The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games bid book included plans for a fleet of 16 passenger-only vessels. When Vancouver won the bid the organizing committee chose motor coaches instead. According to 24 Hours, VANOC executive vice president Terry Wright said the Ministry of Transportation and infrastructure is including ferries in its contingency plans.
A rockslide last July near Porteau Cove Provincial Park closed the Sea-to-Sky highway that links Vancouver to Whistler. Wright said, “if they ever have a repeat, even outside the Olympic window, they have something they can pull off the shelf”.
“We are reviewing and exploring marine options”, said ministry spokesman Dave Crebo. He added the Porteau Cove dock, near the site of the rockslide, would be used in case of an emergency.
Meanwhile, in Geneva International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge has denied that London 2012 overshot its budget and insisted that the scale of the Games should not be rolled back.
The Times of India reports Rogge commenting Sunday that the London Organising Committee was simply resorting to a reserve fund after planned use of private sector funding for the Olympic village provide to be “difficult”.
When asked about the impact of the economic crisis and London 2012’s reported money problems, Rogge said, “the scale shouldn’t be reduced, and here again I’d say there is a misunderstanding. It’s not an increase in the budget; it is the use of a reserve fund, which by the way was rather generous, with 2.7 billion pounds. That’ll allow the organizing committee to carry out the work without trouble”.
The Freeride World Tour 2009 took place in Sochi January 20 to 25 which helped promote the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. A Sochi 2014 press release said conditions, atmosphere and facilities drew praise among the “elite” athletes and organizers.
Fifty-six male and female riders from several countries competed on Sochi’s Krasnaya Polyana Mountains, which “demands high quality snow conditions and good weather because of the extreme nature of the sport”.
