Vice President Joe Biden will lead the U.S. delegation at the Vancouver Olympics.
Biden will be accompanied by his wife Jill at the Opening Ceremony Feb.12. The delegation will stay in Vancouver until the 15th.
The White House announced the U.S. delegation Tuesday.
Along with the Bidens, the official U.S. delegation includes: David Jacobson, U.S. Ambassador to Canada and Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and head of the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sports. Gold medalists Mike Eruzione, Peggy Fleming and Vonetta Flowers complete the delegation.
Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security Secretary will lead the U.S. delegation at the closing ceremony Feb. 28. Also in the closing ceremony delegation: Ambassador Jacobson; Kathleen Sebelius, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary; Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.; gold medalists Bonnie Blair, Manny Guerra, and Kristi Yamaguchi. Peter Axelson world champion monoskier will also attend the ceremony.
Eric Shinseki, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary, will lead the Paralympic delegation. Ambassador Jacobson will join the Paralympic delegation, as will other U.S. government officials and Paralympians.
Former First Lady Laura Bush led the U.S. delegation in Turin, and President Bush led the U.S. delegation in Beijing. VANOC reportedly is expecting delegations from 25 to 35 countries.
Venue Security, Airport Style
Fans entering Olympic venues should prepare themselves for airport-style security, says VANOC.
"The public should treat going through security at a venue just like they would getting on an airplane," says inspector Keith Davidson, private security coordinator for the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit.
"That means getting there early, bringing the smallest bag possible and emptying pockets of metal items. This will help us get you through quickly,” he said at a test of security procedures at Pacific Coliseum on Monday. Pacific Coliseum will host figure skating and short track speedskating.
"Screening at venues is part of ensuring the safety and enjoyment of all our spectators, staff and athletes," says Jan Damnavits, Director of Venue Management - City Cluster. "Spectators should prepare for the screening process before they reach the venue and can begin as early as today by reading their spectator guide or checking vancouver2010.com to become familiar with the list of restricted items and actions."
VANOC encourages fans to arrive two hours before the start of events at city venues and three hours for events in the mountains. Similar to an airport, spectators will be asked to walk through a metal detector and belongings will be subject to x-ray screening. VANOC estimates the security check should take about a minute once spectators reach the front of the queue.
Intrawest Ad Says Whistler Ready for Games
A full-page ad in the Jan. 31 New York Times might seem to be aimed at dispelling doubt over the viability of the Whistler Blackcomb resort, now facing foreclosure and auction.
“Game On” touts the headline of the full-page ad in the Sunday newspaper that shows a skier heading down a slope.
“32FT of snowfall this season at Whistler Blackcomb” the copy continues.
The resort, site of alpine events and the Whistler Sliding Center, is owned by Intrawest, a Vancouver-based firm that also owns resort properties in Colorado, Vermont and Florida. But the investment group that controls Intrawest is far enough behind in its debt payments that Blackcomb is set to be auctioned on Feb. 19.
But Stuart Rempel, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Whistler Blackcomb , says the ad is aimed at skiers, not doubters.
"The audience is skiers and snowboarders," Rempel told Around the Rings. "We have had a tremendous amount of snow this year and we want everybody to know that we are ready for the Games. We want to obviously bring attention to our resort."
While the business distress of Intrawest is real, the likelihood that the Whistler resort and the Olympics will be affected, is supposed to be near nil. The Intrawest company line is that is “business as usual” at all of its resort properties and that Whistler Blackcomb will have a successful Winter Games.
Rempel says the advertisement is part of a multifaceted add strategy that includes emails and social media. Similar ads have appeared in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.
"This is a strategy informing people that we have great skiing and that we are ready for the Games,” says Rempel.
Victory Podium Unveiling
With 10 days until the Games, VANOC unveils the design of the Victory Ceremony podium at a press event today at the Main Press Centre.
Media will see the medal podium and the custom costumes that the athlete escorts and flower bearers will wear.
Six-Figure Fines for Italians Caught Doping
Any Italian Olympian caught doping at the Vancouver Games will face a substantial fine.
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) says it will fine Olympians convicted of doping 100,000 Euros, about $140,000. CONI announced on Tuesday that all 109 Italian Winter Olympians will sign a document agreeing to pay the fine. CONI president Giovanni Petrucci said that athletes must sign or they won’t go to Vancouver.
CONI required its athletes to sign a similar pledge before the Beijing 2008 Games but without a fine.
Olympics on the Small Screen
Verizon phones will provide Vancouver Olympics content in a partnership with NBC Universal.
Verizon and NBC Universal said on Tuesday that they have an agreement to provide Olympic coverage Verizon's FiOS TV, broadband and wireless customers. Verizon customers will have access to the 835 hours of NBC Universal and access to content on Verizon 2010 Olympic V-Cast Channel.
"Verizon's advanced fiber-optic and wireless networks will help deliver the ultimate Olympics experience to our customers this winter," said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. "They'll see the best that Verizon and NBC Universal have to offer – on any screen, including video on demand, HD, Verizon Wireless' V CAST service and more. And, they'll be able to follow all the action, in depth and as it happens."
AT&T is the official wireless partner for the U.S. Olympic Committee,and has complained about Verizon advertising that uses a pair of speedskaters. Verizon is a sposnor of US Speedskating.
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Kyrgyzstan Delegation
Skiers Dmitriy Trelevsky and Olga Reshetkova will represent Kyrgyzstan at the Vancouver Games.
The skiers will be joined by chief coach Erkin Usubaliev, Igor Borisov who coaches Trelevsky, chef`de mission Salamat Ergeshov and NOC president Murat Saralinov.
Kyrgyzstan debuted as an independent country in the 1994 Winter Games. So far Kyrgyzstan has yet to capture an Olympic medal and the prospects are not favorable for Vancouver.
Drygin Represents Tajikistan
Three-time Olympian alpine skier Andrey Drygin will be the only participant from Tajikistan in Vancouver.
Tajikistan made its first Olympic appearance in the Winter Games as an independent nation when Drygin participated in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics where he finished the super-G and giant slalom events.
Media Watch
The New York Times takes a look at the aerial acrobatics of skiers.
A company which hoped to book the Norwegian Star cruise ship for Olympic accommodations scraps plans after slow sales.
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Written by Ed Hula and Sam Steinberg.
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