Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in Bloom

February 5, 2010 | Posted by wizard

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Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in Bloom! Yes, that’s right – Vancouver has cherry blossoms on the trees, daffodils blooming and tulips in advanced stages of sprouting. Would you ever connect the Winter Olympics with a City where it seldom snows and often finds itself in Spring before much of the rest of the country? Most people wouldn’t. They are trucking snow in for one of the venues.

That’s what happened this week – we saw our first daffodils in bloom and our early cherry trees too. The City is preparing to welcome the world as it drives its citizens to distraction. City streets are being closed down, residents are leaving the City and tourists are starting to arrive. Opening ceremonies are less than a week away.

If any City entertains the idea of hosting the Olympics, I hope, that unlike our Provincial Government, it consults with its citizens first. No one can know the enormity of the impact on locals until the Olympics are awarded. It isn’t pretty. And it’s made worse by an unresponsive agency, VANOC, who have portrayed our Province in the worse possible way. First, at the closing ceremonies in the previous Winter Olympics where we were portrayed as people ice fishing for food, to a people who have no originality as our mascots for the Olympics look exactly like Japanese characters, to frumpy outfits for our athletes and volunteers to completely ignoring our finest talent such as David Foster who is a citizen of Victoria and known worldwide for his musical prowess. Did VANOC ask him to compose a theme song for Vancouver Olympics? Of course not! They completely ignored him. The concentration on the Aboriginals has been heavy and many who have never been to this City have the impression that we are all Aboriginals. They consist of approximately 5% of our population. Our City is culturally diverse with every nationality represented in our citizenry – would anyone recognize that fact from the Olympic promotion? No. Heaven only knows what else will be coming up - it’s not been a positive experience for the majority of the people.

Contrast that with the Calgary Olympics. In Calgary, the atmosphere was positive expectation and citizens were included and encouraged to participate. For those who experienced and participated in the Calgary Olympics and have experienced the Vancouver Olympics, the contrast is incredible. Vancouver’s Olympics have a totally different feeling – there’s a lot of negativity surrounding the Olympics because of the way the Government and its VANOC organization has operated – an autocratic, non-inclusive, corporate driven entity disregarding collaboration and cooperation with its citizens. There have been a host of fine dinners and events for “dignitaries” and “politicians” and “friends” for years now. Our Provincial Government has spent nearly $1,000,000 on buying tickets and our City almost $400,000 – why? Of course, they won’t say why – they just do it – spend, spend, spend our money like crazy while taxing us more and more. We will likely be paying for these Olympics for many years to come! We the people – not the party goers!

I was there – in GM Place when the announcement came through we had won the games. I thought it would be fabulous to have the games in our City. The Olympics was always something I got very excited about. I cheered! Though, at the time, I wondered why we would bid on the Winter Olympics rather than the Summer Olympics – anyhow, we got it – and I was glad!

The reality of what’s behind the games though is not so positive as you see it unfolding. The City has been chaos since the announcement – everyone is cashing in – especially developers and it’s been a major distraction for politicians. Instead of governing, they are preoccupied with cashing in on the Olympics. So many things are “sneaked in” under the guise of the Olympic banner. We, the people, are forgotten. They tell us of the great economic boon the Olympics will have to our region – it’s already known throughout the world as a paradise so why would we need a boon that is naturally occuring anyway.

Will I watch the Olympics and participate? Yes – it’s here – we, the taxpayers, have paid for this big party – in the main, it’s not about amateur athletes any more as super athletes waft into the City with their entourage and limosines – no matter – I will see, participate and still watch but the shine and wonder of the Olympic movement is heavily tarnished in my mind having watched the shenanigans over the last few years. The pall of negative politics surrounding what used to be such a proud and wonderful movement for amateur athletes is incredible.

Oh, yes, there are still some of the athletes are truly amateur and whose sacrifices and their family’s sacrifices will be on display – but some of the gold-medal winners may not be amateurs but multi-millionaires paid and supported in lavish lifestyles by big business or already highly paid hockey players. I’ll be looking for those special amateur athletes who still are part of the games and who represent the true spirit of the games. The Olympic movement has lost its way – I hope it finds it again.

We have rain – cherry blossoms – daffodils and tulips - wonderful new venues and the torch relay getting ever so much closer to BC Place where the opening ceremonies will take place after its journey throughout communities across Canada – there will be cheers and fun. After the fiascos of VANOC, however, we, the taxpayers, the citizens are wary of how we will be staged for the world to see at the opening ceremonies and how the Olympics will fair. It could be an embarrassment or it could be wonderful. We’ll know soon.