North Shore News Daily Olympic Paper - Feb. 21, 2010

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Crowds loving Games Lindsay Kines

Canwest Olympic Team How do you like us now, Lawrence? The Vancouver Winter Games, which British golf writer Lawrence Donegan — after only three days! — suggested might go down in history as the “worst ever,” put on their best face Saturday. Under blue skies and a warming sun, thousands of people from around the world took to the city’s streets, clogging major thoroughfares like Robson and Granville that have been converted to pedestrian malls. Street performers could scarcely believe their good fortune as people lined up five and six deep to watch the shows. On every corner, two traffic cops struggled to control the rivers of people — never mind cars. For those from Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, it was unlike anything they’d ever seen before. “Never,” said Kevin Neustaedter, 52, from Coquitlam. “I bought tickets to one event and I was only going to go for one event.” But then people kept telling him how much fun it was downtown, so he showed up Saturday to soak up the carnival atmosphere and take in the evening fireworks. “The hype is building on the hype,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it.” Over at the Royal Canadian Mint Pavilion, Shavi and

O LY M P I C S

Frustrating Day for Canada Benjamin Alldritt

photo Cingy Goodman

Feel it. Live it. Share it.

Y o u r

Photographic access to the Olympic cauldron has been improved twice in response to the public outcry about the ugly security fencing that surrounded it at 1055 Canada Place.

Melissa Morsara and friends Megan Kennedy and Shannon Nichol expected to wait up to seven hours to see Olympic medals up close. “Our city’s known to be not too exciting,” Shavi

Morsara said. “This is an indication if you bring the right venues to town how people come out. It’s good to see. It’s so positive, a good

See B.C. page 4

balldritt@nsnews.com There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Saturday was a day of disappointments for Canada’s Olympians. At the Richmond Olympic Oval, the home crowd hung its hopes on Denny Morrison to medal in men’s 1,500metre speed skating. Skating in the 16th pair, Morrison led Russia’s Ivan Skobrev through the 700-metre and 1,100-metre splits before fading badly. Morrison’s time would later stand up as ninth. The story at the Oval that afternoon was Dutchman Mark Tuitert’s upset win over American Shani Davis. Norway’s Havard Bokko won bronze. Heading north to the Pacific Coliseum and shorttrack speed skating, all three Canadian women qualified in the 1,500-metre event heats. Veteran skater Tania Vicent placed a close second going into the semifinals. But Vicent would have to go it alone in the finals after Valerie Maltais came last in her race and Kalyna Roberge fell in hers. Vicent did not threaten for the podium, and China’s Yang Zhou won gold with her Olympic-record-setting pace. South Korea’s Eun-Byul Lee and Seung-Hi Park won silver and bronze. In the men’s 1,000-metre

See Short-track page 5

medal rankings 1 United States

6

7 10

2 Germany

4

6

4

3 norway

5

3

3

5 Canada

4

3

1

Watch the hyperbole Slate.com is taking the scientific approach to NBC’s tearstained coverage of the Olympics: a daily “Sap-o-Meter” that measures the use of 35 sappy words. “Courage,”“mom,” “determination” and “tragedy” all make the cut. Canadian snowboarder Alex Bilodeau merited a mention with an emotional speech about his older brother Frederic, but VANOC chief John Furlong scored the sappiest line of the Olympics thus far with an opening ceremonies address that featured five “magics”, a “heart” and a “dream.”

Colbert loves ice-holes Stephen Colbert’s visit to Vancouver is turning into a love-fest. North Van salmon activist Mary-Sue Atkinson sat in on the taping of his show this week and collected a special “touch.” See story page 3.

West Vancouver Community Centre

Spirit Square an official 2010 Celebration site Enjoy Live Music & Performance Explore Sport, Space, & Art we s tva n co uve r 2 0 1 0 . c a