IOC Declares Vancouver Ready For 2010 Olympics
August 28, 2009: With the 2010 Winter Olympics less than six months off, and the Olympic Torch Relay getting underway in about two months, the International Olympic Committee this week declared that “Vancouver is ready for 2010." The proclamation came at the end of the ninth, and final, visit to Vancouver by the IOC Coordination Commission, which viewed the facilities, meet with the Vancouver Organizing Committee and got updates from marketing partners and sponsors.
The Winter Olympics will be held Feb. 12-28, 2010. Worldwide Olympic parters are Coca-Cola, Acer, GE, Atos Origin, McDonald's, Omega, Panasonic and Samsung. National partners inlcude GM Canada, Petro Canada, Hudson's Bat and Rona. Official supporters and suppliers include Ricoh, Air Canada, Bombardier, 3M, Molson, Dow and Wrigley Canada.
“The organizers of the Games in Vancouver and Whistler are ready for 2010," René Fasel, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission, said in a statement. "We’ve heard from VANOC and its partners about all the steps that they are undertaking to ensure that the athletes and other Games visitors have a fantastic Olympic and Paralympic experience. We are extremely happy with what we have seen and heard, and are confident that they will deliver.”
The IOC commission did say there still were operations to be put in place and facilities that were not completed, but that "This is not unexpected with a project of this size and complexity," according to Fasel. “With the Olympic flame getting ready to travel across the great nation of Canada, VANOC and its partners are starting to reach an extremely fine level of detail in their preparations. This often brings with it some last-minute challenges and the need to find solutions. [But] our Canadian friends are well prepared to deal with them. As we enter the home stretch, people around the globe are watching and waiting for [Vancouver] to deliver a great Games not just for Canada but the world.”