by Nadya Vlassoff
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver get underway
on February 12 in beautiful British Columbia,
with Winter Olympic opening ceremonies kicking
off at BC Place Stadium before the games head
to such locations as the world renowned ski resort
in Whistler, the new speed skating oval in Richmond,
GM Place, the home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks,
and many more in and around the greater Vancouver
area. It is the first time that the Winter Olympics
will be held in Canada since the 1988 Winter Olympics
in Calgary and as the Olympics drawn near, Vancouver
is set to welcome over 80 different nations with
more than 5,500 athletes competing for gold.
In 2003, the IOC granted Vancouver-Whistler the 2010 Olympic Games over PyeongChange, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. Now, with the 2010 Winter Olympics only one week away, Vancouver has been transforming into a mecca of athletic multi-cultural diversity.
After the completion of various new training and event facilities, like the impressive Richmond Olympic Oval, the Whistler Sliding Center for Bobsleigh and Luge, Whistler Olympic Park for Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined and other cross country ski events, the necessary gaps were filled to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.
When the games were first announced, established venues were already tapped to play host to such elite events as men's and women's hockey at GM Place (renamed Canada Hockey Place for the games), figure skating and short track speed skating at Pacific Coliseum, Curling at The University of British Columbia, both freestyle skiing and snowboarding on the slopes of Cypress Mountain.
Marquee
Olympic events like figure skating and skiing
have been highly anticipated events but much
of the dominant Winter Olympic buzz in Vancouver
has centered around the upcoming rounds of men's
and women's hockey. Since the 2010 Winter Olympics
are in Canada where hockey is a life force within
the nation's identity and culture, many Canadians
are salivating for the NHL players turned Olympians
to hit the ice.
Vancouver's official 2010 Winter Olympics mascots are steeped in the nation's multi-cultural identity as Magi, Quatchi, Sumi, and Mukmuk are inspired by the rich heritage of Canada's First Nations. In showcasing true diversity, the official logo for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games was also inspired by the First Nations peoples and is based on the Inukshuk, which has been placed in several locations around Vancouver and Whistler.
With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics countdown clock ticking away in the heart of downtown Vancouver in front of The Vancouver Art Gallery, the excitement is palpable as athletes from all over the world arrive, take in the facilities, experience the magic of Vancouver, and meet the people of Western Canada.
The Olympic Torch relay will hit Vancouver on February 11 before its final stop at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. After traveling all the way from Olympia, Greece when it was lit on October 22, 2009, the Olympic torch will have covered over 45,000 kms in Canada alone.
Will
Canada's Men's Olympic Hockey team be able to
regain its glory? Will Japan's Mao Asado jump
with enough confidence to land a triple axle
ahead of the competition? Will the USA's Lindsay
Vohn continue to speed past her competition
in the Super G? Will Apolo Ohno of the U.S.
skate to Olympic gold victory?
Perhaps the biggest question, and a huge story that will be featured heavily during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, is whether Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong of Ghana, nicknamed "The Snow Leopard", will achieve his Winter Olympic dreams in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events? After all, as the first Ghanaian ever in the Winter Olympics, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong embodies the true sprit of competition and what it means to be an Olympian.
The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games begin on February 12, 2010.
[Photo: Richmond Olympic Oval - Copyright (c) 2010 Cannon Design, Architect/NBC]
[Photo: Downtown Vancouver - Copyright (c) 2010 Sohn Jin Young]
Will mother nature look favorably on Vancouver and provide a little snow? Hope so. Winter Olympics seem to go better with rather than without.
