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mr.x

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mr.x last won the day on February 26 2011

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About mr.x

  • Birthday 08/14/2002

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    Vancouver, Canada

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  1. Fingers crossed.
  2. It's Greek efficiency....and austerity?
  3. ^ to this day, I'm still quite embarrassed about that. I mean, VANOC has always emphasized the importance of the cauldron lighting at the Opening -- and yet, this happened? I was also surprised that the performers, on average, had only 21 days of training -- with each session lasting about 4 hours. And the full tally for the number of performers at the Opening was just 2,000....I'm pretty sure any one of those Salt Lake or Torino cultural acts that lasted 10-minutes had a lot more performers than that. All in all, right from the beginning, VANOC and the governments failed to realize how important the Ceremonies were. There was so much talk about the sports venues and getting them done on time and on budget (same with the transport infrastructure and Olympic Villages), yet there was little talk about the actual Ceremonies Venue. Overall, poor planning and a lack of attention to detail....whether it because of money issues, or a lack of staff (because of money issues). But it doesn't mean I still don't love Vancouver 2010, being that this is in my hometown and all. But it could have been so much better... The luge tragedy was just terrible luck, and it certainly wasn't VANOC's fault.
  4. That was a pretty terrible report, compared to previous reports by other cities. I'm guessing VANOC was in a real rush to get it all over with.
  5. Former VANOC CEO John Furlong will be co-chairing the review on the Stanley Cup Riot: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/furlong-appointed-as-co-chair-of-riot-review/article2078935/
  6. Vancouver in line to host 2015 women’s World Cup soccer final Renovated BC Place Stadium’s FIFA-approved Polytan artificial turf may be an issue, as Canada wins hosting rights to global tournament By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun March 3, 2011 3:56 PM VANCOUVER — Vancouver has a chance to host the 2015 Women's World Cup final at BC Place Stadium. The city could even hold the event's opening or closing ceremonies or be the site of the World Cup draw. It's all possible now that FIFA has officially awarded the quadrennial event to Canada and Vancouver is one of seven “candidate bid cities.” “This is awesome news,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said in an interview. “It's another great opportunity for our city to host a big global sporting event that is rapidly growing in popularity.” The City of Vancouver last month approved spending up to $400,000 over the next four years to support the 2015 World Cup and the 2014 Women's U-20 World Cup, which Canada will hold as a test event. Other Canadian cities bidding to host 2015 World Cup games and events include Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Moncton. Toronto withdrew from consideration because of its commitments to hosting the 2015 Pan American Games. Canadian Soccer Association general secretary Peter Montopoli predicts the World Cup will boost women's soccer and the sport in general across Canada, much like the Canadian-hosted 2002 Women's U-19 World Championship and 2007 Men's U-20 World Cup did in the past. “Like the nation-building that surrounded the 2010 Olympics, this has the potential to be that kind of nation-building competition that reaches everybody in the country from coast to coast,” he said in an interview from Zurich, where FIFA announced the winning Canadian bid. “Everybody will be able to touch and feel this event.” FIFA rubber-stamped Canada's successful bid Thursday after Zimbabwe, the only other country vying for the event, withdrew earlier this week. Seven countries were interested in bidding for the 2015 World Cup last year but Montopoli said several pulled out and bid for other FIFA events after seeing the strength of the Canadian bid. Canada bid for the 2011 Women's World Cup but lost to Germany. Montopoli noted the number of registered female soccer players in Canada has doubled from about 200,000 to 400,000 since 2002 and expects more significant growth after four more years of “solid promotion” of the women's game throughout Canada. FIFA wants at least six cities to host the World Cup and all seven Canadian candidate bid cities could be successful if they pass a FIFA inspection this fall. Montopoli said decisions on which cities host which events will be made by the end of this year or early 2012. The 2015 World Cup will be bigger than the event taking place in Germany this summer because the number of teams will grow from 16 to 24 and the number of games will rise from 32 to 52. Montopoli said the CSA expects the 2014 and 2015 events will at least break even if they don't make money. The 2015 World Cup has a $40-million operating budget while the 2014 U-20 event is budgeted at between $15 million and $20 million. The federal government will provide up to $15 million and Montopoli hopes the cities and provinces will collectively provide a similar amount. The remaining funding will come from sponsorships, ticket sales and a FIFA subsidy for the 2014 event. Montopoli said the budget does not include about $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades being made to facilities to be used during the World Cup. That figure includes the $563-million BC Place Stadium renovation, a renovation at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and the cost of new stadiums in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax. BC Place games will be played on FIFA-approved Polytan artificial turf but it's not clear if the sport's world governing body would want the showcase final match played on anything but natural grass. “We'd love to host the final and we'll push hard to win that honour and I think we have a good shot with the new stadium,” Robertson said. “ … There have been examples of stadiums putting in temporary natural grass before and if that's what we need to do, hopefully PavCo can rise to that challenge.” PavCo president Warren Buckley said it would be a major undertaking to put natural grass in BC Place, as the artificial turf could not be taken out. “If we had to, obviously we would consider anything to get the final,” he said. “But FIFA has approved this [artificial] turf. That's why we're buying it.” bconstantineau@vancouversun.com On Twitter: Twitter.com/bconstantineau © Copyright © The Vancouver Sun Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Vancouver+line+host+2015+Women+World+soccer+final/4379979/story.html#ixzz1FaLpCjwq
  7. "Not so-memorable Games"...quite subjective, and not to mention that the Winter Games generally aren't "memorable" to the same extent as the Summer Games. Who really remembers Nagano? Lillehammer? Albertville? Really, only the people in the host cities/regions/nations. Not to mention, you've always had a thing against Vancouver. Vancouver is a better city today because of the Olympics, thank you very much. The "Look of the Games" is one very minor thing. It was an unfortunate thing to have cut, but recall that the world has been in recession for the last 2 years. And although the Look of the Games lacked, the city went above and beyond to provide a very hospitable and atmospheric experience - unlike any Olympics before it - in the city streets as well as in the many Live Sites. VANOC's original plans for the Look of the Games before the recession. @ Kenadian: Furlong isn't perfect, but the fact that he's one of the very, very few to have held on to the job for the entire journey is an astounding accomplishment. The guy led an organization with zero issues, until the 2008 recession rolled in.
  8. Moving on people, it's over.......
  9. Has it been a year already? Seems just like yesterday I was watching the torch relay go through its final laps in the city....sigh.
  10. Oh man....what could have been if it weren't for the recession. False Creek and BC Place would have been amazing. And check out the Olympic rings atop Grouse in the second picture.
  11. ^ They said that the torchbearers at BC Place were only a minute away from running out of gas in their torches....scary indeed.
  12. ^ Better question: what was Le May Doan thinking? lol.
  13. Sigh...cheap stiffs at VANOC shut it down. What can I say? ...they should've had made 2010 Legacies Now pay the bills for keeping the website online for at least until London...
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