Media feeding frenzy in Vancouver...the headlines will not be fun to watch.

VANCOUVER – This is my sixth Olympics. And I’ve never seen anything like it.

 

Vancouver Olympic organizers hold a daily press conference at 11 a.m. Pacific time to brief the media on general events. Usually they’re pretty harmless. I’ve seen some serious questioning, such as in Beijing over human rights and lip-synching, and in Athens about the general state of preparedness for the 2004 Olympics.

 

But today was the first time I’ve seen the international media go into a shark-like feeding frenzy at an Olympic Games. And it wasn’t pretty.

 

There’s still time to recover, but I don’t know if VANOC will ever get over the stigma of cancelled tickets (20,000 more just today), lousy weather, hydraulic arms that don’t lift up during an Opening Ceremony, buses that can’t get up a hill that’s been there a million years and shouldn’t take anyone by surprise and ice-cleaning machines that break down in a country that should have more experience with the damned things than anybody else. Not to mention, of course, the death of that poor Georgian luger. I can't still can't get that video image out of my mind. Horrible.

 

I’m sorry, but it has become an embarrassment. Organizers can’t help that the weather suddenly turned warm. But global warming is hardly a new sensation, and Vancouver has had a couple pretty warm spells in previous winters. Besides, who on earth ever trusts a weather forecast? You’d have better luck tossing a coin in the air for anything other than a 24-hour forecast if you ask me.

 

The latest media hype came today after VANOC announced it has had to cancel 20,000 more standing room only tickets for upcoming events at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, a site that officials had jokingly labeled “our special child” but is probably being silently cursed. Folks who had hoped to take in some of the only relatively cheap seats - $50 a pop – for upcoming ski cross, parallel giant slalom snowboard and snowboard halfpipe events – are now being told they’ll get a refund.

They’d already cancelled 8,000 standing room tickets for Monday and Tuesday’s snowboard cross. So that means 28,000 folks will have all or part of their Olympic dream shattered.

 

They say conditions at Cypress are dangerous, and I believe them. Surely they didn’t want to do this. But they could’ve put these events in Whistler, where the conditions are sometimes iffy but usually more reliable than Vancouver. Instead, they opted to try to create a  “legacy” of sports venues in the Vancouver region, versus erecting temporary facilities in Whistler.

 

That’s nice. And it’s good that most of the actual sporting events have gone off. In fact, it’s interesting to note the only delays so far have in Whistler for alpine events, not at Cypress. Cypress has snow for athletes, just none for visitors. But visitors are pretty key to Olympic budgets and the Olympic experience, and they've not always been treated well. Poor food and poor bus transportation have plagued Cypress at various events so far. And now there's the ticket snafu.

 

On top of all of this, of course, is the bus issue. Media buses seem to come and go at various times with no attention paid to schedules. In Beijing, they left at precisely the second they were supposed to, and the media could always rely on the 12:15 bus leaving at 12:15, not at 12:13 because the driver felt like it. Not much sympathy for the media, I realize. But the fact is you’d better treat the media well or you’ll pay. They have great press facilities here, but it all falls apart if the buses aren’t on time. Just remember Atlanta, which was the previous winner of the “Worst Games” moniker but just might have been passed on the inside lane.

 

(One thought occurs to me on the Atlanta issue. There was no Internet to speak of in those days. No twitter comments about “worst games.” No bloggers dumping on the city from afar. And no Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Vancouver has a far bigger media problem to deal with than Atlanta did, folks).

 

VANOC today said they’ll bring in a new ice cleaner from Calgary, a Zamboni. Apparently that one never breaks down. And apparently the one at the Richmond Oval has worked fine for more than a year. But, geez, the land of ice and snow can’t even find a proper machine to clean ice? How embarrassing is that? NOT TO MENTION that the Olympia machine that broke down is made in Canada and Zamboni's are made, uh, in the U.S. (How much fun will Colbert have with this, I wonder? We want to Own the Podium, but right now we can't even Clean the Podium).

 

As I wrote the other day, this IS the country that invented the Canadarm, right? So why do we have ice machines break down and hydraulic lifts that can’t pop up from stadium floors and buses that can’t make it up a hill when they’re carrying Olympic athletes?

 

The Star was all over the Olympic cauldron issue the other day. They had Wayne Gretzky light the damned thing last Friday night. But when folks went down to see it they found their way barred by an ugly, chain-link fence. Of course it can’t be available for weenie roasts and folks need to stand back. But a chain link fence? Come on, guys.

 

Asked if these are the worst games ever, IOC spokesman Mark Adams replied, "I find it bizarre that people ask questions like that."

 

"I am shocked because the athletes are really happy," said VANOC spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade.

 

Yes, they appear to be. For the most part. But many spectators - and folks who dreamed of being spectators - are pretty angry.

 

There may still be time for VANOC to recover. The city looks great. The weather (not that I trust the forecasters; see above) is SUPPOSED to improve today. But it may be too late for Vancouver to recover.

 

The media is out for blood, folks, and the results will not be pretty.

Comments

[Johnny Canucklehead]

As a Vancouverite who has returned after two decades away, nothing changes here. I, myself, am having a blast at the Games but this is typical Vancouver. Everything seems to be done here with no awareness of how things work outside of this "greatest place on Earth" hype the BC govt spins in its embarrassing tourism ads.

You didn't even mention how with all this cashola spent on security it was possible for Joe Canadian to basically get within a few feet of the Wayner with the flame as he trucked it to the cauldron. Or how a tad few "anarchists" could be allowed to do 3rd Division level hooligan damage to property and to a few innocent bystanders without the local cops being able to nip that before anything happened.

At least the place is no longer NoFunCouver but the ineptness of VANOC's organizational abilities is shocking. Why do they need to get a Zamboni from Clagary anyway, there are a ton of rinks locally. Not one has A Zamboni they could rent for the rest of the Games?

[AD]

Settle down. There are problems. Get over it. No need to hyperventilate.

[Peter]

And how about the starting officials at the biathlon. Holding athletes back or starting them too early. Not just in the women's race, but even after many excuses they repeat it in the men's race. Unforgiveable and a true disgrace! How can they explain that?

[RockyRacoon]

Our pride is hurt with good reason. It is healthy to let those entrusted with the games that we feel this way. The opening ceremonies, First Native speakers late, cauldron doesn't work, big embarrassment! Wayne having to ride through the rain to go light the other one-totally anti-climatic, the cultural cerimony, are we all First Nations or fiddle playing jig dancing decendents of the UK? No where was Canada presented as a modern vibrant country, you know the one Harper has been telling the world we are. The fence another farce. Now these are all surface things when you consider that a young athelete died in a manner that could have been prevented if people were THINKING PROPERLY or knew what they were doing. Something is wrong with these games and I have no doubt that bickering between the organizers, and the various levels of government has something to do with it. I would like to know more about that-Maybe if these organizers were not so hard pressed padding of some sort would have been wrapped around that girder. Canada leads Norway 7-0 in third. GO CANADA GO!!!!!

[RockyRacoon]

Oh yeah have you seen the shack the Federal Government had erected by an American company for 12 million-only took 8 weeks to do. It is one of those corregated steel prefab jobbies-pathetic is all I can say. Don't know what it looks like on the inside. Of course we did need the money to insure all of those low interest mortgages that banks have been writing-that only cost us $256 BILLION. Didn't know about that did you? Well from my understanding the Liberals were told to keep their mouth shut or they wouldn't get any loans to finace their next campaign. This from the banks-I guess they own our government just like they do state-side. Get ready for deficit reduction mantra right after the games. Cuts cuts cuts for the most vulnerable-that is the PC way!

[Sean]

So, uh, I hear some people are feeling some pretty big emotions, eh? Okay. It's Olympics, okay, so nobody take off. You hosers stick around an' like wait 'n stuff. Jurgy Turfmarger's gonna break some world records in the, uh, 100 meter. S'all good. So watch, eh?

[Steven Vancouver]

All a scam, I watch people across the street sucking back $8.25 pints and $7 brats after lining up for 45 minutes to see some bogus "pavillion". A lot of nothing to do and nothing to see. This ain't no Expo, just a bunch of quickly slapped together temporary venues to sucker all the tourists. They have Stanley Cup, World cup for Skiing, Speed Skating, Figure Skating, X-Game... is this once in four year event still relevant? Anyhow, the only bright spot is actually all the cultural events that happening.. otherwise, it IS back to noFUNcuover..

[Darrell Wingerak]

I am amazed that Vancouver was a a chosen city for the games in the first place. These are supposed to be the WINTER games and anyone actually living in Canada knows that Vancouver makes the national news if the city gets more than an inch of snow. If VANOC had any sense, they would have had Calgary on 24 hour standby.

Lastly, I agree with Peter's comments. The Native emphasis was way over the top and hardly indicative of our true multicultural make-up.

[Leigh-Ann]

The emphasis on the First Nations in the Opening Ceremony occurred because many Olympic venues (and access roads to those venues) are located on First Nations' land. NPR did a good story about First Nations' involvement in the Vancouver games: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123603649

[VermontIce]

It's been a rough run for sure, and you can't blame the interwebs for it. The luge death absolutely defined these games before they even started. I don't think the media and certainly VANOC/IOC comprehend just how titanic a failure that was. The killer luge track has the stink of "Own the Podium" about it. The organizers built the fastest and most challenging track--ever--and then cravenly limited access to it. It was pure gamesmanship, an effort to create maximum competitive advantage. And fair or not, those actions link the Own the Podium initiative to Kumaritashvili's death.

The rest of it is your classic death by a thousand cuts. The Little Buses that Couldn't. The fantastically embarrassing ice-cleaning fiasco. The predictably damnable weather (it's a maritime climate at Vancouver/Cypress for god sake!). The opening ceremonies meltdown and Gretzky's surreal ride in the rain. And don't even get me started on the rank foolishness of the chain-link fence around the Olympic flame. There is powerful symbolism there that I think speaks loudly to the arrogance of the Olympic organizers.

Is it too late to save these games? Of course not. We've seen marvelous competition and I think the Canadian people themselves have been incredibly gracious and friendly hosts. But the people at the top of this chain, in particular the ones who cooked up the ugly Own the Podium scheme, are absolutely tone deaf to the the image and persona they are broadcasting across the world right now.