Thursday, April 10, 2008

Olympic Torch Protests

As I am sure you have seen there has been a considerable amount of protests and disruption for the Olympic torch relay across the globe. The first significant rally was in London, where over 30 people were arrested, this continued the next day in Paris with a similar amount arrested. In fact the torch had to be taken on to a bus to avoid further disruptions. With the arrival of the torch in San Francisco for it's North American journey, there were again mass protests and a large number of disruptions. The organizers did get around the mealy that happened in Paris and London by changing the route at the last minute.

Is this a protest against the Olympics in general? No, I think the Olympics are more of lightening rod, and a platform for protesters to raise the level of awareness about human rights in China.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Vancouver 2010 Venues- Cypress Mountain

Between the two major centre's of activity Vancouver and Whistler, lies Cypress Mountain. Cypress as it is commonly known will be home to the Free Style Skiing and Snowboarding events, all in all 12 different competitions. As with Nat Bailey and the Richmond Oval, this will be a great location to see Canada capture some medals. The Free style skiing is broken down into three major categories:
  • Aerials- This is where the skiers use no poles and go down the hill and launch themselves off of quarter pipe into the air and perform a multitude of twists and turns.
  • Moguls- This is the most most traditional form of skiing for Freestyle and it involves skiing down and very steep run with huge mounds of hard pack snow, each run also has the added feature of two big jumps.
  • Ski- Cross- This is a dead heat of skiers who races all at the same time in a very close circuit. The first one down hill wins. It is extremely entertaining and exciting to watch
The snowboarding part of the games is also broken down into three categories:
  • Gaint Slalom- Again this is a very traditional event, with snowboards racing down the hill passing through gates.
  • Halfpipe- This events take after the skateboarding halfpipe, snowboarders go down a halfpipe built out of snow performing tricks as they go up and down the sides of the pipe
  • Snowboard Cross- This again is similar to the ski cross, a group of snowboarders starts at the top of the run and the first person down the hill and across the line wins. Very Cool!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010- Inukshuk photo








Here is a great picture from English Bay, it is a near exact replica of the same Inukshuk used in the Vancouver Olympic Logo which you can see above. Joe Cashman has taken a great shot, check him out on Flickr

Vancouver 2010 Venues- Richmond Oval

The Richmond Oval is located about 20 minutes south of the Olympic, lying in the city of Richmond which is also home to the Vancouver International Airport. The Richmond Oval is a new venue and it will host the Long Track Speed Skating events, please see below for a list of all the competitions. This is first major speed skating venue in Canada since the Calgary venue in 1988.

List of Speed Skating Events
  • Men’s 500 m
    Ladies’ 500 m
    Men’s 1,000 m
    Ladies’ 1,000 m
    Men’s 1,500 m
    Ladies’ 1,500 m
    Ladies’ 3,000 m
    Men’s 5,000 m
    Ladies’ 5,000 m
    Men’s 10,000 m
    Men’s Team Pursuit
    Ladies’ Team Pursuit
Now I have watched both the long track speed skating and the short track, which is hosted by the Pacific Coliseum and I much prefer the Short track speed skating. I find the pace much quicker and it seems to be more "interactive" physical. Nevertheless, I do give a lot of credit to the long track skaters, they are skating huge distances and it is very impress to see.

As mentioned in other posts this is anoter venue to watch and try and get to tickets if you want to see Canadian medals. Both the Mens' and Womens' team have been very successful in the past.

Vancouver 2010 Venues- Nat Bailey Stadium Park

This is the last Vancouver area venue in our series on the competition venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. The Nat Bailey Stadium Park is the only truly new venue in the Vancouver area, the other venues(GM Place, Pacific Coloseum & UBC Winter Sports Centre) have either existed already or are having additions built on to them. The Nat Bailey Park will host three events: Men's Curling, Women's curling and the Mixed Wheel Chair Curling. The Park is located in beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park which is in the centre of Vancouver. There is easy access both via the new Canada line Sky train route which will provide quick and safe access from Richmond all the way to downtown Waterfront station. The site will also have bus service. For you fans who are looking to watch Canada win a medal is the perfect venue to try and get tickets too. Canada is always a heavy favorite in international competitions for both the Men's and Women's event.

  • Capacity- 6,000
  • Distance from Olympic Village- 4 km