IOC EVALUATOR LIKES VANCOUVER’S ENTHUSIASM
The Toronto Sun
Wed 05 Mar 2003
Byline: BY CP

After doing damage control all day the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp. received a
huge boost last night when the head of the International Olympic Committee
evaluation team said the city could show the world the best Winter Games
ever.

Gerhard Heiberg—who the day before made headlines by saying Whistler was “too far” from Vancouver—brought a crowd of 2000 to its feet during a glitzy evening extravaganza. “If you are awarded the Games on July 2 we are quite sure you are going to show the world perhaps the best Winter Olympics ever,” said Heiberg. “With all the enthusiasm, with all the support, there is no question about it.” Heiberg flashed a large grin when the crowd began chanting: “We want the Games.” “I was going to ask you if you wanted the Games,” he said. “I have a feeling you really want the Games.”
Heiberg’s speech was like a cool towel on a fevered head for the Vancouver
bid committee.

On Monday, while visiting Whistler as part of his committee’s examination of
the Vancouver bid, he was asked what he thought of the 120-km Sea-to-Sky Highway that links the alpine resort with Vancouver. “One problem only, it’s too far from Vancouver,” Heiberg said. “You need to shorten the time, if possible.” Even though Heiberg tried to soften his comments later in the day it still put the Vancouver bid committee on defence.

John Furlong, the committee’s president and chief operating officer, said the question of how long it takes to get to Whistler isn’t a threat to the 2010 Winter Games coming to the Lower Mainland. “I don’t think anything to do with that is any threat to the bid,” Furlong said. “I think what you’re going to see at the end of the process, every bid is going to be scored on various things and there will be a broad assessment made on the overall concept.”

Jack Poole, the committee’s chairman and chief executive officer, even tried
to lighten the mood. “We explored the notion of moving Whistler a little closer to Vancouver and abandoned that early on in the game,” he said, jokingly. Furlong tried to put Heiberg’s comment in the best possible light.
“I drove down (to Vancouver) with Mr. Heiberg last night and my sense of
what happened yesterday was ... in fact an inspirational comment,” Furlong
said. “We need to get on with fixing the road and we’re committed to it and his comments were largely directed to, ‘We’re looking forward to seeing what those improvements will be’ and I think he recognizes that those improvements that are planned are going to make the trip to Whistler faster.”

Vancouver, the South Korean city of Pyeongchang and Salzburg, Austria, are bidding for the 2010 Games. The IOC will name a winner July 2 in Prague. Today is the final day of the IOC committee’s four-day technical inspection of the Vancouver bid.

Multicultural display for IOC commission
The Vancouver Sun
Wed 05 Mar 2003
Byline: Kevin Griffin

It was a Canadian and British Columbian love-in Tuesday night.
The Celebration of Canada gala for the IOC’s site selection commission at
the Queen Elizabeth Theatre showed off Canada’s multicultural diversity and
cultural talent, featuring performers, singers, dancers and entertainers
from across the country. The fast-paced show included O Canada performed by the Whistler Childrens’ Choir, flanked by four RCMP officers dressed in their red serge, saluting the audience.

After traditional Japanese drumming by Uzume Taiko and modern industrial-style drumming from Scrap Arts, the curtain lifted to reveal David Foster playing the theme song he wrote for the 1988 Calgary Olympics on a black piano. Afterwards, the Victoria-born winner of 13 Grammy Awards addressed the crowd, saying how much he loved the Olympics and how proud he is to be a British Columbian. He said if Vancouver is awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics, he would be honoured to write the theme song, although he joked it would be hard to find a word that rhymes with Whistler. “The pride I felt during those moments is what we are all feeling here this evening,” Foster said, referring to the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “I have a real love affair with this place, right here, where I grew up.”

fter Foster, the gala featured a multicultural mix of dances, ranging from Eire Born Irish Dance and Kokoma African Dancers to Tropak Ukrainian dancers and Strathcona Chinese Dance Company. Brigitte Sherrer then gave a stunning performance, hanging suspended in the air about 20 feet above the stage performing a Cirque Du Soleil-style aerial dance called From Sea to Sky. Dancers from ballet British Columbia performed Infinite Passion, an excerpt from The Faerie Queen.

Foster ended the show playing the piano again as he accompanied Beverley
Staunton and the Magee secondary and Mountain secondary school concert
choirs, who sang The Power of the Dream.