The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held February 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in Whistler. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. These will also be the first games to be held in an NHL market since the league allowed its players to participate starting in 1998 at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Following Olympic tradition, then Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The flag was raised on February 28, 2006, in a special flag raising ceremony, and will be on display at Vancouver’s city hall until the Olympic opening ceremony.
Some venues, including the Richmond Olympic Oval, are at sea level, a rarity for the Winter Games. The 2010 Games will also be the first – Winter or Summer – to have an Opening Ceremony held indoors. Vancouver, which will be the most populous city ever to hold the Winter Games, will also be the warmest: in February, when the Games will be held, Vancouver has an average temperature of 4.8 °C (40.6 °F).
The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at BC Place Stadium. Competition venues in Greater Vancouver include Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver Olympic Centre, UBC Winter Sports Centre, Richmond Olympic Oval and Cypress Mountain. GM Place will play host to ice hockey events, but because corporate sponsorship is not allowed for an Olympic venue, it will be renamed Canada Hockey Place for the duration of the games. Competition venues in Whistler include Whistler Blackcomb, Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Sliding Centre.
Eighty-six winter sports, fifteen categories have been announced as follow:
Alpine Skiing Curling Luge Ski Jumping Biathlon
Figure Skating Nordic Combined Snowboarding Bobsleigh Freestyle Skiing
Short Trace Speed Skating Speed Skating Cross-country Skiing Ice Hockey Skeleton
Vancouver 2010 will also be the first winter Olympics in which both men’s and women’s hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 200ft x 85ft (61m x 26m), instead of the international size of 200ft x 98.5ft (61m x 30m). The games will be played at General Motors Place, home of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. This change is expected to save $10 million CAD in construction costs and allow an additional 35,000 spectators to attend Olympic hockey games.
Some numbers:
• Number of Olympic athletes and officials: 5,500
• Number of Paralympic athletes and officials: 1,350
• Countries participating in Olympic Winter Games: 80+
• Countries participating in Paralympic Winter Games: 40+
• 2010 Olympic Winter Games events tickets available: 1.6 million
• 2010 Paralympic Winter Games events tickets available: 250,000
• Estimated number of media representatives: 10,000
• Estimated number of Games volunteers: 25,000