Olympics: 1 Week and Counting!

We have given new contributor, Jon, free reign in his coverage of Vancouver and the 2010 Winter Olympics. So enjoy!

I have to say that it is strange having watched so many Olympics on television and seeing the sporting side of the events and the short shots of the city and area that it’s being held in and now being in the middle of it is very different. It’s going to be interesting to see how the media presents Vancouver. I wonder what landmarks they are going to pick to show the world what Vancouver is like? I know what Vancouver is to me and I’m interested in what the world wide media will show off.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP!

I doubt that they will pick the inside of the sushi restaurant that I go to for all you can eat. Or the huge number of people who walk to work with a coffee cup in one hand and an umbrella in the other. Or the large number of guys who are out walking undersized canines (likely belonging to girlfriends) in my neighbourhood in the morning. That is some of what makes Vancouver for me. Well of course there’s also the mountains, the beaches (yes, nice sandy beaches too, you might not expect that), the wild life (both human and non) and some of the smaller neat neighbourhoods that we have around town. So it’s something like this that the world will end up seeing…

My neighbourhood has seen some changes over the last while, so of which I can easily see from my window. For instance we now have randomly placed flags of the competing countries stuck to the sidewalk. Not entirely sure why… it’s not like we’re not a cosmopolitan city already. So I’m not sure what the deal is with the flags. Maybe it’s so you can find a country that you don’t like and jump up and down on their flag? I don’t think that’s in the Olympic spirit though.

I did find the Union Jack though…

Then there’s the Live City site… this used to be a park…

…now it’s full of stages and temporary buildings. This site will have live music and events every day of the Olympics and it’s all free. Yep free. Oh and I can see the stage from my window, so that probably means I’ll be able to hear it easily too. I’m not planning on sleeping much for these two weeks.

Finally, I’ll hit what I see is a huge part of what the Olympics stands for today…advertising. The city has become a huge billboard for the official sponsors of the Olympics. VANOC, who are organising the Olympics here, purchased pretty much ALL of the advertising space in Vancouver for the period of the Olympics. Seriously.

The only adverts that you’ll see up are for the official sponsors, so think Coke, General Electric, Visa, General Motors & Samsung. You won’t find any sign of any of the official sponsor’s competitors in town while the Olympics are happening. Oh and they’ve also managed to cover some of the towers downtown too…

Okay. So with a week to go that’s my first insight into what’s happening here in Vancouver. If anyone has any suggestions for what they want to see or know about let me know by throwing a comment at me.
J.