The 2010 Winter Olympics are
less than one week away and the temperature in Kelowna, BC was 12
degrees  Celcius today.  Not exactly what one would
consider winter weather.

Perhaps the Washington, DC area would be more suitable. The
snowbound north east of the United States is considering canceling
some NHL games because the teams cannot get out of their
cities.

On Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, where the freestyle
skiing and snowboarding events will be taking place, truck loads of
snow are being driven in from higher elevations in an effort to
shore up the course. The evenings are not even getting cold enough
for snowmaking machines to operate effectively. Canada is usually
portrayed as a country with snow all year around yet ironically it
is relatively warm and even green in some parts of the Olympic
hosting areas.

The Canada Hockey Place has been renamed from GM Place, home of
the Vancouver Canucks, due to the fact the IOC does not allow
outright corporate sponsorship of the Games. The men’s ice hockey
will be played on the NHL sized ice here while the women’s ice
hockey  will be played at the University of British Columbia’s
Thunderbird Arena.

In the sites surrounding BC’s Whistler Mountain Resort are the
Whistler Sliding Centre on Blackcomb Mountain with the bobsleigh,
luge and skeleton events and it allows for 12000 spectators.
Whistler Creekside hosts men’s, women’s and Paralympic alpine
events on the hills here.  While Whistler
Olympic/Paralympic Park plays host to biathlon, cross-country
skiing, nordic combined and ski jumping events.

Other venues include the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre
which will host the curling and wheelchair curling events.
 Short track speed skating and figure skating will take place
at the Pacific Coliseum and the speed skating events will happen at
the Richmond Olympic Oval near the banks of the Fraser River.

With all these venues being constructed,one would think the
effect on the natural surroundings would be devastating. Yet VANOC
has gone beyond the required ‘silver standard’  of
environmental friendliness. The three pillars of sustainability
i.e. environmental, economic and social, were contemplated in the
designing and constructing of the world’s first sustainable Games.
Diverting waste from land fills by recycling single use containers
as well as capturing and using heat emitted from one mechanical
building to heat other buildings are just two ways that the
Vancouver 2010 Games are also the hailed as the Green Games, with
all due respect to Cypress Mountain.  

Much more information on the events, venues, athletes are
schedules can be found at href=”http://www.vancouver2010.com/”
target=”_blank”>http://www.vancouver2010.com