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Winter olympic 2010 Vancouver
- Thread starter singveld
- Start date
Final torchbearer not Gretzky, organizers confirm
Canwest News Service
February 11, 2010
As the opening ceremonies draw nearer, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky engages in some chin-wagging with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson in Yaletown Wednesday.
Photograph by: Chris Helgren, Reuters
VANCOUVER — Wayne Gretzky will not be the final torchbearer at Friday night’s opening ceremony for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, organizers said Thursday.
Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said that speculation that the hockey great and former Olympian would light the Games cauldron is wrong.
"It’s one of those challenges you have where only one or two people can know, or it isn’t going to stay locked down," Furlong said.
"And I have gone to bed and woke up every day for the last 90 days praying I wouldn’t see it on the front page of the paper — and so far it hasn’t.”
Furlong said spectators will find out the final torchbearer’s identity on Friday night.
“You can think about this as long as you’d like and you can think about the last moments of the ceremonies as long as you’d like and you’re not going to figure it out," he said.
Canwest News Service
February 11, 2010
As the opening ceremonies draw nearer, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky engages in some chin-wagging with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson in Yaletown Wednesday.
Photograph by: Chris Helgren, Reuters
VANCOUVER — Wayne Gretzky will not be the final torchbearer at Friday night’s opening ceremony for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, organizers said Thursday.
Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said that speculation that the hockey great and former Olympian would light the Games cauldron is wrong.
"It’s one of those challenges you have where only one or two people can know, or it isn’t going to stay locked down," Furlong said.
"And I have gone to bed and woke up every day for the last 90 days praying I wouldn’t see it on the front page of the paper — and so far it hasn’t.”
Furlong said spectators will find out the final torchbearer’s identity on Friday night.
“You can think about this as long as you’d like and you can think about the last moments of the ceremonies as long as you’d like and you’re not going to figure it out," he said.
Olympic torch run at corner of Guilford and Pine as runner Catherine Patterson had just handed off to Christian Farstad in Coquitlam, February 11.
Photograph by: Bill Keay, PNG
Thousands cheer in Mackin Park in Coquitlam as former Olympian Chris Wilson arrives with the Olympic torch Thursday at a lively community celebration.
Photograph by: Bill Keay, PNG
NBC's Today Show host Matt Lauer carries the Olympic torch along Canada Way in Burnaby on Thursday.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, PNG
NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer (left) receives the Olympic torch from BCIT broadcast journalsim student Alwena Shirley along Canada Way in Burnaby on Thursday.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, PNG
Trevor Linden carries the 2010 Olympic torch south along Main street in Vancouver, B.C., February 11, 2010.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
Steve Nash carries the 2010 Olympic torch west along West 49th avenue in Vancouver, B.C., February 11, 2010.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
The Olympic torch is passed to British Olympic legend Seb Coe (L) by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in Vancouver's Stanley Park Friday, February 12, as the flame makes its final pass through the city on its way to the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, PNG
Holding the Olympic torch overhead is Canwest board chair Leonard Asper as he runs on Seymour Street in downtown Vancouver Friday as the flame makes its final pass through the city on its way to the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, PNG
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Faux fur better than no fur: Weir makes a good call
Animal rights groups are hating on Johnny Weir's new free skate costume.
Between his show on the Sundance Channel and his Poker Face exhibition at U.S. Nationals, you couldn’t imagine that Johnny Weir’s preparation for his second Olympics next month could be any more colorful. But now, it is his costume (and his outspokenness about how great the fox fur is on it) that has put him in the news.
Apparently, Friends of Animals, an animal rights group, has sent Weir an open letter this week and contacted his costume designer, Stephanie Handler. And even more recently, Weir has been receiving “hate mail and death threats,” according to his agent, Tara Modlin.
With less than three weeks left before the men’s short program begins in Vancouver, the last thing Weir needs right now is distraction as he is training to earn the Olympic medal that slipped away four years ago. So instead of being stubborn and sticking with the fur on his free skate costume, he made the decision to swap the real fur with faux fur instead.
It is a smart choice for a guy who, a few years ago, would probably have milked it for all it’s worth because he loves playing the role of the rebel. But now older and wiser, Weir opted to skip the drama for the sake of both his Olympic preparation and his fellow skaters. Let’s hope they get off his back and let him have some peace and quiet while he trains for the a competition that most skaters can only dream of taking part in.
One final note: Priscilla Feral, the president of Friends of Animals, called it a “smart decision … to shun the skins of animals.” But really, does she know what figure skating boots are made of?
Former Skating Champion Wins a Big Olympic Tuneup
Mao Asada, the former world champion figure skater who struggled last season, has gotten her grove back — and just in time for the Vancouver Olympics.
Mao Asada of Japan hit two triple axels — rarely done in competition — to gain a victory and momentum heading to Vancouver.
At the Four Continents event on Friday, Asada, the four-time Japanese national champion, hit two triple axels, a challenging jump that requires a forward take-off and three-and-a-half revolutions in the air. Only a handful of women have landed the jump in competition.
Landing those jumps helped Asada clinch the Four Continents title in Jeonju, South Korea, but it also gave her something more valuable: confidence going into the Winter Games, where she will go up against her longtime rival, Kim Yu-na. The two, who are both 19, have been competing against each other since they were junior skaters.
Kim, a South Korean and the reigning world champion, is the overwhelming favorite to win the gold medal in Vancouver. But Asada, with her triple axels looking tweaked and ready, appears prepared to challenge her.
Each of those jumps is worth 8.2 points, while the next highest-scoring jump — a triple Lutz — is worth 6.0. A double axel is worth 3.5.
“What I need to do now for the Olympics is to just do my best with every element in my program,” Asada was quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. She added that she was happy to land the triple axel twice — again.
Asada also landed two triple axels at the Grand Prix final in 2008, when she beat Kim in South Korea. That was the last time Asada has defeated Kim, who has not lost a skating competition since then.
Since then, Kim has become skating’s biggest star, while Asada has stumbled. She finished fourth at the 2009 world championships, failing to defend her title. To open her long program, she hit a triple axel-double toe loop combination. But her second attempt of a triple axel went sour, and she fell.
“She can do two triple axels in competition, no problem,” her coach, Tatiana Tarasova, said before that long program. “For the Olympics, this is what she will do to win. I am not worried about it.”
Last fall, Asada finished second at the Grand Prix event in Paris. At the Grand Prix event in Moscow, she was fifth after a disastrous short program in which she failed both attempts to land a triple axel.
Her score in that program was her worst-ever for a senior-level competition. Asada, the 2005 and 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, finished off the podium for the first time at a Grand Prix event.
When Kim was told that Asada had not qualified for the Grand Prix final, Kim fought to hold back a smile. But now, that schadenfreude is likely vanishing. Just when it counts the most, Asada appears to be on the upswing.
Skating to Rachmaninoff, Asada came into the long program at Four Continents in third place. In the end, she eclipsed her compatriot, Akiko Suzuki, who had been in first. Asada scored 183.96 points overall to win.
Suzuki finished in second place, with 173.72 points. Caroline Zhang of the United States was third, with 160.78 points, after a disappointing performance at the United States nationals last week, in which she finished 11th.
for a winter olympic opening, it is grand
they spend a lot of money
it is a decent winter olympic opening
but there are some issues
they gave all the peasants there some white shoulder cover like the one you go to barber shop, they intend to give 60 000 person a haircut?
the VIP did not have to wear the silly shit, why only the peasant have to wear that, VIP dun. what a class system.
next what is the point of using 4 persons to light the cauldron?
what the fxxk is that? then there is a mechanical fault and one part did not raise, so only 3 light the cauldron.
worse, next they go outside the stadium, to light a similar permanent cauldron, so now there are two cauldrons. 4 person to light 2 cauldrons, what the fxxk is that.
they also let the official to walk with the athlete, what is this? most countries have 3 officials, some cut cost have 1,
do you know iran have how many? fxxking hell, they have more than 6 officials for one althete. what kind of productivity is this?
iran very rich is it? 6 dogs for 1 master. stupid islamic country.
sad news, one athlete was kill in training. he hit one metal beam that was not protected by protection, why did the canadian did not cover all the metal beam?
hong kong have a team, south korea have a team, north korea have a team, japan have a team, china have a team, taiwan have a team, thailand have a team. singapore have nothing. what a disgrace.
they spend a lot of money
it is a decent winter olympic opening
but there are some issues
they gave all the peasants there some white shoulder cover like the one you go to barber shop, they intend to give 60 000 person a haircut?
the VIP did not have to wear the silly shit, why only the peasant have to wear that, VIP dun. what a class system.
next what is the point of using 4 persons to light the cauldron?
what the fxxk is that? then there is a mechanical fault and one part did not raise, so only 3 light the cauldron.
worse, next they go outside the stadium, to light a similar permanent cauldron, so now there are two cauldrons. 4 person to light 2 cauldrons, what the fxxk is that.
they also let the official to walk with the athlete, what is this? most countries have 3 officials, some cut cost have 1,
do you know iran have how many? fxxking hell, they have more than 6 officials for one althete. what kind of productivity is this?
iran very rich is it? 6 dogs for 1 master. stupid islamic country.
sad news, one athlete was kill in training. he hit one metal beam that was not protected by protection, why did the canadian did not cover all the metal beam?
hong kong have a team, south korea have a team, north korea have a team, japan have a team, china have a team, taiwan have a team, thailand have a team. singapore have nothing. what a disgrace.
February 13, 2010
Kumaritashvili killed in luge training
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A men's luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died Friday after a high-speed crash during training for the Winter Games.
The International Olympic Committee said doctors were unable to revive Nodar Kumaritashvili, and the 21-year-old died at a hospital, hours before the Vancouver Olympics' opening ceremonies were to start.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said the death "clearly casts a shadow over these Games."
"The IOC is in deep mourning,'' said Rogge, who wiped his eyes and appeared choked up before speaking. "[Kumaritashvili] lost his life pursuing his passion. I have no words to say what we feel.''
Officials from the International Luge Federation and the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee said late Friday their investigation found "no indication the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track." They said the track would reopen Saturday morning with changes "to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."
Women's luge Olympians are scheduled to train at the track Saturday morning, nine hours before the men's two-day competition is set to begin.
The remaining seven members of the Georgian Olympic delegation planned to compete despite the tragedy and dedicated their performances to their fallen teammate. The athletes "decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games," said Nikolos Rurua, Georgia's minister of culture and sport, and wore black armbands as they marched behind a black-trimmed flag.
Kumaritashvili's teammates marched somberly into BC Place Stadium for the opening ceremonies. They wore black armbands and scarves, behind a flag draped with a black ribbon, as spectators, Olympic officials and competitors stood and saluted them with applause. Later, there was a moment of silence for Kumaritashvili.
"When we get here, we're all part of the same family. It's definitely affected everyone here," U.S. snowboarding star Shaun White said.
Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center.
Rescue workers were at Kumaritashvili's side within seconds, chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation started less than one minute after the crash, and he was quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler.
Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled Friday, went over a track wall and struck a steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center.
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Kumaritashvili killed in luge training
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A men's luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died Friday after a high-speed crash during training for the Winter Games.
The International Olympic Committee said doctors were unable to revive Nodar Kumaritashvili, and the 21-year-old died at a hospital, hours before the Vancouver Olympics' opening ceremonies were to start.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said the death "clearly casts a shadow over these Games."
"The IOC is in deep mourning,'' said Rogge, who wiped his eyes and appeared choked up before speaking. "[Kumaritashvili] lost his life pursuing his passion. I have no words to say what we feel.''
Officials from the International Luge Federation and the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee said late Friday their investigation found "no indication the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track." They said the track would reopen Saturday morning with changes "to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."
Women's luge Olympians are scheduled to train at the track Saturday morning, nine hours before the men's two-day competition is set to begin.
The remaining seven members of the Georgian Olympic delegation planned to compete despite the tragedy and dedicated their performances to their fallen teammate. The athletes "decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games," said Nikolos Rurua, Georgia's minister of culture and sport, and wore black armbands as they marched behind a black-trimmed flag.
Kumaritashvili's teammates marched somberly into BC Place Stadium for the opening ceremonies. They wore black armbands and scarves, behind a flag draped with a black ribbon, as spectators, Olympic officials and competitors stood and saluted them with applause. Later, there was a moment of silence for Kumaritashvili.
"When we get here, we're all part of the same family. It's definitely affected everyone here," U.S. snowboarding star Shaun White said.
Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center.
Rescue workers were at Kumaritashvili's side within seconds, chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation started less than one minute after the crash, and he was quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler.
Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled Friday, went over a track wall and struck a steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center.
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