Vancouver View -- Activists Spotlight Poverty; Russia Reaffirms Backing for Sochi

Activists Hold Poverty Olympics

Social activists in the Downtown Eastside ghetto held their second annual Poverty Olympics on Feb. 8 at the Japanese Hall.

A street march and torch relay were followed by mock figure skating and curling competitions, such as skating around poverty and sweeping poverty aside.

"If governments made poverty and homelessness a priority like they make the Olympics a priority, they would end poverty and homelessness," said co-organizer Wendy Pedersen of the Carnegie Community Action Project.

The Downtown Eastside is the poorest neighborhood in Canada with HIV and hepatitis infection rates comparable with developing nations in Africa. The rundown area is two blocks from hockey venue GM Place.

"Our governments say that B.C. is the best place on earth. Well for those of you out there in the world who think Canada is a rich country, look again," said Pedersen.

"This is not the best place on earth. People in B.C. live in shocking poverty."

The group is planning a third edition of the satirical protest during the 2010 Games.

Chernyshenko: Russia Will Build Everything

Sochi 2014 CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said the Russian government is backing the Games, even if private partners responsible for building several venues suffer financing troubles.

"We enjoy the full governmental support and the government is even committed to help the private investors who are involved in the preparation of the Sochi Games, to provide them with good credit on good terms," Chernyshenko said during a three-day visit to Vancouver.

One of those investors is Oleg Deripaska, owner of debt-laden Basic Element. Deripaska’s projects in Sochi include the airport, athletes' village and main media center.

"He is backed by a governmental loan," Chernyshenko explained. "With him or without him, Russia will build everything."

Chernyshenko added the Games construction budget would be finalized in "a couple of months."

The Sochi sponsorship target is $800 million and is already more than a quarter there after a $260 million telecommunications deal. He said the banking category will be filled this week and oil could be announced as soon as next week.

"We are on the right way," Chernyshenko said. "We didn't underestimate the value of the products we are selling."

Chernyshenko visited Vancouver 2010 venues, met with VANOC and scouted locations for the Sochi hospitality venue. The delegation was led by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

VANOC Reveals Details of Sega Partnership

Sega and International Sports Multimedia announced Feb. 5 that they are collaborating on the official video game of Vancouver 2010. However, there will be minimal, if any, production in Vancouver, despite the city being one of the leading video game centers in North America.

"The main software releases are being produced elsewhere," ISM CEO Raymond Goldsmith said. "There might be some back-up work that we do with one or two graphic artist teams in Vancouver or possibly even in Quebec."

The games they will produce include skiing, skating and snowboarding video games for various game consoles and platforms, including mobile.

ISM and Sega's official Beijing 2008 sports simulation game sold more than 1 million units and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is nearing 10 million units, Goldsmith said.

VANOC licensing and merchandising director Dennis Kim said it has not been determined if mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi would appear in the Vancouver version.

"That's still to be determined," Kim said. "We have looked at that and talked about it with ISM."

...Briefs

...CTV British Columbia, the local affiliate of the Canadian rights-holder, launched CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca yesterday. The sites will show 2,400 hours of live competition and 14 streams from the consortium’s five networks: CTV, TQS, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and RDS. They will include user-generated content, fantasy games and access to webcasts from allied radio stations.

CTV will carry Olympic broadcasting 22 hours a day during the Games.

CTV Rogers Consortium president Keith Pelley said two co-sponsors of the Canadian broadcasts would be announced during the countdown week. Pelley said non-exclusive advertisers are being courted, despite VANOC’s desire that only official Games partners advertise.

...Molson, the official beer supplier of Vancouver 2010, is unveiling a building wrap at its brewery near the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver on Feb. 11. The project is described as a "nationwide expression of support" for 2010-bound Canadian Olympians and Paralympians.

With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.