Opening Ceremony
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.
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.
Opening Ceremony Videos
If you follow this link you will find downloadable videos from the Opening Ceremonies dating back as far as 1920.
Leave a comment if you have a favorite Opening Ceremony moment. Remember when Muhammad Ali lit the cauldron at the 1996 Opening Ceremony in Atlanta?
Or in the 1992 Barcelona Games when Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the cauldron by shooting a burning arrow towards the cauldron?
Or in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games when the USA Hockey team from 1980 lit the torch together?
I can’t wait to see what they do in Vancouver.