Vancouver 2010 Olympics Coverage Daily - Team Canada

Beijing Calling: Scales Talks about his Olympic Fervor on the BBC

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:59:52 -0700

Cross-posted from: BBC Sport | Olympics | Beijing Diaries

Background: Raincity Studios CEO/Founder Robert Scales and Pres/Ambassador Kris Krug are on the ground in Beijing to document and study the 2008 edition of the Olympic Games. They are publishing dispatches to a variety of news outlets including the venerable BBC. Here's Scales' first installment of his Olympic diary.

ROBERT SCALES, MONTREAL, CANADA

Robert runs a web development company based in Canada

The Duff Man! - Olympic Laughs with the Superhero Skeleton-ist Duff Gibson - Olympic Outsider #8

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:42:58 -0800

Torino 2006 Skeleton Gold Medalist athlete Duff Gibson chats with Olympic Outsider host Dave Thorvald about having a beer named after him, life as a Calgary fireman, being Canada's (and the world's) oldest gold medalist, training for technical and speed courses, the Whistler track, athletic challenges and the future of the sport at an Olympic rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery in May 2006.

Download The Duff Man! - Olympic Laughs with the Superhero Skeleton-ist Duff Gibson
(.mp3, 8MB, 9:53)

Olympic Outsider Podcast #3 - Coffee talk with Gold Medalist Ross Rebagliati

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:47:20 -0800

An enhanced Olympic Outsider podcast with host Dave Thorvald visiting with 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics Gold Medalist and Snowboard legend Ross Rebagliati.

At a symposium in a noisy Take 5 coffeeshop, Dave asks Ross about the drug-testing incident in great detail plus discuss Ross's aspirations for 2010 and beyond, recreational hobbies, real-estate dealings plus Dave relates anecdotes and gives thanks to Ross for inspiring the people.

Thanks to Bread for pics, Mudhoney for tunes, Bryght and Raincity Studios, and props to Roots for supporting Ross.

Olympics Outsider 3 - Coffee Talk with Gold Medalist Ross Rebagliati

And/Or just grab the Canucks/Olympics Outsider Feed

Women's hockey no longer a two-team sport

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:06:07 -0800

Chuq von Rospach writes a lot about NHL hockey on his blog. He's put together some notes on Olympic hockey with the same high level of quality:

Over on the women's side -- congratulations to Sweden for knocking the US out of the gold medal game, setting up the first ever international tourney where the US and Canada won't be fighting for the gold medal. This is historic, because it means it's no longer a two-team sport at the elite level -- and that can only improve the sport and interest in it.

Chuq goes on to point to the Vancouver Canucks OpEd stunned reaction to the Canadian men's hockey team loss.

Bertuzzi in a Visor

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 22:26:55 -0800

Todd Bertuzzi does not wear a visor when playing for NHL Vancouver Canucks, and i don't think he was wearing one in the game Italy, yet here he is wearing a visor versus Germany (great pic Robert Scales).

If i recall correctly, there is (an IIFC?) rule in which all players born after a certain age must wear a visor and perhaps Bertuzzi just found out about this rule?

Canadian Olympic clothes made by HBC are popular with Italians

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 03:03:17 -0800

There are HBC stores set up at both the British Columbia Canada Place as well as Canada House. I took this picture of a gaggle of young Italian Olympic Village volunteers wearing the Canada hats that are available. We think they're a bit silly looking, but it turns out that the Italians really do love them (Robert's Flickr stream will have a better picture later). In any case, whether during regular public hours or even at the Whistler Apres event where I took the picture, the HBC stores are packed and Canadian gear is flying off the shelves. In part it's a love of Canada and the excitement of the next Games being there, but HBC has really put together a fantastic selection of clothes. Even the green has grown on me.

Canucks Outsider Episode 22 featuring brief Olympic preview

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 13:20:31 -0800

Along with the SLC Flashback series, I produce a podcast called the Canucks Outsider, the latest episode of which features Dan Funboy and I talking about the upcoming Olympics over beers at the Eastside Club in Olympia, WA. In this case, mostly the re-vamped Canadian Alpine skiiing team, Men's hockey tourney and ski-jumping.

If you enjoy home-grown commentary (and don't mind moderately ribald hockey talk) then I encourage you to subscribe to the feed for more Olympic chatter over the upcoming games, or you can just download the episode.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan to be the First Quadriplegic to Accept Olympic Flag at Turino

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:56:45 -0800

Over the past month, Kris Krug of Bryght, Robert Scales of Raincity Studios and various other Vancouver companies have been working together with New Media BC and Leading Edge BC to coordinate a technology symposium at the BC Canada Place next month during the Torino Olympics in Italy.

This morning as part of my first assignment for Urban Vancouver, I attend Vancouver Mayor, Sam Sullivan and Vancouver 2010 CEO, John Furlong's announcement at the Vancouver City Hall.

Vancouver’s Sam Sullivan first quadriplegic to accept Olympic flag

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:39:24 -0800

Canadian Mayor to make history at Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games

Vancouver – In just one month, in what may be one of the most memorable moments of the Torino 2006 Closing Ceremony, Canada’s first quadriplegic Mayor will accept, on behalf of all Canadians, the Olympic flag. The City of Vancouver and the 2010 Organizing Committee today revealed the innovative behind-the-scenes work being done in support of Mayor Sam Sullivan’s historic role on the world stage.

First Official Vancouver 2010 Merchandise Available July 18 in Select HBC Stores Across Canada

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:38:03 -0700

VANCOUVER - Starting today, Canadians have the opportunity to show their support for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games by purchasing official Vancouver 2010 merchandise at select Hbc stores across the country. Hbc is the exclusive retailer of this first limited edition Vancouver 2010 merchandise until January 2006.

Hockey Canada Invites 27 Players to Try Out for Olympic Women's Hockey Team

Tue, 10 May 2005 22:26:00 -0700

Hockey Canada invites 27 players to try out for Olympic women's hockey team (Canada.com) - CALGARY (CP) - Hockey Canada has named the 27 players who will try out for the Olympic women's hockey team, which will attempt to defend its gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. [Vancouver 2010 Ice Hockey News on Yahoo]

35 Medals, Eh? 'Own The Podium' Goals for Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are Impressively High

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 17:12:49 -0800

35 medals would be awesome. It's great to see Canadians getting a little fired up and competitive. :)

35 medals, eh? That's going to take money
'Own the podium' goals are impressively high
Kent Gilchrist
The Province
Tuesday, February 01, 2005

As a nation we have come a long way since the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary when we won five medals, but getting all the way to 35 medals five years from now, well, it sounds as if the committee that came up with that number has been spending too much time around Ross Rebagliati.

The most medals we have ever won at a Winter Games is 17 in Salt Lake City in 2002. That was up from the 15 snowboarder Rebagliati helped secure in Nagano in 1998 and four more than the 13 we won in Lillehammer four years earlier.

We are moving in the right direction, but to own the podium, as the slick slogan goes, maybe, if they add ice fishing and a few more sports ...

That's not fair.

And International Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge is on side with the Canadian Olympic Association plan.

Rogge, who was travelling to B.C. on Monday, believes it is important for the host country to do well, and as we all know Vancouver and Whistler are playing host to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the target date for the "own the podium" campaign.

There is one problem. Money.

In the past, Canada has been a country with an eighth-place budget and an expectation of medal-winning performances.

In Ottawa, the feds must have thought Catriona Le May Doan was just born to be a speed skater. What really happened was that she was provided with the resources to make her into the two-time Olympic champion she became.

Pierre Lueders didn't magically become a bobsledder, he had the best training facility (a legacy from the 1988 Games), and good equipment, helping him too.

Very rarely is it that an athlete comes along and just wins. The reality is that the athletes with the best resources win.

Damon Runyon or someone said: "A race does not always go to the strongest or fastest, but that's the way to bet."

Following that logic, if the resources are in place you give your athletes the best chance to win, and they usually will.

The U.S. was a prime example at Salt Lake City. It had never won more than 13 medals in any previous Winter Games, but at Salt Lake Americans won 34, to finish second behind Germany's 35.

With the Sports Canada budget at its present $120 million, it has been determined another $22 million a year, combined with a new co-operative approach between sports in research, sharing information and training techniques and concentrating on the high performance end, would not only put us in the game, but have us owning the podium.

Canada is for gender balance and equality between French and English. If something gets done in Manitoba then Saskatchewan should get it too.

That makes for good politics, but bad performance.

The COA, with Rogge's help, is going to have to convince Ottawa to abandon that kind of political thinking and allow a high performance committee to distribute funds to winter sports based on an accountability model.

Reading from the COA website, it has been determined this country needs to increase the number of potential medallists from 160 to 211 and improve the success rate from 27 per cent in 2002 to 50 per cent by 2010.

The sports with the best chance of increasing their medal totals have been identified as freestyle skiing, snowboarding and speed skating. Figure skating and curling, presumably, needed no singling out, and hockey scored two gold medals.

Simple enough really. Now let's see the funding.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

Team Canada Stacked for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:38:24 -0800

Team stacked for 2010 - The Province - Sunday, January 09, 2005

Members of Canada's 1995 junior hockey team shouldn't feel too bad that they're no longer our best ever. After all, they still have a chance to be part of our greatest Olympic team.

That team will take the ice here in 2010.

Players typically break into the Canadian men's team in their early- to mid-20s, as Eric Brewer, Simon Gagne and Jarome Iginla did at the Olympics in 2002. Their last hurrah typically comes 10 years later, as it did for 30-somethings Theo Fleury, Brendan Shanahan and Joe Nieuwendyk in 2002.

The 1995 and 2005 gold-medal-winning world junior teams are exactly 10 years apart, which means the young blood on our 2010 Olympic team will likely come from this year's world junior team -- they'll be 24 in 2010 -- and the old guard will consist of 1995 stalwarts.

Imagine a blueline pairing of 1995 gold-medal winner Ed Jovanovski alongside Dion Phaneuf from 2005. Ouch.

Or 1995's Wade Redden paired with last year's No. 3 overall draft pick, Cam Barker.

Up front, you could have 1995's Ryan Smyth capping off his 15 years of international experience skating on a line centred by 2005's Sidney Crosby.

Canada's 2010 Olympic team will be stacked at each end with wily veterans and plucky newcomers who have already been through the international wringer and come out on top. In the middle, we'll have superstars in their prime. Just try to stop them.