As Olympians arrive by the day, the Winter Games seem to be missing something. Namely, winter.
Vancouver Olympic officials have touted these as “The Green Games,” but Mother Nature might be taking that to an extreme. Some Vancouverites are now referring to them as “The Brown Games,” given the muddy conditions at Cypress Mountain.
“When I got off the airplane it was like, ‘What’s this green grass doing here? This is the Winter Olympics,’” United States speedskater Trevor Marsicano said yesterday, recalling his reaction after flying in last week from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “For me it’s nice, because I’m used to, like, zero degrees. This is awesome.”
Trouble is, with opening ceremonies only five days away, the above-freezing temperatures in Vancouver continue to raise concerns for other sports, particularly snowboarding and freestyle skiing, two events being held on the mountain overlooking the city.
The biggest test comes today, when freestyle moguls training sessions are scheduled to begin. Those sessions will provide the first onsite test after organisers spent much of the past few weeks hauling in snow by helicopter and by truck.
Although organisers have stressed the courses on Cypress are almost complete, they did announce on Sunday that they’ve pushed back training sessions on the parallel giant slalom snowboarding course by two days. The event begins on 26 February.
Training on the halfpipe was cut earlier from five to three days.
“The forecast is looking positive this week, and we’ll hopeful see some colder temperatures,” Tim Gayda, vice president for sport for the Vancouver organising committee said on Saturday.
The outlook, however, still appears as gray as the clouds that hung over the city and clung to the North Shore Mountains for most of Sunday.
An intermittent drizzle fell on Vancouver, and temperatures hovered just above freezing. It was colder on Cypress, with a light rain.
The long-range forecast has temperatures dropping tomorrow, and a light snowfall projected for Saturday. And yet there are chances of daytime showers for much of this week, too.
It’s even relatively warm in Whistler, where numerous events – including Alpine skiing, bobsled and biathlon – will be held in the mountain-locked community two hours north of Vancouver. The forecast for this week has temperatures hovering at the freezing mark.
In Vancouver, along the city streets and gardens, crocuses are starting to sprout and apple blossoms are starting to bud on trees, making for an unusual sight for a Winter Games host city.
The warm temperatures are somewhat unseasonable even for Vancouver, which like Seattle to the south is warmed by the Pacific currents and traditionally enjoys a mild year-round climate.
What is unusual is the lack of snow on the North Shore Mountains, which have experienced one of the warmest months of January on record.
This is not the first time a Winter Olympics has faced a lack of snow.
In 1998, Nagano had major concerns about a lack of snow in the months before the games, only to see some events cancelled and spectators stranded by heavy snow during the Olympics. In 1988 in Calgary, bobsled competition was postponed when ice on the track melted.
According to the International Olympic Committee, the 1964 Innsbruck Games also faced a lack of snow. The Austrian army rushed to the rescue, carving out 20,000 blocks of ice from the mountainside and transporting it to the luge and bobsled tracks. They also carried 1.4 million cubic feet of snow to the Alpine ski slopes.
UK Anti-Doping to issue biological passports
British anti-doping authorities will issue the country’s athletes with so-called biological passports in an effort to further deter the use of banned substances in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics. UK Anti-Doping announced the scheme, which is similar to the one used by the International Cycling Union to monitor professional riders, in collaboration with the WADA-accredited laboratory at King’s College London. The King’s College London Drug Control Centre is the only lab in Britain accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Traditional anti-doping tests compare the level of substances in samples against the average across an entire population. The new system of blood tests enables scientists to measure results against athletes’ individual norms to spot unusual readings. The passport programme began last month with an initial group of athletes. They will be tested periodically so their regular levels of substances such as testosterone can be recorded and used as a base-level against which future tests can be measured. The King’s College lab usually deals with about 8,000 samples per year, but expects to handle between 5,000 and 6,000 during the two weeks of the London Olympics.
protesters promise to be loud but peaceful
Canadian anti-Olympic protesters are promising their voices will be loud but their actions non-violent during the Winter Games. Under the banner of the Olympic Resistance Network, a consortium of groups is promising a series of protests starting this weekend. “We are absolutely a threat to the games,” Harjap Grewal of ORN said. “We are not a threat to the public.” This week’s protests will culminate in a march on the opening ceremonies next Friday. Chris Shaw, of 2010 Watch, said organisers hope thousands of demonstrators will participate. ORN spokeswoman Harsha Walia said any violence during anti-games protests will not be started by protesters. “Police violence is a reality,” she said, adding Vancouver is being turned into a “police state” before the games. Two streets away, barricades closed roads as dozens of police officers in fatigues guarded gateways watched by surveillance cameras. Security for the Vancouver Games is costing Canadians almost $609 million, four times the original estimate. Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that protests will be allowed to proceed as long as they are peaceful and lawful.
Pope sends his wishes for peaceful Olympics
Pope Benedict XVI has sent his blessing and best wishes to Vancouver’s archbishop for a peaceful Olympics. In the note sent to Archbishop J. Michael Miller, the pontiff said he hopes sport can be “a valued building block of peace and friendship between peoples and nations.” The pope also made reference to the Paralympics in his message. The Vancouver Games open on Friday and the Paralympics will be held in the Canadian city a month later.
Medvedev may attend Vancouver GAMES
Russian news agencies report that President Dmitry Medvedev may attend part of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The ITAR-Tass and RIA Novosti agencies say Medvedev dropped hints during a meeting with sports and Russian Olympic Committee officials. Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev invited Medvedev to attend the Russian women’s snowboard finals, and Medvedev said “it would be great to watch the ice hockey finals as well.” Some of the Vancouver venues are troubled by a lack of snow and Medvedev said “we can deliver some from Sochi,” the Russian city that hosts the next edition of the Winter Games in 2014.
Obama skipping GAMES eases security concerns
President Barack Obama’s decision not to attend the Vancouver Winter Olympics has eased some of the security concerns, although organisers still expect at least 40 foreign dignitaries needing special protection. Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Wednesday that security will be ready for their arrival, along with the estimated 5,500 athletes and coaches, 11,000 media and 350,000 visitors expected to descend on Vancouver in the coming weeks. “It would have made things more complex but we would have done it,” Mercer said, when asked about Obama’s decision not to attend.
Italy imposes e100,000 fine for doping
Any Italian athlete caught doping at the Vancouver Olympics will be fined e100,000. The Italian Olympic Committee said last Tuesday that all of its 109 athletes heading to Canada will have to sign a statement agreeing to pay the sum if they test positive. CONI president Giovanni Petrucci said, “We’ve added this monetary deterrent as an extra element to show how serious Italian sport is in the fight against doping. Whoever doesn’t sign won’t go to Vancouver.” CONI also had its athletes sign an anti-doping pledge before the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, but without a monetary fine clause. CONI is currently considering legal action against Davide Rebellin after the cyclist had his silver medal rescinded for doping in Beijing.
Company drops plan to use ship as hotel
The company planning to use a cruise ship as a floating hotel during the Vancouver Olympics has said it’s scuttling the idea less than two weeks before the games. Edmonton-based Newwest Special Projects said that slow sales and higher than unanticipated expenses forced the company to drop plans to moor the Norwegian Star in Vancouver harbour. Newwest said it would be issuing refunds to those who’d booked rooms on the ship and help find people other accommodations. The company began cutting prices last fall for its Olympic packages, and also offered a pre-Olympic cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver that was supposed to start on Saturday. Prices on Newwest’s Web site, which was still displaying an ad for the floating hotel last week, ranged from $275 to $575 a night. The company did not say in its release how many people the cancellation had affected but said 1,108 staterooms had been available aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship.
IOC allows Aussie kangaroo flag to stay in village
STEPHEN WILSON
AP sports writer
Australians can hop for joy: Their boxing kangaroo is safe for the Vancouver Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee ruled that the giant kangaroo flag – the mascot for the Australian team – can remain displayed in the athletes’ village for the duration of this month’s games.
The green and gold flag, which depicts a red-gloved cartoon kangaroo, has been hanging from a balcony from the Australian team’s living area in the village since last Sunday.
The Australians had been under pressure to take it down because it was deemed too commercial and a registered trademark.
Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates discussed the issue with IOC president Jacques Rogge, who then sent him a letter confirming the flag could stay.
“While the IOC is of the view that the display of the boxing kangaroo at the Olympic village is a breach of the IOC rules relating to clean venues, the IOC is not going to request us to take down the boxing kangaroo flag on this occasion,” Coates said. “It will stay up the entire Olympics. It means a lot to our athletes.”
Coates said the AOC was told to register the kangaroo mascot with the IOC for use at future games.
“The IOC didn’t request that the flag should come down,” Coates said. “They wanted to talk about it and we talked about it. We acknowledge we’ll need to deal with it in a more formal way in the future.”
IOC spokesman Mark Adams called the issue a “storm in a teacup.”
“This is a sensible solution to this great conundrum of the boxing kangaroo,” he said.
The flag has been displayed by the Australians since the Sydney 2000 Olympics and had not been a problem until now, Coates said.
“The world moves on and we need to move and just cross the T’s and dot the I’s,” he said.
Commercial imagery is not allowed at Olympic venues. National flags are usually the only banners permitted and are commonly displayed in the athletes’ villages.
“We were not trying to ambush (local organising committee) VANOC or the IOC with any licensed goods here,” Coates said.
The boxing kangaroo flag was originally flown from the Australian yacht which won the America’s Cup in 1983. It is now a registered trademark and used by the AOC to promote sport and fair play in schools in Australia.
Australia already has two registered Olympic emblems: A coat of arms with the Olympic rings that is displayed on athletes’ uniforms, and the Australian flag with the Olympic rings.