Alan in Montréal

As others have pointed out. VANOC has jumped through hoops to deal with weather issues that many other organizing committees from the past would have crumbled under. Cyprus may have been a less than favourable choice, but after temperatures exceeding 10C for days in a row and what seems like a never ending rain storm, the fact that events were run there at all is actually amazing and a testament to what VANOC has accomplished. And the venues are FULL. We've all seen Games that appears to be models of great organization except the stands were empty. Athens? Beijing? And full venues means transportation problems for the first few days. Every games has had its glitches. Usually after the first few days they disappear and this is going to happen at Vancouver as well. And guess what folks. It's 10C in Sochi today. And rain is forecast as well. So this is going to happen there too. Check this out: SOCHI WEATHER Some of the world press needs to take a valium.

A very good op-ed piece. To label these Games as "worst ever" is just stupid. But on the other hand, some of the mess-ups are not being handled well by VANOC. And some of the decisions being made -- i.e. the fencing of the cauldron are just dumb. Olympic organizers could use some humility

The cute singer is Montreal's Nikki Yanofsky - a brilliant jazz singer who just turned 16. She performs all over the world already and performed for over 100,000 at the Montreal International Jazz Festival last summer. (Now if you really want my opinion, the cutest one in the show was the shirtless aboriginal stud who welcomed us to the Games - the 4th one -- but I digress)Here's her website" http://www.nikkionline.ca/ This promo roll is from 2007 when she was 13. This girl is going to be very,very big soon. A total ball of talent. I have her "Ella - Of The I Sing" CD. One of my favourites.

I completely agree with you. I can't believe the stupid cauldron door would not open. And I can't believe they couldn't find a way to have someone run out there and move it. In any event, I think the cauldron is kind of ugly. But I suspect there is significance to the four bowls plus the centre bowl. Most likely the Four Host Nations. In general, I thought the ceremony was well done and very innovative. No one will ever be able to beat what Beijing did (however, in my opinion, the best OC every was Sydney 2000. )

Wow - a Canadian bragging about how great our country is. How totally out of character for us.

Think back to Albertville -- then look at this. OMG - the Winter Games openings have come a long way -- HOW MANY OF YOU THINK THE NEW STANDARD WILL BE TO DO WINTER CEREMONIES INDOORS! You CANNOT do this outside. I'm very impressed so far. I suspect the cauldron lighting will be amazing.

something will come from that cover on the floor - ahhh -- Mountains.

YES. It will be released on iTunes tomorrow (Feb 13) I believe.

Wow - Nicki Webster sure changed! This one is just a bit too close to the Nicky flying part from Sidney. And what would they do now without those giant projections onto the floor? They are pretty much the standard now.

It's very similar to the crazy dancing part in Sidney 2000.

See - we're much more than maple syrup, igloos and hockey.

That aint's Scottish! That's from Canada's east coast - based on Scottish roots. I mean it's Nova Scotia - which is Latin for New Scotland.

http://www.ctvolympi...html?cid=rssctv Live feed of the final day of the torch relay -- as the torch winds its way through downtown Vancouver.

Join the virtual wave to cheer-on Vancouver 2010 and our athletes! All you need is a webcam and you can join the wave. Or you can just watch it and enjoy... http://iwilldreambig.ca/#/Wave And here's a video featuring Kurt Browning leading a team of "wavers" in Toronto...

Here we go folks! Just a few more hours!

I love that CBC video! How beautiful is that?

I say it should be Barbara Anne Scott - the first North American to win a medal in figure skating (she won gold for Canada) in St. Moritz in 1948. And she was the torch-bearer chosen to bring the flame into the House of Commons during its visit to Parliament Hill.

Who says the arms would have to stay on the cauldron if the bowls were removed? LOL.Anyway, someone else suggested that we've only seen the larger "bowls" lit and in reality the arms will also have flames coming out and will be hidden by the flames, giving it the appearance of a bonfire. It's interesting. The pics show the arms of some of the smaller bowls going directly into the "walls" behind them, while the main one comes up from below. I wonder if that has any significance?

Yum.

But wait! Maybe those "sub flames" will be detached and brought to the various "mini-cauldron" locations. So they will be lit as part of the ceremony, giving them their proper respect, but then detached and transported to the other sites. And, when the Games finish, they would be brought back and extinguished as part of the closing, all in the same place??? Just my guess.

Apologies if this has already been posted: Montreal's Nikki Yanofsky (16 years old) sings "I Believe", CTV's official Vancouver 2010 them song: "I Believe" (full 4 minute version) put to great video highlights of the Olympic torch relay. Great stuff: (the second version is my favourite) Note: in the first video, be sure to catch the images of Barbara Anne Scott - 1948 Olympic Gold Medalist in figure skating. There is a brief picture of her in 1948, followed by a quick video capture of her holding the Olympic torch in the House of Commons in Parliament. Great moment!

See - this is how they do thing in the "host city" world. You put legislation in effect during the bid process which forbids government money from being used beyond a certain level. Then, the taxpayers feel safer and support the bid.Once it's in progress, when things start to go bad - no problem - just convene the House and pass legislation "exceptionally" allow you to thumb your nose at the legislation you so highly trumpeted a few years back and use tax money afterall. Incredible.

...and you can bet the speculators and scalpers have purchased tons of these tickets with dreams of getting rich later.

What a joke. And just today, Standard and Poors has indicated that this financial mess will impact Vancouver's credit rating, resulting in higher borrowing costs in the form of interest, and higher taxes for the citizens of the city. Seems like all those silly poor people and activists who protested the bid because this could happen were dead on. The Olympic circus once again leaves behind its legacy of debt and broken promises. And it's every citizen in Canada who will pay a portion for this mismanagement. But Vancouver's citizens will pay the most. I hope everyone buys a DVD of the ceremonies and highlights when the flame is extinguished in a bit more than a year from now, so you can rationalize that "it was all worth it." Wouldn't it be nice if the IOC urged bidding cities to stop building monuments for a sports festival and awarded the bids to cities that made use of existing facilities with minor upgrades required.

Well, Montreal often gets cited as an example of out of control spending and Olympic debts, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind with Montreal 1976. Montreal was the first Olympics following Munich, and the new security demands placed upon Montreal's organizing committee by the IOC were never part of the original bid budget because the PLO terrorism at Munich hadn't taken place by that time. Those costs were substantial but not part of the original estimates. Additionally, the TV network revenues back in those days were no where near where they are today. The TV rights for Montreal 1976 brought in about $34.8 million. That's all! The costs overruns in terms of construction were definitely an issue, but additional costs didn't help. And back then, with less than $35 million in revenue from TV rights, the organizing committee had really no other way to raise the funds to cover the costs.