Golden smog to spoil VANOC's green spin

Watch out for the inevitable golden smog when Vancouver gets a stretch of sunny weather. It will not look good on TV.

VANOC and its partners have turned the hype machine up to 11 in their bid to sell the world on the idea that these will be Greenest Games Ever. They will, in fact, be brown. Petro-Canada-supplied diesel -- six million litres, to be exact -- is fueling the Aggreko-provided generators that are providing power to venues. The Aggreko generators are hidden from public view, behind the look of the Games temporary hoarding. They’re supposed to be there for backup only. The three clusters around B.C. Place Stadium are providing the dome primary power. B.C. Hydro did not instal a system upgrade.

And then there are the diesel motorcoaches. The fleet includes full-size buses all the way from Capital Trailways in Montgomery, Ala., and Cowtown Charters in Fort Worth, Texas while B.C. companies are stuck on the outside, looking in after being fed government propaganda for years claiming the Games would benefit all.

These buses were driven across the continent and are plying streets of Vancouver mostly empty for the benefit of media schedules. The 1,100 whale-sized buses in the VANOC fleet are a big reason why severe measures were enacted to create Olympic lanes that have removed curb lanes and parking from public use in the city’s busiest areas.

VANOC sustainability vice-president Linda Coady liked to talk about how VANOC would be “right-sizing” transportation vehicles to balance supply and demand. Coady’s department is attached at the hip to the VANOC communications department, but apparently has no connection with the all-important transportation group that actually manages supply and demand.....

How tragic that it was that a 21-year-old athlete died on the first day of the 21st Winter Games. Expect one of the legacies of the Games to be a wrongful death lawsuit by the parents of Nodar Kumaritashvili.....

Will Cypress Mountain’s reputation forever be harmed? Boosters of the Games loved to wax poetically about it being the first Olympic venue with a view of the Pacific Ocean. A blessing for TV cameras but a curse for the sport. At its best, weather at Cypress can change from bad to worse and back to good in 15 minutes. And then there was the poor VANOC planning for food service and crowd flows. What were those 2008 and 2009 test events about?.....

There are only three bidders for the 2018 Winter Games: Annecy, France, Munich, Germany and PyeongChang, South Korea. PyeongChang is hoping it’s third time lucky, after losing to Vancouver and Sochi.

Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Games, forever tainted by the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes who were later killed. What happens during and after the Vancouver Games will have great impacts on the Munich bid that not even the ageless beauty of Katarina Witt can overcome.

Vancouver is the biggest Winter Games host and it has a globally important sea port and airport. That is a big reason why the security bill is $900 million. The Vancouver Games have been a logistical nightmare behind the scenes with a transportation plan that was never properly tested. It was supposed to have been completed by the end of 2007.....

Funny that the first gold medal of the Bailout Games belongs to Montrealer Alexandre Bilodeau. He wasn’t born when Canada didn’t win its first gold medal at home in the 1976 Games but his name is pronounced like “bill-o-dough.”

Here it is

Where were you 345 weeks ago?

General Motors Place and Whistler Village were abuzz bright and early on a spectacular day after Canada Day when the International Olympic Committee chose Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Now it’s almost here.

For 17 days Vancouver will be the world’s sport and media capital. It will be memorable and it will be costly. The Vancouver Games will be the least-successful since Montreal 1976 once the Games are over and the bills tallied.

It will be a Games of contrasts.

The world will find out how rich and poor the city is, with peaks of opulent wealth and valleys of poverty just blocks apart in downtown. Many First Nations people will feel a sense of pride and belonging like never before; others will feel greatly disenfranchised.

Locals will wonder where their Olympic payday is. The security overkill and transportation tie-ups will deter visits to downtown and some businesses will struggle to stay open.

The most-anticipated non-sporting event of the Games won’t be the parties at Holland Heineken House, Club Bud at the Commodore or Molson Canadian Hockey House, but the Feb. 19 auction of Whistler Blackcomb-owner Intrawest.

The VANOC transportation plan will become apparent as the weakest link of its planning. Order will come from the chaos in the second week.

The Wall Street media will be watching with an eagle-eye to make sure sponsors spend responsibly amid the continuing economic malaise that has greatly curtailed sponsor spending and caused governments to buck up even more than anticipated.

There will be no Barack Obama or “London Liz” on stolen native land. Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean will become the world’s most famous native of Haiti and John Furlong will trump Bono as the most famous Irishman with a microphone.

The Olympics are a decade of politics and economics and 17 days of sport. The agony of defeat and thrill of victory will make new stars.

American skier Lindsay Vonn is driving for five gold medals. The headline is already written: Vonn-couver. Canadian cross-country skier Brian McKeever is aiming to be the first to compete in both the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the Snow Leopard from Ghana via Scotland, will be the Vancouver equivalent of Eddie the Eagle. He won’t win gold, but the broadcaster who can pronounce his name flawlessly more than once could.

The success and failure of the $110 million Own the Podium program will be gauged daily when Canadians analyze the medals standings.

Canada could win every gold medal available but if one of them isn’t men’s hockey, then the Games could be deemed a puckin’ failure.