Olympics Notebook: Vancouver 2010
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.
Canada can’t wait for that golden moment
Canada has a reputation as a slow starter at the Olympics, but the country may be poised to end a two-Games gold-medal drought on home soil … and it could even come on the first full day of competition.
There is so much excitement for that elusive gold medal that Canadian lugers have been offered a $1 million bonus from their title sponsor if they can earn a spot atop the podium.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who has a pair of recent victories on the World Cup circuit, will get the country’s first shot at ending the drought early on Saturday in downhill skiing.
But Canada’s best shot at striking gold that day will be with freestyle moguls skier Jenn Heil, who won a gold medal on the first day of competition in Turin four years ago and is expected to successfully defend her title.
The Canadian men’s ice hockey team are tipped by many to win a gold medal, but the finals for that event are not until Feb. 28. Other sports that could produce a gold medal for Canada include women’s hockey, men’s and women’s curling and speed skating.
At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, Canadians didn’t win any medals until after the first week of competition.
And the CEO of Own the Podium — a $117 million five-year plan to help Canadian athletes dominate in the Summer and Winter Games — even said he did not expect Canada to challenge for the overall medals lead until the last few days of ther Games.
I would sort of, quite like it if it was zero again … or at least for the first few days to really create a bit of tension. But I think they’ll do it on day one, like China at the last Olympics.
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
Flying Tomato squashes Vonn-couver in earnings stakes
Step forward the top earning athlete at these Winter Olympics… Not so fast, Lindsey Vonn!
According to Forbes, the two athletes in a high-rolling class of their own are Shaun White — the Flying Tomato himself — and South Korea’s Kim Yu-na, the insanely popular 19-year-old figure skater.
White, the U.S. snowboarder who is unmistakable thanks to that shock of red hair, and Kim earned $8 million apiece last year, Forbes reckon. That put them ahead of everyone else at the Games, apart from the mega-salaried NHL hockey players who were left off the list.
U.S. skier Vonn is seen by many as the face of these Games yet she is a long way back in the earnings stakes, having banked $3 million last year, according to Forbes.
The full story from my colleague Ben Klayman is here and the magazine’s full list can be found here
PHOTO: Snowboarder Shaun White of the U.S. looks up after winning the finals of the half pipe snowboarding competition at the 2010 U.S. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
It never snows but it flurries