The Guardian is of the view that the Vancouver Winter Olympics are turning into the worst Olympics ever, even beating the financially ruinous games held in Montreal in 1976.
For why?
The paper lists a number of "indicators" of failure:
- The faulty hydraulics on the torch bowl in the opening event.
- Lousy transportation infrastructure that caused the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell, and the chiefs of the four host First Nations to miss the singing of the Canadian anthem at Friday's opening ceremony.
- Safety issues over the Whistler sliding centre.
- The faulty wiring on the Cypress mountain, which blew a fuse at the weekend and closed the concession stands.
- Rain that has washed away snow on Cypress mountain, making it impossible to build spectator viewing areas that would be safe.
All in all a damning indictment of failure.
What else will go wrong I wonder?
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
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I absolutely disagree. These games were competently managed, but circumstances have turned for the worse. Canadians are dealing with and overcoming these challenges likes pros. Remember that there are many good things happening, despite the troubles.
ReplyDeleteDon't be so quick to judge Vancouver 2010. Similar obstacles will surmount face London 2012. Hey, at least our logo looks decent... can't say the say for the London one.
agree, these games are dangerous, unprepared and unsecured! Noone will convince me that the organizers are doing their best to provide safety for best possible result! Slovenian ski runner accident yesterday was a proof of that! Almost a canyon, unsecured just next to the track...you have got to have an iq bellow zero, not to secure that! And many many more fails, that lead to the incompetence of organizers! They are not worth to have this games as all that counts is spectacle, spectacle and once again spectacle! Be ashamed for preparing the worst games EVER! And don't try to apologize because of the weather, you knew it before what kind of climate Vancouver has! Shame, shame, shame!
ReplyDeleteIts bad, real bad. Did anyone see the iceskating tournament? Broken machines, broken timerecordingmachines, broken startgun. Bad ice, humidity too high, no silky smooth ice.
ReplyDeleteAnd whats that with all the blue lines on the white snow, arent'red flags not enough to see in wich direction you should go?
Oh, and somebody died, because somebody built some concrete pillars next to a very fast corner and forget to put any fence there. Whoops!
How was the opening ceremony btw? What happened there? Anyone?
Canadian Amateurs.
"whats that with all the blue lines on the white snow"
ReplyDeleteThat's common when visibility is bad. Check the videos of the last winter olympics and you will see the same blue lines in snowboard events.
Indeed worst Olimpics ever. One man is dead and lot of cripples. I hate canadians fot that chip but deadly trash instead of fair competition. I hope that Olimpics will never be in America anymore. God bless Europe and their people.
ReplyDeleteI believe these games have been a success with a few minor issues and one very sad tragedy. First off the accident, obviously there has been a tragedy that no one can deny however when the IOC and other experts in the bobsled and Luge say that the course is safe from the get go and that this Luger had limited experience and had crashed before only so much can be blamed on VANOC.. the rest is human error on the Luger.
ReplyDeleteSecondly there has always been issues at every olympics.. minor issues such as hydrolics for the opening ceremony did in no way ruin what was an amazing show. having stands that are unsafe for viewers at Cypress is problematic however the tickets were refunded and despite that in Turin, site of the last olympics they had cancelled over 65,000 tickets over the course of the games.
lastly weather, the weather in Vancouver has been freakishly warm and is no where near the typical weather of this time of year. Last year we had a record snow fall. The only people who complain and argue about the games being horrible are not researching past Olympics and issues that have gone on with them.
Also don't blame Canada for the poor coverage given by NBC as some of the posters have mentioned. Here in Canada we have great coverage that is live and not tape delayed as on NBC.
I am not here to convince you that it is the best Olympics ever but will say that you should look in the past Olympics to see typical and ongoing issues from previous years.
Yup. I agree. THis is the worst olympics ever. All Canandians really should be ashamed of the poor perfomance in Vancouver. They don't give a frak about the health of the participants which numerous examples gives proof of.
ReplyDeleteBlame Canada has never been more true!
Judging by these semi illiterate posts our education system is a much bigger success than elsewhere in the world.
ReplyDeleteIts really funny, that everyone here is sitting around complaining about the vancouver 2010 olympics, yet are you here? Or are you just going off what you hear on the news? Remember that not everything you hear is true. As for the transit there is nothing wrong with it. Theres huge line ups for the canada line but in a matter of minutes your on the skytrain, Why? because they were prepared. As for the skiing slopes and the bailing, havent you realized that everyone that wins a medal or comes close to winning a medals says the track is fine and theres nothing wrong with it, and in fact its the people that are doing bad and bailing that are the complainers? Maybe everyone that has something to say should read a little but more closely into it before jumping to conclusions that you hear on TV! Do the show what Down Town is like or the enviroment on the slopes or in Whistler No? Its insane, everyone is having an amazing time. And its funny people that arent here are so quickly to judge on how vancouver has healed the worst olympics ever, but thats the opinons of people NOT HERE! People here say its amazing the city Beautiful and the people so welcoming. As for our snow thats right I just remembered every country decides their weather!! You all sound like idiots talking about our snow and weather, wake up call we dont get a say in what our weather does, THINK ABOUT IT!
ReplyDeleteAre any of you at the games in Vancouver?
ReplyDeleteYou all sound like a bunch of ignorant uneducated haters.
Why would you hate Canadians? How could you generalize anything that way?
The point of paying the enormous price for the games, we in Vancouver were told,was to give Vancouver a huge PR boost in the rest of the world. Whatever maybe the mitigating circumstances behind all the problems, the ultimate point is clear: Vancouver will not be well-remembered. The Olympics are, therefore, a disaster for Vancouver and BC.
ReplyDeleteAsian Community was completely brushed off. Vancouver is in reality 62% of asian origin.
ReplyDeleteVanoc purposely ignored them and FAILED...
Karma sucks ain't it?
If you can't dance than take a seat. Its typical Brit arrogance to tear others down in order to make themselves look good. Concentrate on your own olympics.
ReplyDeleteMabe you could convince the IOC tha tabloid/paparazi journalism should be added to the olympics. You might win something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver
ReplyDeleteindicates that 51% of the Vancouver population was of visible minorities in 2008. How are you getting 62% Asian origin out of that?