World Cup, world championship and other competitions.
The events may not come with the hype and the bells and whistles that accompany the five-ring circus, but the quality of competition will be high and the ticket prices reasonable - if there are even tickets required.
"It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for the public to get in to see the venues ... and probably 98 per cent of the athletes coming here will be Olympians and Paralympians," says Cathy Priestner Allinger, executive vice-president of sport and venue management for Vanoc. "It's going to be the world's best."
It starts in late October with an ISU short track speed skating World Cup at the Pacific Coliseum and then really picks up steam early in 2009.
From the Jan. 15-18 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup at the Callaghan Valley outside Whistler to the March 12-15 ISU world single distance speed skating championships at the Richmond Oval, there is only one weekend without a major event at the Olympic/Paralympic venues.
Speed skater Denny Morrison, a Fort St. John native who is the reigning world champion at 1,500 metres, says he's already pumped at the prospect of defending in front of a big crowd at the oval, even if a large chunk of them will be the orange-clad fanatics from the Netherlands.
"The fans from Holland always follow their skaters around for worlds, so there's going to be a big crowd of them," said Morrison. "And hopefully the Canadian fans show up and we get a full crowd and get a real feel for what it's going to be like in there during the Olympics."
The Canadian team is scheduled to try out the ice for the first time in mid-September. The national championships will go Dec. 26-Jan. 3 and will follow a schedule very similar to that being used at the Olympics.
"The exciting thing for me is that when the world championships start, we're going to own all the track records [at the venue] and it's going to be a challenge for the top Canadians to hold onto those records and not let them go to someone else before the Olympics," says Morrison.
One of the most closely watched of the pre-Olympic test events will be the freestyle skiing World Cup Feb. 5-7 at Cypress Mountain. At a daytime World Cup on the North Shore hill last February, a nasty weather stew of rain, sleet and fog forced cancellation of the men's and women's moguls and turned the aerials into a one-jump event.
This time, however, the competitions will be run during the evening, when skies are generally clearer. The Olympics will also be contested at night.
"It's unfortunate what happened last year ... but it was a part of understanding the snow conditions, knowing what we can expect and how we can prepare for delays," said moguls skier Kristi Richards of Summerland.
While there is a world championships in Japan next March, Richards said she'll be gearing up to peak for the Cypress World Cup.
"That will be a benchmark event. We want to feel like it's our hill, feel like we can own it, own the Olympics."
Priestner Allinger said indoor events such as the speed skating, the ISU Four Continents figure skating championships Feb. 2-8 and the Four Nations sledge hockey tournament Feb. 23-March 1 will require tickets. But Vanoc has yet to decide whether it will require tickets to the cross-country and freestyle skiing, snowboarding and the ski jumping competitions, which traditionally have been free for World Cups.
"We'll have to make some prudent decisions on whether we test access control in those events," she said, noting it will be crucial testing ground for all manner of Vanoc operations, including volunteers. "[But] we want to make these events very accessible and let the public get to know the athletes."
gkingston@vancouversun.com
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