The View from Here: London & Sochi Lessons

Sochi and London organizers tell us it's too early to glean lessons from the experience of the Vancouver Olympics, but we have some ideas for them to think about.

Compartir
Compartir articulo
VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 20:  The Olympic flame burns in the cauldron with the during day 9 of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 20, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.  (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 20: The Olympic flame burns in the cauldron with the during day 9 of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on February 20, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Sochi and London organizers tell us it’s too early to glean lessons from the experience of the Vancouver Olympics, but we have some ideas for them to think about.

Don’t underestimate.

For the past week, VANOC has blamed some glitches on underestimates. Whether the wave of Vancouverites eager to see the Olympic cauldron or the muddy conditions at the Cypress snowboard venue that led to cancellation of general admission tickets, VANOC says it could not foresee problems until they became an issue.

Fortunately, VANOC has managed to respond with solutions before reaching peril.

The burgeoning crowds in Vancouver (so far handled without serious incident) are a sure signal that crowd control might be one of the potential issues London would be careful to manage ahead of time.

A metropolitan area five times the size of Vancouver means there are enough Londoners to choke the city in pedestrian gridlock in 2012. Tube capacity – often maxed-out for daily commutes – will be stressed as never before.

For Sochi, the 2014 Olympic theater is spread among three stages. Two of them -- the venue cluster for ice sports and the venue cluster for snow events -- are relatively close together. But the resort city of Sochi itself, with hotels, restaurants and other diversions, is 20 to 30 minutes north of the Olympic sites. A new bypass road will make the journey quicker by rubber-tired vehicle and a swift train runs to the site.

What Sochi cannot underestimate is the need for these transit links to work without a hitch. Unlike Vancouver, walking won’t be an option should the bus be missed or the trains are delayed. And slow-moving transitwilltest the patience of media and spectators. That would be an inauspicious debut for Sochi, which hopes to impress as a new travel destination.

We like the seemingly more relaxed security routine for Vancouver media that makes entry to Olympic venues a pleasure. Random screenings for reporters means no lines to get in, a liberating experience that we hope London and Sochi can emulate.

The economic downturn seems to have hit Vancouver hard when it comes to decorating the city in the so-called “look of the Games”. Street pole banners are tiny and often inconspicuous, while building wraps simply do not exist. The feel that the Olympics are taking place is confined to areas where events are being held, which are also the only locations where the look of Vancouver takes hold.

London and Sochi, with more ground to cover than Vancouver, have some thinking to do about how to give their locales an Olympic feel without spending more on banners than sport.

But for what Vancouver may lack in graphic display, the people of the city and the throngs from around the world are creating a buzz that’s sometimes been missing from recent Games. London and Sochi, we hope, will be people’s Games, too.

To subscribe to Around the Rings Click Here

Written by Ed Hula in Vancouver.

Recent Articles

The Friendship Games organized against Russia against the IOC will have the participation of 70 countries

The World Friendship Games (WFG) will feature competitions in 36 sports and will award 283 medals to the winners. The Russian Government announced that a press conference will soon be held to present them with more details and clarified that the invitations to participate are addressed to athletes and not to countries.
The Friendship Games organized against Russia against the IOC will have the participation of 70 countries

Clues about the pebetero: it will not be in the stadium but in the middle of Paris and in public view

From France, information indicates that the site chosen for the Olympic fire to be lit since July 26 would be the emblematic Tuileries Garden. Official sources did not confirm the fact, but they recognize the idea that it is located in the heart of Paris and in full view of fans.
Clues about the pebetero: it will not be in the stadium but in the middle of Paris and in public view

Nearly a thousand boats will welcome the torch in France

The parade in the Mediterranean will be minutes before disembarkation at the Old Port of Marseille; they must meet certain requirements and apply to participate.
Nearly a thousand boats will welcome the torch in France

France says it will “be ready” to ensure safety at the Olympic Games while raising the alert level

The attack in Moscow threatened the whole of Europe and security in Paris is once again in the spotlight, just four months after the parade of delegations on the Seine River.
France says it will “be ready” to ensure safety at the Olympic Games while raising the alert level

Will Paris 2024 have its red carpet?

Although all the expectations for July 26 are set on an opening ceremony that promises to be extraordinary, it is likely that, in the hour before the party, the world will attend a parade of luminaries from sports, arts and entertainment.
Will Paris 2024 have its red carpet?