Dhe forthcoming one year anniversary of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games,for the celebration of it.CTV is insisting Canadians to contribute their favourite Vancouver 2010 stories, videos and photos.
An a special anniversary website at 2010.ctv.ca has been launched where Canadians are urge to share how they watched and experienced Vancouver 2010.
During a 90-minute Vancouver 2010 Anniversary Show,the photos,videos and stories are going to be select airing nationally on CTV on February 13 (show details to be announced in the coming weeks).
Susanne Boyce, President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc. said that,“For 17 days, we experienced the drama that touched the hearts of Canadians and united the country. There are so many untold, wonderful stories. We wanted to give Canadians a chance to be part of this celebration and tell the rest of the country what Vancouver 2010 meant to them."
Friday, 14 January 2011
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
London organisers urged to replicate Vancouver “passion”
According to official memos,despite the issues of transport and food last year's Winter Games in Vancouver was successful.
According to the memos, Volunteers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics were “not enough looked after. The Games’ colour scheme was also criticised for being “pale and too complex” while audience also found it complicated to get to venues due to poor signage.
However, the memos also confirmed that the free Robson Square live sites were “a huge success”, the security plan worked well, and the Vancouver public helped to elevate the Games.
Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics need to replicate the “passion” of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games to ensure the success of the event, according to officials from the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
According to the memos, Volunteers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics were “not enough looked after. The Games’ colour scheme was also criticised for being “pale and too complex” while audience also found it complicated to get to venues due to poor signage.
However, the memos also confirmed that the free Robson Square live sites were “a huge success”, the security plan worked well, and the Vancouver public helped to elevate the Games.
Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics need to replicate the “passion” of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games to ensure the success of the event, according to officials from the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Warm Winter Olympics makes top 10 list of weather stories for 2010
Top 10 Canadian weather stories of 2010 has been released by environment Canada.The Winter Olympics in Vancouver had been targeted number # 1 in the list.
Environment Canada's Senior Climatologist David Phillips had selected saying the weather in Vancouver also "owned the podium", in addition to the athletes.
Earl, Igor and Tomas are the others several storms which Phillips also indicate on his list.
Environment Canada's Senior Climatologist David Phillips had selected saying the weather in Vancouver also "owned the podium", in addition to the athletes.
Earl, Igor and Tomas are the others several storms which Phillips also indicate on his list.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Vancouver Olympics render
According to the new government sponsored studies, Vancouver 2010 Winter Games not only brought home a heavy medal haul for Canada, it turned out to be a rousing financial success for Canada and British Columbia. The studies revealed the Olympic and Paralympic Games released on Friday before the Vancouver Organizing Committee unveiled its final financial.
VANOC said, "$1.884 billion in operations resulted in neither surplus nor deficit, and that the $603-million venue development program also came in on budget"
The federal minister Gary Lunn said, "It is clear in these reports that hosting the 2010 Winter Games has created lasting legacies that will benefit Canadians for years to come".
B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen said, "We've always believed that the Games would provide the catalyst for economic, social, and athletic development provincially and nationally. These preliminary results are significant, and we know that when we measure 2010 fully, we'll see that British Columbia got an even more powerful economic lift from the Games, just when we needed it most."
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Holcomb ready to shine home track in Bobsled
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Bobsled driver Steven Holcomb to compete at home for the first time since winning his historic gold medal, when the World Cup bobsled and skeleton circuit stops at the Utah Olympic Park in this week. He told the U.S. Bobsled and skeleton Federation website, “I know a few secrets there”. “I want to win there. I’d like to sweep the event if we can.”
Holcomb in the four man race had won Olympic gold and connected season opening World Cup race in that discipline two weeks ago on the Olympic course at Whistler. But he has an forced rival in Germany’s Manuel Machata, who already has won a two-man and a four-man race in his first season on the World Cup tour.
Fellow driver John Napier, he is forced to race for just the second time since returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. On Tuesday. Attorney Jason Schatz said Canada won’t issue visas to people with drunken driving convictions or pending charges.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Vancouver Olympic village finally open as social housing
According to the Canadian Press, A manager has been hired or the affordable housing units in the Olympic village. This step has been taken after a long wait by Vancouver City Council
The Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C had been selected by Vancouver City Council to oversee the mixed housing project.
People who have been on waiting lists for affordable homes can begin moving into the suites before Christmas said by Mayor Gregor Robertson
It has been decided by The Co-operative Housing Federation that they will look after one building out of three as the Co-operative Housing Federation will act as interim manager for the other two until another non-profit is chosen.
All three bids has been rejected by the province up till September to run the social housing component at the former athlete’s village, prompting Vancouver to act alone.
The Olympic village, on the southeast shore of False Creek, has been described as a ghost town as most of the 252 suites earmarked for social housing and market rental remained unoccupied while the search for a manager was underway.
The Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C had been selected by Vancouver City Council to oversee the mixed housing project.
People who have been on waiting lists for affordable homes can begin moving into the suites before Christmas said by Mayor Gregor Robertson
It has been decided by The Co-operative Housing Federation that they will look after one building out of three as the Co-operative Housing Federation will act as interim manager for the other two until another non-profit is chosen.
All three bids has been rejected by the province up till September to run the social housing component at the former athlete’s village, prompting Vancouver to act alone.
The Olympic village, on the southeast shore of False Creek, has been described as a ghost town as most of the 252 suites earmarked for social housing and market rental remained unoccupied while the search for a manager was underway.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Olympic clock outside the Vancouver Art Gallery
He popular 2010 Olympic clock outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, which stirred so much emotion in the run up to the Winter Olympics was dismantled Wednesday are two faces to be moved to other prominent places.
The clock is a landmark in downtown Vancouver for 1,340 days. The electronic display that the countdown to the Olympics marked to be moved in BC Place, the arena that the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies and the awards night hosted.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Not sold out Vancouver Olympics
Arrangers of Vancouver’s Winter Olympics sold 110,000 fewer tickets than they originally forecast.
VANOC claimed during February’s Games that it had a 1.6 million ticket inventory, but the International Olympic Committee’s Vancouver 2010 marketing report said 1.49 million tickets were sold from a pool of 1.54 million, “generating approximately $257 million in revenue.”
“It’s best to wait until we do our report,” said VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin. “Their number is pretty close to the actual (Olympic) ticketing numbers.”
McLaughlin said a breakdown would be in the final VANOC report due this fall. VANOC budgeted for $260.4 million in ticket revenue, which includes Paralympic and Cultural Olympiad sales.
As many as 50,000 tickets to sliding and skiing events in Whistler were unsold. VANOC also reduced the inventory during the Games when it cancelled and refunded 28,000 general admission tickets to Cypress Mountain events because of weather and service issues.
The report said 71% of tickets were sold in Canada. International buyers accounted for 16% of purchases and 11 percent were bought by sponsors and broadcasters. The remaining 2 percent went to the IOC and international sports federations.
McLaughlin said it could take “months” to resolve the $2 million loss caused by Latvian fraudsters who used stolen Visa card numbers to buy tickets on the official VANOC scalping website. McLaughlin said talks with an insurer and Visa are “slow.”
Meanwhile, the IOC report said there were approximately 1.8 billion viewers of the Vancouver Games globally and the potential audience was 3.8 billion
VANOC claimed during February’s Games that it had a 1.6 million ticket inventory, but the International Olympic Committee’s Vancouver 2010 marketing report said 1.49 million tickets were sold from a pool of 1.54 million, “generating approximately $257 million in revenue.”
“It’s best to wait until we do our report,” said VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin. “Their number is pretty close to the actual (Olympic) ticketing numbers.”
McLaughlin said a breakdown would be in the final VANOC report due this fall. VANOC budgeted for $260.4 million in ticket revenue, which includes Paralympic and Cultural Olympiad sales.
As many as 50,000 tickets to sliding and skiing events in Whistler were unsold. VANOC also reduced the inventory during the Games when it cancelled and refunded 28,000 general admission tickets to Cypress Mountain events because of weather and service issues.
The report said 71% of tickets were sold in Canada. International buyers accounted for 16% of purchases and 11 percent were bought by sponsors and broadcasters. The remaining 2 percent went to the IOC and international sports federations.
McLaughlin said it could take “months” to resolve the $2 million loss caused by Latvian fraudsters who used stolen Visa card numbers to buy tickets on the official VANOC scalping website. McLaughlin said talks with an insurer and Visa are “slow.”
Meanwhile, the IOC report said there were approximately 1.8 billion viewers of the Vancouver Games globally and the potential audience was 3.8 billion
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Vancouver Olympiv: One Olympic medal in Vancouver cost Russia 388 mln rbls
In cash terms the Vancouver Olympics proved a far worse failure for Russia than it was from the standpoint of unachieved sports achievements. Billions of rubles were wasted, corrupt functionaries made fortunes, and each Olympic medal cost Russia a disgraceful 388 million rubles, Russia's Audit Chamber said after a probe.
On its website the Audit Chamber published a report of what it called an inquiry into the effectiveness of the use of funds disbursed for the preparations for and holding the 21 winter Olympics and 10th Paralympic Games in Vancouver. The 70 page report lists dozens of instances of outrageous corruption by sports bosses.
Audit Chamber chief Sergei Stepashin reported the findings on Monday, when the presidium of the presidential council for physical culture and sports met in session.
"There are direct financial violations. This will be a subject matter for scrutiny by the law enforcement agencies in the future," Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, just currently elected president of the Russian Olympic Committee, told the media.
In Vancouver, Russia placed 11th in the unofficial team standing - the worst result in the whole history of Soviet and Russian athletes' participation in Winter Olympics.
As soon as the Olympics were over, ROC President Leonid Tyagachyov tendered his resignation and Alexander Zhukov was elected his successor.
If the Audit Chamber is to be believed, Russia's preparations for the Vancouver Olympics devoured 6.2 billion rubles of budget and extra budgetary funds. While one medal at the Paralympic Games cost Russia ten million rubles, each Olympic medal's price tag carried a nine-digit figure - 388,000,000 rubles.
According to the Audit Chamber's report, the hotel suite of Tourism and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko cost 1,500 dollars a night, and tickets were sold to Russian fans at eleven nominal prices, says the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.
As the Audit Chamber has found out, functionaries spent on hotel accommodation tens of times more than they were allowed by the law. Sports functionaries defrauded budget using a variety of schemes, and people having nothing to do with the Olympic team went to Vancouver as its official members.
Tourism and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko stayed at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The Russian delegation paid for that 34,000 Canadian dollars. Two of Mutko's deputies were in the same hotel, too. Their bills were paid from the overall sum transferred for the accommodation of the official Olympic delegation. Nobody has even recalled the government's resolution to the effect the hotel accommodation of employees delegated by budget financed organizations shall not exceed 130 US dollars a day.
Mutko's wife, Tatyana, used the official delegation's charter flight to Vancouver, but she paid the 52,000 rubles for the ticket only in May - after the Audit Chamber launched its probe.
Part of the report exposes how Olympic tickets were sold from the Russian quota. The Russian organizing committee and the Olympic committee of Russia concluded a contract on distributing the tickets in the territory of Russia with a closed joint stock company calling itself Olympic Panorama. That intermediary purchased the tickets at their nominal price. Then it resold 40 percent of the tickets to foreign companies. The remainder was offered to Russian fans at a price eleven times above the maximum level established under the agreement.
The Audit Chamber's report contains detailed information about the theft of money that had been allocated for athletes' training, for purchasing sports gear and for holding competitions, and also other information explaining the Russian team's disgrace in Vancouver.
The athletes' training in compliance with a unified calendar is ineffective and breeds corruption, says the Audit Chamber. Some firms having a staff of just several employees received up to 3.5 billion rubles a year for financing athletes' training process.
As the probe has found out, a center for the training of Russian national teams subordinate to the Sports Ministry purchased sports gear from a provider company without a prior bidding contest and the surplus at the moment of resale to the state reached 66 percent.
The auditors said that many of those who were sent to Vancouver with the Russian sports team had nothing to do with it whatsoever. More facts from the Audit Chamber's report. The national figure skating team included Yana Rudkovskaya, wife of figure skater Yevgeny Plushchenko, and daughter of Figure Skating Federation President Valentin Piseyev went to Vancouver as an interpreter of the snowboarding team.
At the same time a number of athletes' coaches remained overboard.
As it probed into the spending of Olympic money, the Audit Chamber arrived at another remarkable conclusion concerning the team's coaches. Many of them lacked the required qualification and education. The general conclusion is this. "In Russia up to this day there has been no unified agency (or organization) responsible for the special training and participation of Russian national teams in Olympic Games, having all the necessary material resources for this and prepared to bear responsibility."
The results of the inquiry will be reported to President Dmitry Medvedev. The Audit Chamber also dispatched messages to the Prosecutor-General's Office Investigation Committee, the Interior Ministry, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Federal Tax Service, the insurance watchdog Rosstrakhnadzor, the federal agency for the management of state property, the national union of physical culture and sports associations Olympic Committee of Russia and Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The daily Moskovsky Komsomolets quotes a presidential staff official as saying that the Kremlin is waiting for the government to react.
The online periodical NEWSru.com recalls that after the Winter Olympics President Medvedev cracked down on functionaries for the failure of Russian athletes. He did not rule out that the findings of probes might be handed over to the prosecutor's office.
"All that happened despite the fact that investments into the training of our athletes were similar to the costs of other countries. And if one is to be very frank, they were ABOVE those in other countries. The way we see it, the problem is not about a shortage of resources, but about their ineffective use," Medvedev said.
For his part the Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policies, Vitaly Mutko, said about the results of the Audit Chamber's probe that he saw no great problems with sports in the country.
"In the operation of any vast industry one will always be able to find violations," Mutko said.
On its website the Audit Chamber published a report of what it called an inquiry into the effectiveness of the use of funds disbursed for the preparations for and holding the 21 winter Olympics and 10th Paralympic Games in Vancouver. The 70 page report lists dozens of instances of outrageous corruption by sports bosses.
Audit Chamber chief Sergei Stepashin reported the findings on Monday, when the presidium of the presidential council for physical culture and sports met in session.
"There are direct financial violations. This will be a subject matter for scrutiny by the law enforcement agencies in the future," Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, just currently elected president of the Russian Olympic Committee, told the media.
In Vancouver, Russia placed 11th in the unofficial team standing - the worst result in the whole history of Soviet and Russian athletes' participation in Winter Olympics.
As soon as the Olympics were over, ROC President Leonid Tyagachyov tendered his resignation and Alexander Zhukov was elected his successor.
If the Audit Chamber is to be believed, Russia's preparations for the Vancouver Olympics devoured 6.2 billion rubles of budget and extra budgetary funds. While one medal at the Paralympic Games cost Russia ten million rubles, each Olympic medal's price tag carried a nine-digit figure - 388,000,000 rubles.
According to the Audit Chamber's report, the hotel suite of Tourism and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko cost 1,500 dollars a night, and tickets were sold to Russian fans at eleven nominal prices, says the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.
As the Audit Chamber has found out, functionaries spent on hotel accommodation tens of times more than they were allowed by the law. Sports functionaries defrauded budget using a variety of schemes, and people having nothing to do with the Olympic team went to Vancouver as its official members.
Tourism and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko stayed at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The Russian delegation paid for that 34,000 Canadian dollars. Two of Mutko's deputies were in the same hotel, too. Their bills were paid from the overall sum transferred for the accommodation of the official Olympic delegation. Nobody has even recalled the government's resolution to the effect the hotel accommodation of employees delegated by budget financed organizations shall not exceed 130 US dollars a day.
Mutko's wife, Tatyana, used the official delegation's charter flight to Vancouver, but she paid the 52,000 rubles for the ticket only in May - after the Audit Chamber launched its probe.
Part of the report exposes how Olympic tickets were sold from the Russian quota. The Russian organizing committee and the Olympic committee of Russia concluded a contract on distributing the tickets in the territory of Russia with a closed joint stock company calling itself Olympic Panorama. That intermediary purchased the tickets at their nominal price. Then it resold 40 percent of the tickets to foreign companies. The remainder was offered to Russian fans at a price eleven times above the maximum level established under the agreement.
The Audit Chamber's report contains detailed information about the theft of money that had been allocated for athletes' training, for purchasing sports gear and for holding competitions, and also other information explaining the Russian team's disgrace in Vancouver.
The athletes' training in compliance with a unified calendar is ineffective and breeds corruption, says the Audit Chamber. Some firms having a staff of just several employees received up to 3.5 billion rubles a year for financing athletes' training process.
As the probe has found out, a center for the training of Russian national teams subordinate to the Sports Ministry purchased sports gear from a provider company without a prior bidding contest and the surplus at the moment of resale to the state reached 66 percent.
The auditors said that many of those who were sent to Vancouver with the Russian sports team had nothing to do with it whatsoever. More facts from the Audit Chamber's report. The national figure skating team included Yana Rudkovskaya, wife of figure skater Yevgeny Plushchenko, and daughter of Figure Skating Federation President Valentin Piseyev went to Vancouver as an interpreter of the snowboarding team.
At the same time a number of athletes' coaches remained overboard.
As it probed into the spending of Olympic money, the Audit Chamber arrived at another remarkable conclusion concerning the team's coaches. Many of them lacked the required qualification and education. The general conclusion is this. "In Russia up to this day there has been no unified agency (or organization) responsible for the special training and participation of Russian national teams in Olympic Games, having all the necessary material resources for this and prepared to bear responsibility."
The results of the inquiry will be reported to President Dmitry Medvedev. The Audit Chamber also dispatched messages to the Prosecutor-General's Office Investigation Committee, the Interior Ministry, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Federal Tax Service, the insurance watchdog Rosstrakhnadzor, the federal agency for the management of state property, the national union of physical culture and sports associations Olympic Committee of Russia and Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The daily Moskovsky Komsomolets quotes a presidential staff official as saying that the Kremlin is waiting for the government to react.
The online periodical NEWSru.com recalls that after the Winter Olympics President Medvedev cracked down on functionaries for the failure of Russian athletes. He did not rule out that the findings of probes might be handed over to the prosecutor's office.
"All that happened despite the fact that investments into the training of our athletes were similar to the costs of other countries. And if one is to be very frank, they were ABOVE those in other countries. The way we see it, the problem is not about a shortage of resources, but about their ineffective use," Medvedev said.
For his part the Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policies, Vitaly Mutko, said about the results of the Audit Chamber's probe that he saw no great problems with sports in the country.
"In the operation of any vast industry one will always be able to find violations," Mutko said.
Monday, 28 June 2010
Vancouver Olympics : Time for a patriotic flashback
As we prepare to celebrate Canada Day, thoughts about what to barbecue brings up some long-dormant memories of the Vancouver Olympics. (Remember them? Huge!)Head to theprovince. com/gobig, where sports editor Jonathan McDonald remembers the wonderful, unscripted, 40 or so seconds when double-medallist Marianne St-Gelais cheered on boyfriend Charles Hamelin in his own short-track final. While reading it, share your own favourite memories. Canada Day seems like the right time to do it.
Meanwhile, our World Cup player poster series starts Tuesday in The Province. You voted for the top 11 players at theprovince. com/2010worldcup (follow Kyle Benning's Inside the 18 blog, and vote in our World Cup of Women contest, while you're there). We'll deliver a player a day until the July 11 final, starting with Spain's Fernando Torres -- appropriate, since he's got a do-or-die match Tuesday against Portugal -- and continuing Wednesday with Brazil keeper Julio Cesar.
Finally, at theprovince. com/mmablog, E. Spencer Kyte's Keyboard Kimura blog celebrates Fabricio Werdum's Strikeforce win Saturday night.
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