Olympics Notebook: Vancouver 2010
Vancouver Sportswrap: Vonn’s bombshell
News of an injury that might keep American ski queen Lindsey Vonn out of the Olympics rocked Vancouver two days before the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Games.
Join Owen Wyatt for a look at what Vonn said at her bombshell news conference on Wednesday, and a few shots on the snow that finally began to fall on Cypress Mountain.
Snow patrol: it’ll be all white on the night
It is snowing in Cypress, foggy in Whistler and raining in Vancouver, so I guess we don’t have to put inverted commas round the “Winter” bit of the Olympics any more.
Snow in Cypress. That sounds a bit odd when you say it out loud and it’s not something you you see every day here in Vancouver. In fact, it’s not something any of us has seen since the world descended on the city for the Games.
Mother Nature coming up with the goods at last means the helicopters that have been dropping snow on the freestyle skiing and snowboard venue in the past day or two can finally be stood down, and organisers can breathe a big sigh of relief.
Indeed winter is really making a comeback in these parts.
A far murkier feel descended upon the city of Vancouver this Wednesday, with yesterday’s sunny skies replaced by misty grey ones which have hidden the mountains. Up in Whistler, the fog thwarted attempts to complete a first training run for the men’s alpine skiing downhill. According to our man on the spot, Alan Baldwin, a race postponement is looming larger.
So, just two days to go until the opening ceremony. We’ve got the snow, winter is making a comeback and now we can sit back and watch the Lindsey Vonn show… Oh, hang on a minute.
Reuters Sportswrap, Vancouver special
We’re doing things slightly differently on Sportswrap while we’re at the Winter Olympics. Join Kevin Fylan on our Vancouver debut, featuring some spectacular aerial shots of the city, and the IOC president getting down with the athletes.
Snow patrol: Tuesday update
We’re just three days away from the start of the Winter Olympics and snow is still conspicuous by its absence in balmy Vancouver.
Organisers are making terrific last-minute attempts to snow the place up a little, given the unseasonably warm weather here. Using helicopters and a 750-strong workforce, they’ve transported more than 5,000 cubic metres of snow to Cypress Mountain and the bare freestyle skiing and snowboard courses.
“The amount of work that has been done against the conditions is hard to believe,” said VANOC chief executive John Furlong, who added that thanks to the 100 million dollars in the emergency fund, he still expected to run the Games with a balanced budget.
The good news is that Whistler seems to have enough snow for the Alpine skiing events. While we wait for the temperatures to drop, see below for a brief look at that helicopter snow business from Monday.
PHOTO: A helicopter transporting snow flies over Cypress Bowl in West Vancouver, British Columbia February 6, 2010. Workers are preparing the Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding venues in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games which begin February 12. REUTERS/Andy Clark
