'With Glowing Hearts' is 2010 Olympics slogan

[deja vu]

VANCOUVER–The next time hockey fans stand up before a game, one hand grasping a beer
and the other clasped over their hearts as they sing the national anthem, they will be unwitting
marketers of the 2010 Winter Games.

And the next time a grade school student fumbles her way through O Canada at the start of class
she, too, will be reciting the slogan for the Vancouver Olympics.

The words "with glowing hearts" from the English version of O Canada, and "des plus brilliant
exploits" from the French version, have been chosen as the slogan for the Games.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/506291





From left, Miga, a sea bear, Quatchi, a sasquatch, and Sumi, an animal spirit.

[CielOnTap]

Expecting "some brilliant tales" from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Athletes who manage to finish their events in rough weather, the snowboarders after their tumbles, biathlon, etc.

[CielOnTap]

Mukmuk freed - 2010 mascot makes move from cyberspace
Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, November 27, 2008
VANCOUVER - For the last year, little Mukmuk has existed only in cyberspace as a virtual sidekick to the three 2010 Winter Olympic mascots.

But no more. Mukmuk, the Vancouver Island marmot, is being freed today with his own line of merchandise, including plush toys, pins, T-shirts and the orange and blue toque the character wears online.

Vancouver Sun reporter Jeff Lee launched a whimsical "Free Mukmuk" campaign last year, urging Vanoc to release the marmot from cyberjail to join the other three mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi in the real world.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ffce8892-4d6e-4247-a9cc-6007f3e50f34

Let the reign of adorable mascots continue-sometimes they are more interesting than some of the activities.

[Smitty]

I gave up trying to stumble through the national anthem especially once the french part was added. Also I will not be at any of the winter Olympic games for they are to costly for me, and many other Cdns, though I am only a few hours away from Greater Vancouver.

UNFORTUNATELY I will be forced, to pay for all the mistakes & wastes of money for said olympics through taxes and especially as I am a B.C. residents who, like so many other Cdns that were NOT in favour of the olympics let along the thousands & thousands of dollars wasted on the bidding years.

[CielOnTap]

I did read about the Vancouver City Council having an in camera (closed door) meeting not too long ago to guarantee financing for the Olympic Village/condominium development. The project developer had experienced financial difficulties. So long as the taxpayers can get the city to take title and then sell the project (Beijing athletes' village was mostly sold through prior to the Summer Games) for money to restore to city accounts, the decision may still have hope of turning out better than expected.

Tourists from overseas enjoy Canada's outdoors, so the mascots for 2010 could create cash cheer at the tills for the next 13 months should the tourists snap up merchandise.

As you are in British Columbia, you could encourage out of town friends and family to visit and buy some souvenirs to help the cause. That is, if they have the money to do.

[Smitty]

Doubt if I would have the heart to do "--As you are in British Columbia, you could encourage out of town friends and family to visit and buy some souvenirs to help the cause. That is, if they have the money to do.--" and to get some of those souvenirs I would have to travel to Greater Vancouver to possibly purchase something ESPECIALLY when in heart I have no interest in the Olympics, as you probable have noted.

You are right about the "Closed Door" meeting in Vancouver Council & the amount was just a minor bit like 100 million dollars which is staggering in my way of looking at monies.

Also I am an honest to gosh "loner" so incourging said out of town friends is basically NIL.

I have a number of friends that are handgun shooters to hunters & you know NONE of them intend to go to the olympics as they know the costs would be staggering to staggering costs of park their truck to also any meals or where they might stay. IF they are around the TV set & something is one they might be interested in then they will WATCH.

Really those going to the olympics & forking out money to be at some of what ever they might like to see is really only for those that feel they have they money. Costs of the above no matter how few one attends is only for those that have a lot more money then most of us.

Also if the winter olympics were not on TV I doubt if many of us would feel that is such a great loss. After all some are not baseball fans, to some not interested in football, to others that are not intersted in hockey same with Formula 1 car racing to some other lines of sport that are not of their interest yet some other are, so you really do not know what they are interested in.

[CielOnTap]

Slumping economy may slice into 2010 Olympics budget
By Jeff LeeDecember 8, 2008 8:52 PM

VANCOUVER - With the economy heading into a recession and many of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics partners in financial trouble, the organizing committee has revised its operating budget just as it's about to enter its major spending period.

On Tuesday, Vancouver's Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) will present a revised and more conservative budget to its 20-member board of directors. But already, the committee has started to pare back even farther on a $1.63 billion operating budget that, compared to other Olympics, is already viewed as bare-bones.

VANOC won't release details of the revised budget until after the meeting. But CEO John Furlong has said in recent weeks that the review, which started last spring as a routine action, took on added importance when the economy went soft in September and markets began to lose ground. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Slumping+economy+slice+into+2010+Olympics+budget/1049458/story.html

At least in one area, the economy is causing a budget revision for the sporting spectacle. Let's see if the restraint continues to extend through the remainder of the activities leading up to the event.

[CielOnTap]

Auditor-General warns of escalating 2010 Olympics costs
By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun
December 12, 2008 12:17 PM

The provincial government has not adequately disclosed the financial risks associated with the 2010 Olympics and the costs of staging the Games could "escalate considerably," according to B.C. Auditor-General John Doyle.

"I share my predecessors' view that the full cost of staging the Games should include a number of items that are not included in the official budget," he writes in a letter to legislature speaker Bill Barisoff.

The government says it will spend about $600 million on the Games but a 2006 report from former auditor-general Arn van Iersel put the true cost at around $2.5 billion. That estimate included Sea to Sky Highway improvements and Canada Line costs the government feels are unrelated to staging the games.

"While the details of specific issues may have shifted to some extent since the Office's last report — cost estimates remain, to great extent, a moving target — the underlying fundamental differences of opinion between government and my Office have not," Doyle says in the letter.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Auditor+General+warns+escalating+2010+Olympics+costs/1068646/story.html

Uh oh, so not glowing with pride on that report. Show the auditor-general the contracts and the invoices, British Columbia! Even the citizens want to know what they are going to be in debt for.

[Smitty]

Actually most British Columbia citizens do NOT want to know the grand total for so many of them can only see it as being a cost debt that we have a hard time meeting even to our death.

The same happened in Montreal Quebec during the Summer Games that put a terrible toll upon the citizens of the city of Monteal itself & many passed away with age, leaving the debt upon their children till just last year I think, though it could be the year before.

[CielOnTap]

Olympic spending outpaces income
The Canadian Press
December 15, 2008 at 1:16 PM EST

Vancouver — Money for the 2010 Olympic Games is trickling in but organizers are still spending more than they're making.

The latest financial documents show the Vancouver organizing committee ran a $65-million deficit in the three months ended Oct. 31, in part because of a major loss on a foreign exchange contract and an increase in spending on technology.

But organizers say the deficit is normal because they won't make all of their revenue until closer to the Games. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081215.woly2010_1215/BNStory/National/home


I do hope that the marketing budget and sales forecasts for merchandise and tickets are close to the real sales, so that all of the advance preparation, hiring and logistical work are proving their worth.