(ATR) On time and on budget construction has allowed the VANOC board of directors to devote most of their July 18 meeting with Games time operations planning.
CEO John Furlong told a post-meeting news conference that the board examined various front-of-house, back-of-house and in-house operations scenarios facing venues beyond those being used for competition.
“We tend to look at the games as 15 or 16 athletic facilities when actual fact the number of venues we’ll be utilizing is more like 70 or 80,” Furlong said.
He said a detailed overview would be made public in August.
“Staging the Games is essentially the equivalent to staging three Super Bowls-a-day for 15 days,” said Rusty Goepel, a British Columbia government-appointed director who acted as chair in Jack Poole’s absence.
Poole participated in some of the meeting via teleconference, Goepel said. Poole was at home recovering from pancreatic surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
Furlong said VANOC’s progress report to the IOC at Guatemala City was “well received.” The next 2010 coordination commission meeting in September will include the seven winter sports international federation presidents for the first time.
“That’s quite a major event for us to prepare for,” he said.
The July 18 board meeting was supposed to happen in suburban Richmond, Furlong said, but unspecified logistics issues meant it was held at VANOC’s east Vancouver headquarters. TheSept. 19 meeting will be in Whistler.
Richmond, where the speedskating oval is under construction, will host the Nov. 21 meeting.
“The plan as we go on now will be to move the board meetings to some of the venue communities so the directors can get out and put their hands in the clay and touch the projects,” Furlong said.
Other highlights:
International Paralympic Committee’s 10-member staff delegation visited June 18-21 for a project review.
VANOC’s accommodations team has secured more than 80% of VANOC’s required rooms, including 14,000 in Greater Vancouver. Approximately 4,000 rooms have been committed in Whistler.
Bill C-47, the federal Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act, received Royal Assent from Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean on June 22. It’s now up to cabinet to decide when to activate enforcement.
“Now that we know what the law is we’re beginning our public education program around it and preparing businesses and marketers for the provisions of the act,” said VANOC executive vice-president of corporate strategy and government affairs David Guscott.
Ad Agency Is Named
A Vancouver-Toronto-Montreal alliance of boutique advertising agencies was announced as VANOC’s agency of record.
The Hyphen Alliance is led by Vancouver’s Hyphen Communications. Principal David Martin was managing director and chief creative officer of TBWA\Vancouver, agency of record for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. Toronto’s Downtown Partners and bleublancrouge of Montreal are the other collaborators.
The search for advertising agencies began in January, but was put on hold by VANOC budget cuts in March. VANOC now turns its focus to hiring a media-buying agency.
Reported by Bob Mackin.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
