7-days Until Paralympic Tickets Available

In just seven days tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will be available!

Paralympic athletes are the true heroes of the Olympic Games if you ask me. And if you don't believe me just watch this video from Canada's Rick Mercer:



For more Paralympic ticket info click here.

Vote for your Top 10 Canadian Olympic Moments

The Royal Canadian Mint and Canada's Olympic Broadcasting Media Consortium are asking you to vote for your top 10 Canadian Olympic Moments.

If you had to choose the most outstanding achievement of a Canadian winter Olympian, what would it be? What is your favourite goosebump-raising, spine-tingling Olympic memory? Is it Cindy Klassen’s five medals at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games? Or maybe it’s a throwback to Grenoble 1968 when Nancy Greene won gold and silver in alpine skiing?

The Top 10 Canadian Olympic Winter Moments finalists, as selected by an independent voting panel are (in chronological order):
•Nancy Greene — gold medal and silver medal, alpine skiing, Grenoble 1968
•Gaétan Boucher — two gold medals and one bronze medal, speed skating, Sarajevo 1984
•Marc Gagnon — gold medal, short track speed skating, Salt Lake 2002
•Catriona Le May Doan — gold medal, speed skating, Salt Lake 2002
•Men's Hockey Team — gold medal, Salt Lake 2002
•Women's Hockey Team — gold medal, Salt Lake 2002
•Jamie Salé and David Pelletier — gold medal, figure skating, Salt Lake 2002
•Beckie Scott — gold medal, cross-country skiing, Salt Lake 2002
•Cindy Klassen — one gold medal, two silver medals and two bronze medals, speed skating, Torino 2006
•Clara Hughes — gold medal, speed skating, Torino 2006

Read more and place your vote by visiting here.

1st image: Marc Gagnon (Getty Images), 2nd image: Nancy Drew (Getty Images)

2010 Vancouver Athletes Village Commentary

Photo by eyesplash mikul

We feel it necessary to comment on the myriad of articles hitting the presses in ever increasing numbers over the past while, most of which seem to be painting a very dire picture of what could happen with the Vancouver Athletes Village.

First off, when the plan was formulated, no one could have fathomed that a global credit crisis of the magnitude we are all seeing would have come to fruition.

Secondly, no one would have thought that the Vancouver real estate market would have slowed down as quickly as it has.

That being said, the numbers being referenced for potential liability for the City of Vancouver, should the proverbial excrement really hit the fan are completely sensationalized and the reporting of them is at best irresponsible. So to make a little better sense of the numbers please consider the following:

• $1B - total approx. cost of the Olympic Village
• $200M - approx. value of the 250 condos already pre-sold with 20% deposits
• 10% - approx. drop in real estate prices from the peak value in May 2008
• Millennium Group of Companies had to put up other properties as security for the South East False Creek Lands the Olympic Village is being constructed on (SEFC valued at $150M)
  

You may have seen numbers of anywhere from $800M to $1B being what the city could be liable for.

Yes... if the condos being built can not be sold for as little as $1, then the city would be on the hook for a large chunck of change, likely in the neighbourhood of $800M. Though the city would gain the property securitized from the Mellinnium Group of Companies and the liklihood of the condos not being marketable at any price is nil.

So if we assume that the prices for the condos end up being 20% less than previous projections, on average, we can assume that there is a max potential shortfall of approximately $200M between the City of Vancouver and Millenium Group of Companies. A far cry from the $1B numbers being thrown around by juvenile reporters. (I might point out that it seems that most of the sensationalist articles are coming from the CanWest news service that did not win the bid to broadcast the Olympics... hmmm.)

My understanding is that this shortfall would primarily fall on Mellinnium Groups shoulders, though in all liklihood the city would be out at least $50-100M.

That being said a fantastic new neighbourhood will be born... so will the city really lose anything?

Athletes village to get $100-million loan

The city of Vancouver is providing up to $100M to the developer of Millennium Water, what the world will know as the Athlete's Village during the 2010 Olympics.

The funds will be a loan to help cover cost overruns and other shortfalls.

Read more here.

Skaters hit the ice in Richmond

As completion milestones continue to be set a big one was accomplished last week and a lesser one, although more emotionally significant set yesterday.

The major milestone last week was the installation of the ice at the Richmond Oval. Though the building is still several months away from completion, currently estimated for December 2008, the ice is now in. It won't be long before the finishing touches are complete. Viewing the oval from the exterior it looks almost complete save for some landscaping and construction debris.

The emotional milestone that took place yesterday was the first skating at the rink which was undertaken by none other than several members of the Canadian Olympic Team including medal winners Clara Hughes, a Summer and Winter Olympian, and Jeremy Wetherspoon.

More on the historical skate here.

Photo credit: Canada.com

VANOC Will Deliver Athletes Top Hotel Service

Nejat Sarp, VANOC's vice president of services and villages, wants to bring a "Service One" resort hotel mentality to the Vancouver 2010 Games Athletes Village.

Athletes will only have to call one number for all of their needs, no matter what they are; laundry, wake-up call, food... same number.

Sarp has come from a hotel background and wants to bring that same level of service to the athletes villages. He wants athletes to be able to focus on their task at hand, sport.

Read more about his plans here.

Opening Their Home for the Olympics

While some are planning to "cash in" with an Olympic Rental others are planning to remain "cash neutral" for the experience.

One family, the Hamills of Vancouver's WestSide plan to offer a guest suite in their home free of charge to the family of an athlete whom otherwise might not be able to attend the games given the cities room shortage that will inevitably push up prices during Olympic fever.

The Hamills even plan to pick up the family from the airport and are even willing to show them around the town about and take them out for dinner to achieve this Olympic experience they crave.

VANOC is hoping that more families than just the Hamills catch this Olympic Spirit.

HBC Unveils Beijing 2008 Clothing

You can't please all of the people all of the time. That saying is especially true for the 2008 clothing unveiled for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The clothes unveiled by the Hudson's Bay Company definitely have some hits and misses.

The overall concept of the 'new sport camouflage' by designer Tu Ly is a good one, in the right doses. Pieces that have hints or accents of the Canadian-Chinese fusion design look great, items that are all sport-camo are quite abrasive to say the least.

The sport-camo hoodie could work. It's a little loud, but not that bad on the whole. The matching pants though are horrible. They're probably just far to reminiscent of 'jams' for their own good. At least they aren't fluorescent.

This Olympic line is available for purchase but is not the clothing that the Canadian Olympic Team members will wear at the various ceremonies in Beijing. That outfit will be unveiled as they enter the Opening Ceremonies.

More from The Province.

Athlete: Hayley Wickenheiser

Hayley Wickenheiser has been a constant force on Canada's National Women's Ice Hockey team for several years now. She has singlehandedly struck fear into the hearts of entire nations. Once again she has been highlighted for her grit and determination by being named by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 25 Toughest Active Athletes.

Wickenheiser is expected to lead Team Canada as the team's Captain for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games.