The Closing Ceremony of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games, which begins the countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games 1,447 days before the 2010 Opening Ceremony begins, will include Canadian music superstar Avril Lavigne.
Lavigne will headline a special production in an eight-minute segment designed to celebrate Canada and to capture the spirit of the 2010 host city.
Although the details of Vancouver 2010’s portion of the Closing Ceremony are under wraps, VANOC vice president of Culture and Ceremonies Burke Taylor says, “the show will use the opportunity to begin telling the story of Canada’s Games in 2010 by featuring a combination of uniquely Canadian talent and themes that reflect the country form coast to coast to coast. As a high profile Canadian artist, Lavigne’s participation symbolizes VANOC’s goal of making Vancouver 2010 Canada’s Games”.
VANOC is sending an observer team to attend part or all of the Turin 2006 Games as part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) observer program for future Games Host and Bid Cities. There will be 80 members from the organizing committee, 25 employees to the Paralympic Winter Games and 16 to work directly for Turin 2006 on secondments. The VANOC Board of Directors is also attending the Games – six members travelling with their constituencies and 14 travelling under VANOC.
There will be an update from Vancouver 2010 as part of the agenda of the IOC Executive Board and 118th Session of the IOC, which takes place during the week prior to the opening of the Games.
