Poor Canada

[WCHusker]

These are not the worst Games ever

February 17, 2010 9:48 PM | Comments32Recommend60

By Bruce Arthur

 

VANCOUVER -- So there was this French downhill skier on Wednesday, and she burst out of the starting gate and got about 35 feet before the whole thing went kablooey. And if you were a fool, you would use that as your metaphor for the 2010 Olympics Winter Games.

 

If you were a fool, you would use that, or the vomiting faux-Zambonis, or the weather. Especially the weather. And if you were a ghoul, you would use the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili. You know, to show these Games have been one big accident.

 

All this, of course, relates to the discussion about this potentially being the worst Games ever. The British press led the charge, but they are by no means alone; they're just the most openly feral members of the English-speaking media. Everyone is weighing in, to various degrees.

 

So as The Guardian runs the much-quoted headline, 'Vancouver Games continue downhill slide from disaster to calamity' -- with a subhead that says fiascos are "threatening to make these Games the worst in Olympic history" -- and various others chime in, maybe we should take a second to examine, as they say in figure skating, the judging criteria.

 

I am not saying this whole thing is going well. It's not. If they could just get through one day without a fresh report of something that went wrong, it would be like yesterday's break in the weather. Instead, we get a million problems, big and small. A mucked-up start in the biathlon. An accident at a downtown concert that sent nine people to hospital. Another transportation situation. A report that a mentally ill man, using a homemade security pass, got within a few metres of U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden during the Opening Ceremonies.

 

If you're paying attention, you know the rest of the rundown: The weather at Cypress has been bad enough that 28,000 tickets have been revoked due to unsafe conditions in standing-room areas. We're only one-for-two on lighting the Olympic cauldron as intended, and the permanent cauldron was stuck behind security fencing, 100 feet from the public, until Wednesday morning. On and on it goes.

 

So no, things aren't quite going seamlessly. You want to criticize it? Feel free.

 

But you want to judge this the worst Games ever after five days, here's what you base it on: You base it on the fact that it included the preventable death of an athlete in competition. That's it. That's the main criteria. Base your criticism on the fact that yesterday, the IOC again said, "This was a [luge] track that was safe," cited run statistics as if they mattered, and again failed to admit that somebody is to blame if a kid becomes the first fatality in luge in 35 years because, on the fastest track in history, he made one damned mistake.

 

Everything else that has happened here is an inconvenience at best. So many of us have already left that death in the past, to the point that a CTV anchor said Wednesday that "The 2010 Games have had to contend with a few glitches, none bigger than the weather."

 

But if you're scoring the rest, you want to judge these Games as worse than Munich, where athletes were taken hostage and killed? Worse than Atlanta, where in addition to logistical nightmares -- and the fact that they gave homeless people one-way bus tickets -- a bomb actually went off?

 

For that matter, what about Beijing? Well, in Beijing the transportation system was a marvel. The one time I was on a bus that broke down, the replacement driver drove like a demon all the way back into the city, his thumb constantly on the horn, as if his life depended on this one gaggle of international journalists getting home on time.

 

The problem was that it's possible that was the case. Nobody judged the success of those Games on the fact that an estimated 1.5-million people were displaced for the Games, that censorship and human rights violations ruled the day, or that people who applied to demonstrate in the designated protest zones were immediately arrested, including 77- and 79-year-old grandmothers who were sentenced five years of re-education through hard labour.

 

There was criticism of these outrages, of course. But nobody called Beijing the worst Games ever, because the buses ran on time.

 

There are more than one Olympics. There is the Olympics that we in the media experience, the one the athletes experiences, and the one the public experiences. But only one of us write the verdict on the Olympics in question. And we're too often petty creatures, we are.

 

For fans, meanwhile -- well, this city has come alive. Downtown fairly crackles these days; people are swarming anything Olympic-related, to the point that German House had a 35-minute lineup at noon Wednesday. The outdoor cauldron viewing area, where they moved the fence in and cut a strip out and opened a neighbouring rooftop for all the picture seekers, is teeming. Everything is.

 

Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said Wednesday that "There's a great spirit, and that spirit, I think, can be best seen around the venues, in the city, at night. I've lived here for a long time and I've never seen anything like what's happening in our city every night here."

 

It's easy to dismiss the words of the organizer, but I lived here for 27 years, and I agree with him. This Olympics is a remarkable festival. People are having fun. You could call that a success, if you bothered to look. And as for the kinks, I agreed with Furlong there, too, when he said "When we make mistakes, we have to fix them."

 

This isn't a Canadian coming to the defence of his country, or even his hometown. My only investment in these Games running smoothly is one of professional convenience; I don't benefit one way or another if the Vancouver Games are judged a success or a failure. And hell, there's still time for this whole enterprise to fall apart.

 

But there's time for it to hold together, too.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blogs/brucearthur/2010/02/these-are-not-the-worst-games-ever.html

[zoogs]

The problem was that it's possible that was the case. Nobody judged the success of those Games on the fact that an estimated 1.5-million people were displaced for the Games, that censorship and human rights violations ruled the day, or that people who applied to demonstrate in the designated protest zones were immediately arrested, including 77- and 79-year-old grandmothers who were sentenced five years of re-education through hard labour.

 

Those are some serious accusations. I'd like to see some more on this to back it up.

[WCHusker]

Don't underestimate how bad it is in China. The gov't over there is the fawking DEVIL.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Of course the British are leading the charge by saying this is the worst Olympics ever...they host the Olympics in 2012. They're just trying to set themselves up for success.

[WCHusker]

Between the various items that have been botched, and borderline epic levels of choking by the Canuck Olympians, it's not that much of a stretch.

 

Just wait until the US hockey team beats them in 3 hours. THEN you'll really hear them start declaring the entire thing a complete disaster.

[manitobahusker]

Between the various items that have been botched, and borderline epic levels of choking by the Canuck Olympians, it's not that much of a stretch.

 

Just wait until the US hockey team beats them in 3 hours. THEN you'll really hear them start declaring the entire thing a complete disaster.

 

 

you really have a thing agains't canada dont you i swear you try to sewer canada every single time you get a chance.

[mmmtodd]

Put aside what other countries did, or how the games from one country to another compare, the facts state that there have been an alarming amount of screw-ups at THESE GAMES (the games being what its really about), and things that could have been avoided with better planning and logistics, simply were not. Event organizers get a D from me. there is the death, of course, but the list of foul ups is long. The speedskating track/zamboni screw up was the weirdest, most disturbing thing that sport has seen in its history, and they still wanted them to skate! What happened yesterday with the womens giant slalom, not just to Mancuso, but how all competitors and race set-up were handled, might even make that an F once things are all said and done. Its not over yet.

[WCHusker]

Between the various items that have been botched, and borderline epic levels of choking by the Canuck Olympians, it's not that much of a stretch.

 

Just wait until the US hockey team beats them in 3 hours. THEN you'll really hear them start declaring the entire thing a complete disaster.

 

 

you really have a thing agains't canada dont you i swear you try to sewer canada every single time you get a chance.

 

Yeah, but it will go away in a couple days.

[mmmtodd]

Between the various items that have been botched, and borderline epic levels of choking by the Canuck Olympians, it's not that much of a stretch.

 

Just wait until the US hockey team beats them in 3 hours. THEN you'll really hear them start declaring the entire thing a complete disaster.

 

 

you really have a thing agains't canada dont you i swear you try to sewer canada every single time you get a chance.

 

Yeah, but it will go away in a couple days.

 

 

[WCHusker]

Pretty harsh article, but not as bad as the front page photo of the botched torch lighting with "The Glitch Games" printed across the top (that was with this story)

 

A Winter Olympics of discontent and glitches

John Crumpacker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, February 22, 2010

 

A luger's death in a horrible training accident mere hours before the Opening Ceremonies on Feb. 12 immediately cast a shroud of gloom over what are supposed to be fun and games.

 

The death of Georgia slider Nodar Kumaritashvili at the Whistler Sliding Center had International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge fighting back tears while Vancouver Organizing Committee chief John Furlong failed in that attempt.

 

"We started the Games off with just about the most severe human blow you could have. It was a horrible blow," Furlong said.

It went from worse to merely bad from there, but in the ensuing days as the weather transitioned from lousy to postcard-perfect, the mood of the Games improved noticeably despite continuing problems with transportation, equipment and officiating errors.

 

Still, it will be hard for Vancouver to shuck the "Glitch Games" nickname that has been well earned through mishaps ranging from a cauldron-support pillar that couldn't rise to the occasion to a malfunctioning ice-surfacing machine to balky buses (some of them from California) failing to make the grade up to Cypress Mountain.

 

And in the realm of low crimes and misdemeanors, an off-duty Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer was charged with shoplifting and sent home from her temporary post in Vancouver, for heaven's sake.

 

It's about the athletes

As with any Olympic Games, though, athletes come to the rescue and make people realize what this whole thing is about in the first place.

A broken-down bus is a black mark for the folks in transportation but what is that compared to the sight of American snowboard star Shaun White soaring to improbable heights while executing mind-boggling tricks in midair?

 

Or U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn fighting severe pain in her shin to win the gold medal in downhill?

 

Or American figure skater Evan Lysacek spinning, gliding and jumping to the gold medal in a significant upset of defending Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia?

"I'm extremely pleased," said Dave Cobb, Vancouver Organizing Committee executive vice president. "It takes thousands of moving parts to put a thing like this together. We knew from the very beginning that challenges typically show up in the first three days after the opening, especially with the transportation system. Some of our buses arrived in less-than-ideal condition. That was one of our challenges."

 

Chronicle photographer Paul Chinn was on one of those buses heading to Cypress Mountain when the driver missed a turn, jumped a curb and blew out two tires, necessitating a wait of about 45 minutes.

 

Snow an issue

A lack of snow at Cypress has been an ongoing issue for organizers. Truckloads of snow were brought down from Whistler Mountain in the days before the Games to augment the thin natural coat at Cypress.

 

Bales of hay were put down as a base for the trucked-in snow, but when the weather warmed and the snow melted, officials were forced to close the standing-room area for snowboard and freestyle skiing and refund 28,000 tickets at a cost of $1.5 million.

 

In the first few days of the Games as rain and fog obscured the view of one of the most gorgeous urban settings in the world, the British press blasted away like skeet shooters, firing off shotgun volleys at the beleaguered Vancouver officials.

 

"Vancouver Games continue downhill slide from disaster to calamity," the Guardian, a national daily in Britain, declared.

 

It was hard to disagree with that sentiment at the Richmond Olympic Oval for speedskating. A Canadian company, Olympia, provided all-electric ice-surfacing machines in winning the bid over the more established Zamboni of the United States.

 

When the Olympia machine failed to resurface the ice properly, in fact spewing water on the track and making things worse, a men's 500-meter race was delayed 90 minutes.

Zamboni trucked in

 

The next day, a Zamboni was trucked in from Calgary. Problem was, since Olympia had won the contract, its machines had to be used, creating the comical sight of a Zamboni, stripped of its logo, trailing the faulty Canadian contraption and ultimately making the oval race-worthy.

Another ongoing problem involved the two Olympic cauldrons, one indoors at BC Place Stadium and the other outdoors. During the Opening Ceremonies, one of the cauldron's four pillars failed to deploy from the floor because of faulty hydraulics.

 

A second cauldron, positioned on the waterfront, was initially fenced off from spectators in the interest of safety, creating a prison-camp feel for the enduring symbol of the Games.

 

In recent days, sight lines for the cauldron were improved for spectators, who arrived in droves for a look at what burns continually for 17 days every two years in the alternating cycles of Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

 

Other misadventures in Vancouver included a mentally ill man slipping past security to get within 12 rows of Vice President Joe Biden at the Opening Ceremonies, and timing errors by officials in biathlon.

 

With the Games well into their second week, excitement is building among Canadians expecting their men's hockey team of NHL players to make it to the gold medal game on the 28th.

 

For Canadians, that's the medal that counts. If the home team can deliver the hopes and dreams of an entire country, the term "Glitch Games" will be forgotten.

 

Now, about that Mountie ...

 

 

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/22/MNCA1C4T6L.DTL#ixzz0gbaVK5fX

[BeachBuffs]

I am not sure if these are the worst, I thought Seoul sucked, but why are they scheduling games at places where there may not be any snow? Salt Lake was a success, even though they literally had to whore themselves, but at least they had snow. My list of bad ones that I know of would be Munich #1(massacre), Atlanta #2(bombing), and Seoul #3(disorganized).

[WCHusker]

Somebody isn't happy

 

Vancouver: Mutton Dressed as Lamb

Front page / Sport / Games

19.02.2010 Source: Pravda.Ru

 

We all knew it weeks before the game started, with accusations about doping being levelled at Russian athletes, and we all saw it on day one of the games, with the death of a Georgian athlete on a corner which miraculously was elevated the following day. Vancouver is not fit to hold the Winter Olympics.

 

Far from being a question of sour grapes, Russian commentators were already expressing their reservations as to the integrity of the Vancouver Lobby being able to host the Olympic Games weeks before the start. After all the IOC was starting to fire off in all directions before the first aircraft arrived.

 

We already have the case of a Russian skier being hounded to produce a urine sample after qualifying for a race, and if she had given the sample, she would not have had the possibility of entering the following round. Natalya Korosteleva was asked to provide a urine sample during a half-hour pause between the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a skiing event. “This seems against all the rules,” she stated, as she refused to have the sample taken, alleging that if she did, she would not have had time to continue in the next phase. Why her?

 

We all know Canada has problems with the future lines drawn on Arctic maps and we all know Canada lives in the shadow of its larger neighbour to the south. The abject cruelty shown by Canadian soldiers in international conflicts is scantily referred to, as indeed is the utter incapacity of this county to host a major international event, due to its inferiority complex, born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps.

 

Maybe it is this which makes the Canadians so…retentive, or cowardly. So it is not exactly a huge surprise to have international skating experts from the four corners of the Earth criticising the decision to award the Men’s figure skating Gold medal to the US athlete Evan Lysacekv over the reigning Olympic Champion Evgeny Plushenko, whose superior performance was inexplicably ignored.

 

As Plushenko explains, “I did a great short program but did not get the marks I deserved. When I asked why, they told me I was skating early and they had to retain top marks for the last group…Then in the free program, I was the last to skate, did everything clean and still didn’t get the marks”.

 

Everybody who knows anything about Olympic skating, Winter Olympic sports and international politics will infer from the pitiful and dangerous conditions provided by the Canadian authorities, which already caused one death, that Vancouver is mutton dressed as lamb. Take off the outer veneer and the stench is horrific.

 

It is a surprise that any Russian athlete would wish to remain in that sort of environment for a second longer.

 

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

 

PRAVDA.Ru

[huskered17]

LOL.

Looks like the only one enjoying watching these games after working all day, is me. Would suck to be a lot of you.

 

GBR!!!