Furlong Says Vancouver Olympics About Many, Not Few

(ATR) The head of the Vancouver Olympics says the 2010 Games can be remembered as "not about the few, but about the many."

"If you wandered across the country today and visited with people anywhere in Canada, they would say that this is something we have done together," Furlong told a group of reporters at a breakfast Wednesday.

"People are celebrating over the whole of Canada and that's something that's new to us," he says.

Furlong says the Olympics have changed Vancouver as a city, imbuing its citizens with confidence.

"There's euphoria here. People want to feel good. The city is feeling good about itself."

Furlong says that despite some early concerns for transportation and the challenges posed by lack of snow at the Cypress Mountain venue, the Games have settled into a routine that has made planned daily meetings with IOC unneeded.

Furlong says attacking problems early has been a key ingredient to Vancouver's success so far.

"The biggest lift we have had is hearing what the athletes have to say about their accommodation, their transportation, about everything.

"Our priority has been to make sure that if there is anything that might interfere with the athlete experience, we remove before it became any kind of a factor,” said the VANOC CEO.

Furlong described Cypress Mountain as “especially unkind” with the weather challenges faced by VANOC to stage the snowboard and freestyle ski events at the North Vancouver venue.

"We fought it and the team up there has by and large won and kept the events going," he said.

Furlong promisesa "warm, happy, fun-filled goodbye" from Vancouver Sunday during the closing ceremony, for which rehearsals are now underway.

And he pledged a smooth departure experience when as many as 35,000 travelers are expected to depart Monday from Vancouver International Airport.

"Huge numbers of people, at the airport and from VANOC will work the airport from the crack of dark to the crack of dark to make sure the experience at the airport is as positive as it can be," said Furlong.

As far as advice for Sochi, the host of the 2014 Winter Games, Furlong is telling the Russians to manage their time well.

"We have discovered that the day you lose in the first week becomes ten at the end. You cannot underestimate how much time you feel you need."

The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili remains the most somber chapter of the Vancouver Games, an event of a kind that Furlong says he has never had to face.

He would not say whether VANOC might still face legal issues arising from the incident during a training run the day of opening ceremony. An investigation by the British Columbia Coroner is still pending.

"It will continue for a while and it needs to take its own course, we’ll see what comes out of it.

"The most important thing from my standpoint is that this organization needed to respond appropriately to the team from Georgia, to the family, to that young man’s friends in the best way we can and let the other things end up where they end up," said Furlong.

Written by Ed Hula.