These games should have been in Calgary!

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

There is only one Alexander Biladou and one Heil competing in the Olympics.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I think it is one of the biggest mistake we as Canadian sports fan can make by tying the perceived success of these Olympics on the Men's Hockey. Oh and your financial argument is kinda bunk considering all the renos that would have had to be done to the 'existing infrastructure'.

If you paid attention to the Calgary bid it was several hundred million dollars less costly than the Vancouver bid.

[cheevers]

Originally Posted by nik-

I look at it the other way. The 2012 games better be f'ing PERFECT or people are going to crap all over that washed up colonial s@#$hole.

I dont understand the transfer of hate from a couple stupid journalists to an entire country. News agencies in England are notoriously awful, more about fabrication and gossip than real reporting. Honestly I hope London does a great job, its a great city and I love the people. And they will have a tough act to follow as Vancouver has been fantastic in my opinion.

[JRunn14]

Originally Posted by North East Goon

Why beat around the bush and criticize little happenings currently going on in Vancouver. The real beef is financially speaking the COA and the IOC screwed up many moons ago and should have awarded these games to Calgary before our facilities become too run down. I am certain we could have turned a profit on this despite the enormous security needed in this day and age.

International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told critics yesterday to chill out, attributing most of the harsh reviews to a bored news media.

"There's not enough going on for you guys [the media]," Mr. Pound said. "To say these Olympics are not well-organized, that they're not great, and people aren't having a wonderful time is, quite frankly, silly."
...
"The Olympic gods are capricious. You have ice and snow since the beginning of time, until you get to the Winter Games, and you have heat waves, like we did in Calgary," Mr. Pound said. "It happens all the time."

The outspoken Olympic official, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, also took a shot at those criticizing the high-speed luge track for being too dangerous, after the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

"The outcome was rather extreme, and that's a shame," he said. "But people are calling into question the very existence of luge, saying the track was dangerously designed and so on. That's just silly. It's not."

Mr. Pound, who has attended every Winter Olympics since 1976, said current critics have no idea of the many glitches experienced by previous Games.

"You should have been in Lake Placid [site of the 1980 Winter Olympics]. The joke running around Olympic circles for decades was that, whenever anything got screwed up, people would say: 'Oh, this was organized by Lake Placid.'"

Even the much-vaunted Calgary Winter Olympics of 1988 had problems, Mr. Pound recalled. "We had 75 different events rescheduled during those Games. We had six days in a row when the temperature was warmer than in Miami. People were watching ski-jumping with no shirts on. This is nothing here," he said.

"When you compare these Games to Torino or Lake Placid or anywhere else, VANOC is a pretty well-oiled machine."

Not even the abrupt, unprecedented cancellation of 28,000 standing-room tickets for snowboard events at Cypress because the fenced-off area became unsafe perturbed Mr. Pound. "You can't have them up there standing in the mud, but is that the end of life as we know it? I mean, not really.... Hey, stuff happens."

Mr. Pound said VANOC has done a remarkable job responding to problems as they've arisen.International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told critics yesterday to chill out, attributing most of the harsh reviews to a bored news media.

"There's not enough going on for you guys [the media]," Mr. Pound said. "To say these Olympics are not well-organized, that they're not great, and people aren't having a wonderful time is, quite frankly, silly."
...
"The Olympic gods are capricious. You have ice and snow since the beginning of time, until you get to the Winter Games, and you have heat waves, like we did in Calgary," Mr. Pound said. "It happens all the time."

The outspoken Olympic official, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, also took a shot at those criticizing the high-speed luge track for being too dangerous, after the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

"The outcome was rather extreme, and that's a shame," he said. "But people are calling into question the very existence of luge, saying the track was dangerously designed and so on. That's just silly. It's not."

Mr. Pound, who has attended every Winter Olympics since 1976, said current critics have no idea of the many glitches experienced by previous Games.

"You should have been in Lake Placid [site of the 1980 Winter Olympics]. The joke running around Olympic circles for decades was that, whenever anything got screwed up, people would say: 'Oh, this was organized by Lake Placid.'"

Even the much-vaunted Calgary Winter Olympics of 1988 had problems, Mr. Pound recalled. "We had 75 different events rescheduled during those Games. We had six days in a row when the temperature was warmer than in Miami. People were watching ski-jumping with no shirts on. This is nothing here," he said.

"When you compare these Games to Torino or Lake Placid or anywhere else, VANOC is a pretty well-oiled machine."

Not even the abrupt, unprecedented cancellation of 28,000 standing-room tickets for snowboard events at Cypress because the fenced-off area became unsafe perturbed Mr. Pound. "You can't have them up there standing in the mud, but is that the end of life as we know it? I mean, not really.... Hey, stuff happens."

Mr. Pound said VANOC has done a remarkable job responding to problems as they've arisen.

Things go wrong in every Olympics...stop hating just because it`s Vancouver. COP is already too run down and would need major upgrades.

[Daradon]

I was going to mention that Calgary had many events rescheduled as well.

I don't understand all the hate for the Van games right now. We had our turn, let them have their moment in the spotlight. If you absolutely need to make it a contest for bragging rights just remind yourself we had the first winter games, and the success our athletes are having now is largely due because of the legacy our games left.

As for the Van games, sure there's a few problems but what really matters is that it seems like the athletes and the visitors are having a great time there. They are putting on a ghood show and man international visitors are once again mentioning how friendly and polite Canadians are. Even a few idiot protesters couldn't change that.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Guys, I think we need to calm down a little... yes it's fun to rag on Vancouver, and yes there have been mistakes but that happens, it happens in every Olympics games. These huge events don't happen every two years (Summer and Winter) without one or two or several things going wrong.

Torino had major weather issues to start and several Apline events were postponed. The 2006 Torino games also had major problems with their Metro transit system, by all reports it was a complete mess and totally inadquate throughout the games, it wasn't even totally finish until almost a year AFTER the games.

Hell, the Torino games also had a major threat of Bankrupcy before they ever started...

Give Vancouver a break, these things happen... but years later all we remember is the Alexander Biladou's, The Heils, and all the events and moments and forget the crappy stuff along the way.

I can't really atest to the metro for things in Torino as I only went to the 2 hockey venues, but the regional rail was also a disaster. The last train to MIlan (about an hour away and a city many people stayed in) was at something like 10:30. So my choice was either miss the 3rd period of a game or get blind drunk until 5am when the trains started up again. I chose the latter, the cleaning staff paid for the crap scheduling.

[Flames in 07]

It's early to call the games a failure, however whenever a facility kills someone, whenever you need to call Calgary for a zamboni, and whenever you fence off the olympic flame with a fence so that 99% of people can watch broadcasters and anyone with clearance take pictures in front of it with their family you have to say there isn't great odds its going to be one of the best ever.

Canadians will get protectionist and emotional and fight anything that says this isn't the best planned 16 days in the history of sport. But to say that these games are a failure now seems extreme, but to say that they are great is extreme as well.

However more important than all of that, in the last few games, Canada is far more competitive and makes watching the events much more fun than it was in the 80's and 90's.

[Hemi-Cuda]

i'm just wondering if that IOC head will keep with tradition and call the Vancouver games the best Olympics ever at the closing ceremony. would seem kinda empty to say that when someone died on opening day

[Heavy Jack]

We'll, I am currently in Vancouver right now and have to say the atmosphere is amazing. I have never seen crowds at any other Olympic venues like these. They cheer for everyone too which I think is great. Huge exposure for the city I think from a tourism point of view, Vancouver really does look beautiful hosting the games right now, and we have a great weekend of weather coming. Also huge for all the other communities in Vancouver, like the one I am part of, the busking community. This is a huge opportunity for street performers to gain exposure and play in front of maximum crowds.

There have been a few sour notes like the protesters, that Alex is on Fire concert last night, and perhaps the only event that has been most unbearable and one I truly feel sorry for is the unfortunate passing of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, but I think Vancouver and Vanoc respectfully seemed to handle that the best they could. Some of the conditions of the courses and the concession areas have skeptical design when considering the amount of people that they have. Like people have been saying on here, it's tough to feed and hydrate yourself and it seems understaffed at times, but these are mostly volunteers helping out and IMO I think they have done their jobs well. The excitement and anticipation in the city right now is unmistakable and regardless of a few tough events so far this is a very exciting time right now for Vancouver and the surrounding cities, I am glad to be apart of it.

[Infamous1]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'm just wondering if that IOC head will keep with tradition and call the Vancouver games the best Olympics ever at the closing ceremony. would seem kinda empty to say that when someone died on opening day

Juan Antonio Samaranch used to always say that, not sure if Rogge does it too but I'm going to guess he doesn't unless Canada wins the medal count/Gold Medal Hockey because the country will go nuts and probably forget the glitches at the beginning...even including the death.

[LockedOut]

Originally Posted by Infamous1

Juan Antonio Samaranch used to always say that

Nope. Not for Atlanta.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by JRunn14

Things go wrong in every Olympics...stop hating just because it`s Vancouver.

The real question is why you feel the need to constantly whine about what is said about Vancouver. All of these threads persist because Vancouverites are some of the most insecure people on the planet.

[Pastiche]

Resolute is damned insightful. Tell us more about other people.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The real question is why you feel the need to constantly whine about what is said about Vancouver. All of these threads persist because Vancouverites are some of the most insecure people on the planet.

So true. Albertans wouldn't dislike Vancouver so much if we didn't have to hear from every Vancouver person how beautiful their city is and how nice it is to not have snow. They always seem to go out of their way to have to tell everyone how great a city it is. I've never seen a city that turned so many residents into salesperson's for the city.

Personally I have nothing against the city of Vancouver. I prefer the island myself but there is definately a lot of things to like about Vancouver. IMO if Canada was to have the winter games in the city it should have been in Quebec. Geographically it makes no sense to build redundant facilities so far west and nobody thinks about Vancouver and winter unless the topic is 'raining and cloudy'.

[loob job]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The real question is why you feel the need to constantly whine about what is said about Vancouver. All of these threads persist because Vancouverites are some of the most insecure people on the planet.

Your post makes you sound insecure Resolute.

[Pastiche]

Personally I have nothing against the city of Vancouver. I prefer the island myself but there is definately a lot of things to like about Vancouver. IMO if Canada was to have the winter games in the city it should have been in Quebec. Geographically it makes no sense to build redundant facilities so far west and nobody thinks about Vancouver and winter unless the topic is 'raining and cloudy'.

Quebec doesn't have the alpine facilities. It will never be able to host the winter Olympics.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I've never seen a city that turned so many residents into salesperson's for the city.

Maybe it's just a really good city? It is always one of the top ranked cities in the world on a lot of livability lists after all, so maybe there is something to it!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Maybe it's just a really good city? It is always one of the top ranked cities in the world on a lot of livability lists after all, so maybe there is something to it!

Well Calgary isn't usually too far behind in the rankings. In fact weren't we #8 in the latest rankings worldwide? See I bet most didn't know that because nobody trumpets it.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

Quebec doesn't have the alpine facilities. It will never be able to host the winter Olympics.

Well they are going to bid on 2022 so it's obviously not a non-starter.

[transplant99]

This thread is still alive?

Simple refute to the original point..Calgary did not bid on these games, therefore it should not be hosting them.