Thursday, March 13, 2008

Vancouver 2010 Venues- UBC Winter Sports Centre

This venue will be a major upgrade to the current arena and a part of the legacy the games leave behind in Vancouver. Located on the Point Grey campus of UBC the venue will host two events Ice Hockey (also be hosted at GM Place) and Sledge hockey. Seating capacity will only be 7,000, which for some of hockey games will be a tight squeeze.
  • Capacity- 7,200
  • Distance from Olympic Village- 12 km

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Vancouver 2010 Venues- GM Place

This is the second in a series of post on the venues of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics games. The first post cover the Pacific Coliseum which will be hosting the Figure Skating and Short track speed skating. The arena for the games will be General Motors Place or commonly known as GM Place, currently the home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and many music performances. This is a new modern building in the heart of Vancouver. It will provide lots of capacity to for the large crowds that are expected for the event it will be holding which is Ice Hockey (Men's and Women's). Tickets to the ice hockey event will be some of the most sot after, as it is Canada's game. One of the most interesting things about hosting the event at GM Place is that fact that the ice surface is not the standard international size, it is the North American size which is 13 feet narrower and 4 feet shorter, now this does not seem like a big difference however, it is and should play into the favor of both the Canadian and American Olympic hockey teams who play a physical game compared to the European teams.

  • Capacity- 18,630
  • Distance from Olympic Village- 2 km

Monday, March 3, 2008

Vancouver 2010 Venues- Pacific Coliseum

This is a first in a series of posts about Vancouver 2010 Olympic venues. There are nine official competition venues. We will start the previews off with oldest venue. The Pacific Coliseum, which is located on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). The Coliseum opened in 1968 and was primarily the home of the Vancouver Canucks until they moved to GM place in Central Vancouver. Currently the Coliseum is home to the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League. Olympics events that will be taking place here are the following:
  • Figure Skating
    • Individual Ladies
    • Individual Men
    • Ice Dancing Mixed
    • Pairs Mixed
  • Short Track Speed Skating
    • 1,000 m Men
    • 1,000 m Ladies
    • 1,500 m Men
    • 1,500 m Ladies
    • 3,000 m Relay Ladies
    • 5,000 m Relay Men
    • 500 m Men
    • 500 m Ladies
I am not a fan of the figure skating, however a great sport that never gets enough attention is the short track speed, this is also great event to watch if you want to see Canada wins some medals, in the past we have been dominant in the short track speed skating arena and I know the team will be gearing up for a great performance at home
  • Capacity- 14,239
  • Distance from Olympic Village- 6 km