My Winter Olympic rant

[CookyMonzta]

Re: My Winter Olympic rant

Ay, what an interesting collection of gripes we have! It makes me wonder what fun we might have at the Winter Olympics once the Kenyans and Ethiopians learn to speed-skate and XC ski...

...and Jamaica dominates the 500s and 1000s on the oval.

[lapsus]

Re: My Winter Olympic rant

Who participates in the Winter Olympics? The wealthy countries of the world that's who.

If you don't have naturally occurring snow, it's tough to build up a base of support - except for special cases like figure skating. And those special cases do require money.

There's any number of odd or unpopular sports in the summer olympics, too. Bobsled is a special case only because of the cost - but that cost, or the predictable outrage at it, shouldn't be a surprise for cities bidding for the Winter Olympics.

Of course, I thought that this particular issue wouldn't come up in Vancouver, unless Calgary had scrapped their bobsled course from 1988!

[rasb]

They could hire the homeless and the druggies and then leave em at Whistler when it's all over. Solves several problems or they could deport em to Mexico to replace those who have snuck into the USA. Mexico will benefit having some fine Canadians teaching them the canuck way.

I hope there would be a smiley with that post, if we had smileys...

[Rye Catcher]

They could hire the homeless and the druggies and then leave em at Whistler when it's all over. Solves several problems or they could deport em to Mexico to replace those who have snuck into the USA. Mexico will benefit having some fine Canadians teaching them the canuck way.

[kuha]

Re: My Winter Olympic rant

BUT the cost of all this is making me sick.

Yes, indeed. This is at the heart of the Olympic problem: mountains of money spent on a massive corporate-advertising-on-steroids extravaganza masquerading as a sporting event. It's a Wall Street/We Are the World/Las Vegas production that is bizarre, excessive, utterly unnecessary, and wholly symptomatic of our era. Enjoy!

[mojo]

Re: My Winter Olympic rant

Until we get at least 1% minority participation in the winter OGs, they are a joke. Stuff like the skeleton run -- or whatever the F it is -- just confirms this.

I am with you BV.

Imagine spending 150 million dollars for a f'ing slide-one that will barely get used after the Games.

[BillVol]

Re: My Winter Olympic rant

Until we get at least 1% minority participation in the winter OGs, they are a joke. Stuff like the skeleton run -- or whatever the F it is -- just confirms this.

[cullman]

Of course now the gov't is scrambling to come with a plan to cover up Vancouver's massive drug and homelessness problem.

Oooops...they planned this??
CBC News: Pre-Olympic bid to house addicts under fire

cman T

[mojo]

Isn't this actually your fall Winter Olympic rant?

(my mother swears [swore] that everybody in her part of the province--some 400M from Vancouver--thinks the Olympics is the biggest waste of money boondoggle that the government has ever participated in; they hate the concept from the ground up) (all will be forgiven if the hockey team wins, of course :-)

yes this will be my fall rant...winter one to come.

LOL about hockey. That is exactly how I feel. And having a large number of friends who live in the same area as your mum I know how they feel up there and rightly so).

Of course now the gov't is scrambling to come with a plan to cover up Vancouver's massive drug and homelessness problem.

If this was for the Summer Olympics I wouldn't be quite this riled up of course.
The Winter O's are just too too posh for my liking.
I will not leave my island abode for the entire two weeks.

Besides I will be busy burning Swedish and Russian hockey players in effigy.

[gh]

Isn't this actually your fall Winter Olympic rant?

(my mother swears [swore] that everybody in her part of the province--some 400M from Vancouver--thinks the Olympics is the biggest waste of money boondoggle that the government has ever participated in; they hate the concept from the ground up) (all will be forgiven if the hockey team wins, of course :-)

[mojo]

In a few short months Vancouver will be hosting the Winter Olympics. It is a beautiful city (though I liked it much more before it was discovered by the world in 1986 with Expo) and will no doubt put on a great Games. I know the rest of the world will love the scenery, the venues and the great things to do in the area.

BUT the cost of all this is making me sick. Yes that is a common refrain for all Olympic cities but to me the Winter O's just seem so much more elitist and expensive than the Summer ones.

What really put me over the top as far as costs go is the report on the news that the new "slide" for bobsledding, skeleton and whatever other events people do sliding on their bums cost 150 million! This monstrosity is way up in Whistler, an elite, highly expensive ski resort (think Vail) two hours from the city. The people invoilved in those sports here admit they will probably see little use after the Games. We have one in Calgary that is already under utilized I hear. Why not do those events over there instead?
I am not sure what a running track costs but I believe about 1 million (track experts can correct me but no way is it 150 million). Tracks are used by the entire community- our tracks are in constant use by athletes, the elderly, walkers, runners, mums with babies in strollers....

The city of Vancouver can not hold a major trackmeet because it does not have a suitable track (the ones that are half decent are not in the city boundaries).
Who participates in the Winter Olympics? The wealthy countries of the world that's who. Who is able to afford to ski at Whistelr ? Who can afford figure skating lessons and hockey?

I know the Games will be great but for a two week party for the rich the cost and waste really burns me up.

The one good thing is that the skating oval in Richmond will be converted into an indoor track facilty-not one that can hold meets but at least somewhere for athletes to train...


Oh and if Canada doesn't win gold in hockey then I will be really pissed off! :x