All Is Not Well With Preparations for Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver

Richie Mogwai September 28, 2009

While preparations are in full swing for Winter Olympics 2010, which will be held in Vancouver five months from now, there are certain cracks in the wall, which might not get fixed in time.

For one, the United Nations has always clamored for the rehabilitation of Hastings Street, considered Vancouver’s Achilles’ heel in its bid as the most beautiful city in the world. Hastings’ one-mile eyesore is riddled with pan handlers, sex trade workers, dilapidated buildings, and of course, drug users.

No less than the new Vancouver mayor, Gregor Robertson, has sworn that no cordon sanitaire will be thrown into the fray, so visitors to Vancouver can expect to see the same thing that Vancouverites are used to seeing on a daily basis.

Hopefully, the new Canada Line of the Sky Train, the proud new member of the city’s cocky mass transportation system, will help salvage the fallout from Hastings when the time comes. After all, how many cities in the world can boast that they can whisk anybody by rail from Vancouver’s downtown core straight to the doors of an international airport?

The Richmond Oval is also operational where myriad ice competitions of Olympic proportions are sure to unfold. There seems to be no more funding problems for the finishing touches of the Olympic Village back in the city, or is someone hiding something?

For the record, the city of Montreal in Canada’s province of Quebec has the distinct honor of hosting the 1976 Summer Olympics. On the other hand, Calgary in the province of Alberta, hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Now it’s Vancouver’s turn in February 2010, but not all is well. But is everything ever? The Montreal Olympic Stadium was not even finished by the time the 1976 Olympics rolled in. There will always be kinks that need to be ironed out at the last minute.

Plus, Murphy’s Law has a way of hovering in the horizon when least expected. But one thing that Vancouver can count on is its natural beauty. Mind you, the Olympics are not a beauty contest, but the city may use its good looks to its advantage, when push comes to shove.

This city just happens to have a natural harbor, which is now adorned with the spanking new Vancouver Convention Center, which is second to none. So far, it’s had a dozen dress rehearsals from a string of high-profile corporate and international events held in its conference rooms which are fortified by no less than fragrant-smelling British Columbia lumber at the interior.

It was said that if one lined up all of British Columbia’s wasted lumber end to end on the Trans Canada Highway, it could go all the way to Nova Scotia in the east and back without any problems. Hopefully, some of this wasted lumber made its way here to the convention center’s structure.

Not far from a natural harbor teeming with luxury liners, are Mediterranean-style beaches that can save any budget-conscious tourist a trip to Italy or Greece. Just some of them are Wreck Beach, Kitsilano Beach, the Spanish Banks, and Jericho Beach.

It also helps that Vancouver is surrounded by islands, and so had to be connected to its suburbs by means of lovely, scenic bridges that can make The Bridges of Madison Country jealous. Of course, Stanley Park is just standing by near the city’s downtown core. It is a 400-hectare conservation area teeming with all sorts of flowering plants and trees 1,000 to 3,000 years old.

So what do you think? Will natural beauty work wonders in Vancouver’s bid to host the best Winter Olympics ever? It remains to be seen, but it’s a potent weapon to wield, glacier-adorned mountain peaks included.

Only time will tell, but just like in beauty pageants, natural beauty does add more drama and excitement to the Olympic caldron.