The Vancouver Games Started As a 'Crazy' Dream and Ended up A
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THE STORY OF THE GAMES we were best when it counted The Vancouver Games started as a ‘crazy’ dream and ended up a wondrous spectacle that transfixed and, just maybe, transformed a nation BY KEN MacQuEEN aNd joNathoN gatEhousE Ignition: Wayne Gretzky lit the outdoor Olympic cauldron in front of thousands of rain- soaked spectators here are tides and rhythms to an event that spans 17 days and includes 82 countries—an event so large it is capable of altering the emotional climate of a city, a province, a nation; indeed, the moods of many nations. Rather like the weather at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, which flip- tflopped time and time again from monsoon to shorts and sunshine. From a Canadian perspective, the run of these Games—from early stumbles to tri- umphant conclusion—went a bit like speed skater Christine Nesbitt’s 1,000-m race on the first Thursday at the Richmond Oval. At the start gun, 24-year-old Nesbitt later said, “Instead of skating I kind of panicked. I had a slip after two or three steps.” Sometimes when that happens it’s hard to regain control. Just 200 m into the race Nesbitt was in a dis- mal 15th place. At 600 m she had clawed back to ninth, and the podium seemed an impos- sible reach. But she prepared mentally and physically for such things. The only way for- ward is to draw on your training, stick to your plan and to make sure no one can accuse you of giving up. And so she raged through the The Olympic last lap, throwing herself across the line to win Canada’s third gold medal by two one- bid began as hundredths of a second—still scowling at her- a spark with self for not having run a perfect race. the outcome. And so that Canada won more win- It was later that night, after the medal pres- VANOC, the Vancouver a tourism ter gold than any host coun- entation ceremony at BC Place, that Nesbitt Olympic Organizing Com- employee. try before, well above the finally unclenched. Yes, she allowed to a mittee, fulfilled its promise 10 gold the U.S. won in Salt couple of Maclean’s reporters, she was feel- to create a world-class ‘Go away, Lake. There, we said it. Um, ing better now. It’s just that she thought she event. Bruce,’ his sorry. could do better, she said. “I don’t want to The Canadian Olympic What our athletes did— regret anything, right?” Then the smile grew Committee and its curiously boss said. those who made the podium bigger. “But if you don’t have the race of your controversial Own the and many who fell short—is life and you still win gold, it’s pretty sweet.” Podium program delivered elevate us with their very Writ large, these Games followed a similar the conditions that earned Canada more human stories of commitment, sacrifice, guts path to a “pretty sweet” conclusion. The organ- medals than at any Olympics in history. And and sportsmanship. Make that sportswom- ES izational and emotional equivalent of those those who don’t often follow sports learned anship, for Canadian women carried the load, g first 200 m were indeed the worst: struggling of a 22-year-old moguls skier named Alexan- as they did in Turin, by winning 56 per cent through the tragic death of Georgian luger dre Bilodeau who won, on the second night of the podium finishes. When the great Clara ETTY IMA ETTY Nodar Kumaritashvili hours before the open- of the Games, the first Canadian gold medal Hughes capped off her Olympic career on g ing ceremonies; warring against the elements ever on domestic soil. True to his promise the Richmond speed skating oval with her for control of Cypress Mountain; fighting pre- that night, there were many more to come: sixth medal, she donated her $10,000 medal mature claims the Games were hell-bent for 14 in total, the most of any country. bonus to an East Vancouver outdoor program disaster; staring down international rants that True, our 206 athletes didn’t own the for at-risk youth. With equal generosity, she ALSTON/AFP/ r we were too hungry for medals, and domestic podium with their 26 medals. Full credit for credited Canadian fans for lifting her across K r bleats that we weren’t hungry enough. that goes to the remarkable performance of the finish line. “They gave me wings,” she : MA : OLYMPICS SPECIAL E s And then a corner was turned, and another, the U.S. Olympic team with 3 7, building— said. Well, Ms. Hughes, the feeling is g pa and another. You win by following your Canadian legislators take note!—on the resour- mutual. S training, by having a plan, and a backup ces and legacy of the 2002 Salt Lake City It’s largely up to us what we make of these u IO plan, and yet one more. You win by dealing Winter Games. But one can add immodestly Games, now that the men’s hockey team has v E r maclean’ with the moment, not by obsessing about (a trend apparently born of these Games) gold, and the grand party that was the clos- P 30 Canada’s #1 news network has a dynamic new schedule. Know more. Know now. Power& Politics with Evan Solomon 5 to 7pm ET New 7 to Time 8pm ET Built for speed: Whistler’s sliding track was the focus of tragedy, controversy and triumph ing ceremonies is over, and the Olympic cir- By the time the bid was put before the IOC cus has left town. Much can be built from at a meeting in Prague in 2003, with speeches the legacy. There’s no secret to the formula— by Campbell, then-prime minister Jean Chré- it’s the one that brought the Olympics to tien and Wayne Gretzky, the Vancouver bid Vancouver and the one that saw them through: team was a well-oiled machine. In the final 8 to 9pm ET vision, planning and ceaseless toil. A thick vote, Vancouver edged out Pyeongchang, skin doesn’t hurt either. South Korea. The announcement by IOC president Jacques Rogge was greeted by cheer- The idea of a Vancouver-Whistler Olympic ing crowds jamming GM Place in Vancouver bid began with the spark of an idea in 1996. and in Whistler’s outdoor square. Bruce McMillan, an employee at Tourism The euphoria died soon enough. There Vancouver, popped into his boss’s office to were protests, from gritty anti-poverty activ- with Peter Mansbridge announce his brainwave. The organization’s ists who call the event a misuse of resources, CEO Rick Antonson was swamped with paper- to residents of a posh West Vancouver neigh- Monday to Saturday work. “Go away, Bruce,” he said. bourhood who set up roadblocks in a futile 9 & 11pm ET/PT McMillan persevered. Vancouver and then- attempt to prevent construction of a new Sunday at 9pm ET B.C. premier Glen Clark got on board. Clark highway diversion to Whistler. There were became one of the bid’s biggest early boost- cost overruns at the expanded waterfront ers, calling the bid his “crazy dream.” convention centre. Construction of the rapid- The bid outlived Clark’s political career. transit line from downtown Vancouver to the It was Premier Gordon Campbell’s decision airport devastated businesses along the /AP EL in 2001 to put the bid process in the hands Cambie Street corridor. But the biggest threat d of Jack Poole, a tough-as-nails real estate came from the collapse of the global finan- rIE developer with a high tolerance for risk. The cial system, less than two years before open- LIE r job that would preoccupy the rest of his life ing day. The Olympics are about money as A Ch paid a salary of $1 a year. much as sport, and for a time it looked like CBC_NN_039_01_4C_10_Macleans.inddCBC Radio Canada, English Communications 1 2/26/10 2:26:48 PM 250 Front Street West P.O. Box 500, Station “A” Toronto, ON M5W 1E6 Print Production 416-205-3781 CBC_NN_039_01_4C_10 A P P R O V A L S Client: CBC News Network Trim Size: 2.75”x10.5” Colours MJO: AD: Art Director: Alan Chan Spot Colours: None Run Date: March 4th, 2010 CD: CW: PUB: Macleans Mag AM: 32 maclean’s OLYMPICS SPECIAL Think of him Vancouver would be the first city to host the B.C.’s always muscular protest groups used Games during a depression since Los Angeles the approaching Games to draw attention to as your in 1932. Vancouver had to bail out the developer such issues as globalization, poverty, social voice of the athletes’ village with a $100-million housing, the problems of Vancouver’s drug- emergency loan. Although VANOC raised addled Downtown Eastside, unresolved native in Ottawa. $953 million in domestic and international land claims and the seal hunt, to name a few. sponsor revenue alone, the economic crisis Add to this a local population skeptical of triggered massive internal cost-cutting as it cost overruns, wary of inconvenience and struggled to stay within its $1.75-billion budget. ground down by seven years of Olympic plan- “Notwithstanding what’s going on out there, ning and debate, and no one quite knew what the public expects us to get to the finish line, reception the world would get. no matter what,” said an increasingly weary A day before the Feb. 12 opening ceremon- John Furlong, VANOC’s CEO.