Thursday, February 12, 2009

Olympics, Here We Come!

Well, as of this morning, we are officially one year away from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Excuse me while I yawn for a second. It should be interesting come next February if there is actually a couple of snow storms during the fiasco… uh, I mean festivities. We are talking about a city which basically closes down when 2 cm of snow falls from the sky. What is going to happen when people from all over the world descend on a city that can't deal with winter weather and a snow storm hits? It should make for entertaining television viewing for those of us with no intention of, or interest in, going to this thing.

With all the fanfare of a circus, the organizers held a big show to unveil the official countdown to the Olympics clock. They should probably have called it 'The Countdown to Debt Repayment'. It amazes me that anyone (a country or a city) would want to take on the organization of this over hyped sporting event, especially in these tough economic times. The Vancouver/Whistler Olympics are being billed as the biggest, best Olympics in history. They should be considering the costs involved. From beginning to end, the whole 2010 Olympic effort has been one cost overrun after another and there is no end in sight. The security costs alone are expected to top one billion dollars. Yep, billion with a 'b'. For one element of the whole ridiculous show.

The Federal Government has even jumped on the band wagon with their 'Own the Podium' project. This effort saw the government inject millions of dollars into the various winter sports in an effort to win some gold medals. Did you know that Canada is the only country to host the Winter Olympics twice and not win a gold medal? Fantastic! By the time this thing is all over the costs will be through the roof and the taxpayers of British Columbia and Canada (you and me) will be on the hook for the bills. 'Own the Podium' is right. We'll own the podium alright, and the athlete's village, and the ski hills and the bobsled runs and the…

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