olympics
Accommodation for Winter 2010 Olympics… A Status Update
If you are planning to attend the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games as a spectator, you may be wondering where to find accommodation in the Vancouver area.
In general, conventional booking engines will not accept hotel reservations more than twelve months in advance. Attempts to book a Vancouver hotel rooms on Expedia as of December 24, 2008 returned the error message “We can only accept dates that occur between 24/12/2008 and 19/11/2009. Please enter a new date.” Similar attempts using Travelocity returned much the same result.
There are, however, viable accommodation options for spectators wanting to book accommodations during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Your first option is to rent the home of a Vancouver-area resident. Not all Vancouver residents want to attend Olympic events in 2010. Many will prefer to escape (perhaps to warmer climates) during the 2010 Games.
What is a private rental likely to cost? Using a sample of about 200 listings from the website Rent 2010, local homeowners are seeking a nightly rate of about $350 (CAD) per bedroom (on average). A number of pro-active travelers have even placed Accommodation-Seeker listings of their own on Rent 2010, and on other popular websites such as Craigslist.
Your second option is to arrange for a hotel room through a reputable tour company. While conventional booking through Expedia and Travelocity are not yet possible, a handful of operators have managed to pre-arrange a limited number of rooms for their clients. A sample of hotel package rates can now be found at Rent 2010’s Hotel Info page.
As February 2010 is still more than a year away, travelers are advised to explore a range of accommodation options before making their bookings. Contact the hotel tour operators, speak to several Vancouver homeowners, and consider advertising your own needs pro-actively as an “accommodation-seeker”. Your early and thorough travel planning will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the Winter Games in 2010.
Tower Collapse at Blackcomb Mountain
On December 15, 2008 one of the ski lift towers at Blackcomb Mountain collapsed. Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler Resort will be the site of the Alpine Events for the 2010 Olympics. The tower that collapsed was the #4 tower on the Excalibur gondola. Vanoc did not yet have plans to use the lift as part of the transportation to or from any Olympic venues. The collapse is thought to be due to ice formation within the tower itself, with the expanding ice causing the tower to crack at the point where the upper portion of the tower was spliced to the lower portion of the tower. The lift was just 3 years old, and had passed inspections as recently as last October.
Fifty-three passengers were stranded in the unheated gondola cars for several hours during the evacuation. Twelve people reported minor injuries, the worst injury being a fractured vertebrae. One staff member was cut during the evacuation effort.
On Dec. 23, 1995, an accident on the Quicksilver ski lift killed two men and injured nine other people.
In 2002, a five-year-old girl fell about 35 feet from the Creekside Gondola at Whistler when a latch malfunctioned and the car door opened. Soft snow cushioned her fall and she survived.
Update from the Inside
Remember the friend that I told you about that has been selected as a volunteer for the Vancouver Games? Well, he is back with some more inside information for us. And this time he has pictures.
Basically [November 27, 2008] was a one on one interview then a 4 hour orientation. At the beginning they brought out one of the official Olympic torches from the Torino games and you had to hold it while you introduced yourself. Seems I’ll be helping in one of the skiing sports but I have to wait till they send me an offer which can be as late as summer ‘09 but apparently will be much sooner as they want me to help with the Freestyle World Cup in February ‘09, but nothing is official.
The orientation was info on the expectations of a volunteer and a lot of team building exercises but no training. We did get a cool looking information binder that explains a lot more. We also got a sticker and a pin.
I sent you a picture of the binder, sticker and pin as well as the welcome letter and periodically I’ll send you scans of key pages from the binder.
I’ll let you know if and/or when I get an offer from them.
I am very happy to have a connection on the inside of the Olympics, but I really do wish that it was me. If the 2016 Olympics make it to Chicago, I’ll be one of the first to volunteer.
Torch Relay is set for 2010
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay to connect and inspire Canadians from coast to coast to coast
The torch relay doesn’t actually begin until October 30, 2009, but Vancouver Olympic officials have recently revealed the Relay route and are accepting applications for torchbearers. This Canadian relay sounds like it will be quite impressive. It promises to be the longest domestic relay in Olympic history, covering around 28,000 miles (45000 km). The relay route passes through more than 1,000 communities and will be within a one hour drive of more than 90% of every person living in Canada.
The flame will even travel to Alert, Nunavut, the northern-most permanently inhabited place in the world. This will bring the Olympic flame within 560 miles (900 km) of the North Pole (maybe Santa will get to be one of the torchbearers)!
The torch itself and the torchbearer uniform will be unveiled early in 2009.
You can see this historic relay route on this Interactive Map of the Torch Relay Route.
The sacred Olympic Flame is lit in an ancient ritual in Olympia, Greece, site of the first Olympic Games. After a short run through Greece, the Olympic Flame arrives in Athens, where it is handed over to a representative from the Host Country.
From there, the Olympic Flame will make a trans-Atlantic flight and arrive in Canada, signaling the start of the longest Olympic Torch Relay to take place in a single country.
The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, proudly presented by Coca-Cola and RBC, will connect Canadians in every province and territory, throughout a 45,000-kilometre journey, over approximately 100 days, and involving 12,000 torchbearers. The journey of the flame will culminate at BC Place on February 12, 2010 with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signaling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
If you are interested in applying to become one of the 12,000 torchbearers (Canadians only) you can find out more about the application process on the official website. The two main sponsors of the relay are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Coca-Cola. The each have similar, but different application criteria. Coca-Cola wants to inspire people to “Live Olympic on the Coke Side of Life” by asking for applicants “who demonstrate a commitment to embodying the spirit of the Olympic Games and taking positive action around living actively, protecting the environment and the creation of a more positive reality.” RBC is looking for people that “Help Create a better Canada.” All that applicants need to do is go to the website and give their “personal pledge to do something small or large in their daily lives that will make Canada an even better place to live.”
Gregor Robertson takes on Vancouver for 2010
VANOC congratulates new BC mayors and municipal council members on their new responsibilities
John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), today congratulated the mayors and municipal council members elected across British Columbia over the past weekend.
“On behalf of the whole VANOC team, congratulations to all of the mayors and council members elected. It is indeed an exciting time to be leading as we all prepare to celebrate the 2010 Games with all British Columbians. In particular, we look forward to working closely with the elected officials in our 2010 Games venue and facility communities: Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond, West Vancouver, Squamish and Surrey,” Furlong said.
Read the rest of the article here.
It sounds as if it was an ugly campaign (aren’t they all?), but Gregor Robertson is now the man that will run Vancouver during the Olympics. I don’t envy that job. Being a mayor of a city would be a hard enough job, but doing it during a time when the whole world is watching would be an enormous pressure.
One of the hottest issues of the campaign revolved around a $100 million loan from the city to the company building the Olympic Village where most of the athletes will stay during the games.
Other articles:
Gregor Robertson to be Vancouver host mayor for 2010 Winter Olympics
Gregor Robertson Wins Vision Vancouver Nod
Johnson & Johnson drops out of sponsorship
The International Olympic Committee can’t put a Band-Aid on this financial cut: Johnson & Johnson passed on the chance to renew its lucrative global sponsorship deal.
The IOC confirmed Monday that the health care conglomerate would not renew its top-level sponsorship worth up to $100 million as first reported by Sports Business Journal.
“Our sponsorship of the International Olympic Committee concludes at the end of 2008 and will not be renewed,” Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Lorie Gawreluk e-mailed.
China, with more than 1 billion residents and a burgeoning consumer marketplace, was a major draw for most sponsors. The next two games are in Canada and the United Kingdom — mature economies that combined have about a tenth of the population of China.
For the Beijing Games, Johnson & Johnson manufactured its signature adhesive bandages with Olympic mascots on them and set up a pavilion for fans to come see terra-cotta warriors from the time of emperor Qin Shi Huang — though overzealous security on the Olympic Green kept many away.
Read the rest of the article here.
Worldwide Olympic sponsors are allowed to use the copyrighted Olympic name & logos in their advertising anywhere in the world. But it comes with a pretty high price. The Beijing games had 12 Worldwide sponsors, including Visa, McDonalds, and Coke. The IOC already has agreements with 9 companies to be worldwide sponsors for the Vancouver games, including Panasonic and Samsung. TV rights, mostly from NBC, will provide approximately another $2.5 billion.
Inside the Vancouver Olympics
Countdown clock located in downtown Vancouver
I was just contacted by a friend of mine, who just so happens to live in Vancouver, and he just so happens to be in the middle of the application process to become a volunteer at the Olympics. And if that wasn’t cool enough, he offered to be an inside contact man for me! As he goes through the interview process and hopefully getts selected to work at the Games, he is going to give me step by step updates so I can report them back to you! We should be able to get lots of good inside information from him, with pictures!
Here is what he’s told me so far about how the application process works:
The first step I did was register here. That was about four months ago. Two weeks ago they contacted me and did a short phone interview and two days ago I was emailed to register for the orientation meeting. It’ll be six hours where I’ll undergo a face to face interview that lasts an hour to find out where they will place me and then they go over all the stuff. That’s on the 27th (of November).
I’m pretty sure volunteers get a lot of cool stuff including uniforms so I’ll send pics of all the loot I get.
Sounds to me like our guy is a shoo-in. I’m excited for him, and look forward to getting another update from him.
Update on Ticket Sales
Winter Olympics: ticket demand outstrips Vancouver supply
Demand for tickets to the 2010 winter Games was so high among Canadians that there will be lotteries for 120 of 170 events, the Vancouver Organizing Committee said. When the dust settled after the initial ticket-request period ended Nov. 7, Vanoc discovered that Canadians had submitted more than $345 million in wish lists, far outstripping even the high demand experienced during the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Vanoc officials said they received four-and-a-half times the requests put in for the 2002 Games. On the last day, Canadians put in requests totalling $135 million. The highest demand for tickets was for hockey, figure skating and the opening and closing ceremonies. All of those, as well as short-track speed skating, will go to a lottery.
Read the rest of the article here.
Ticket sales seem to be the hottest topic with the Vancouver Olympics right now. I just found this recent update, so I thought I should share it with you too.
Round Two of Ticket Sales
Lotteries expected as Olympic ticket deadline approaches
Time is nearly up for Canadians to get their orders in for the first round of ticket sales for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
The deadline for residents of Canada to place their orders is midnight PT on Friday.
Caley Denton, vice-president of ticketing with the Vancouver Organizing Committee, said demand is already exceeding official sales targets and there’s no doubt they’ll need to hold a lottery for medal round hockey events.
Denton is also expecting demand will exceed supply in many other high-profile events, including figure skating and the opening and closing ceremonies. Officials have not been specific about which event tickets beyond hockey will be distributed by lottery.
You can read the rest of the article here.
The first round of ticketing ends tonight at midnight (PST). People are allowed to make multiple ticket requests, so if they don’t get their first request, they are not completely left out in the cold. After the deadline has passed, a computerized lottery will start picking who gets what seat. Lotteries will definitely be held for the Gold Medal Hockey event, and probably for other hockey events, figure skating, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Tickets can be purchased at Vancouver 2010 ticketing information.
Will President Obama help bring the Olympics to Chicago?
Tokyo fears Obama strengthens Chicago Olympic bid
Japanese Olympic officials fear the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president could make his home city of Chicago the favorite to host the 2016 Olympic Games and harm Tokyo’s bid.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are the four cities in the running to host the 2016 Games.
Read the rest of the article here.
I’m not much of an Obama fan (or any other politician for that matter…), but I am a fan of anything that will help bring the Olympics to Chicago. Chicago has always been my favorite big city, and if the Olympics are held there, then I might actually try to get some tickets for a few of the events.