Olympic Capsules: Party's over, and Vancouver has Olympic hangover
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The party is over in Vancouver, replaced by an Olympic-sized hangover. The question now is how long the headaches will last.
While the streets of Vancouver overflowed with mosh pit-like crowds celebrating Canada's overtime hockey victory over the U.S. in the gold-medal game on Sunday night, the arena that hosted the game was already being dismantled from the inside out.
By the time the world media finished writing up Sidney Crosby's golden goal, the ice he scored it on had almost been completely stripped away.
The Olympic-logo faceoff dot nearest his clinching shot had been melted out of the ice and given to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in exchange for his hat, which the Zamboni driver wore while grinding away the rest of the ice. Except he wasn't driving a Zamboni, but rather a sponsor-supplied Olympia, which broke down before the ice was gone and required a second to tow it off and finish.
It was a somewhat fitting scene for an Olympics that started solemnly with the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash, and struggled through weather, technical and performance issues in the middle, before finishing in climatic fashion with a historic hockey win.
By the time Vancouver awoke Monday — many belatedly and with bloodshot eyes no doubt — the celebratory din that followed had been replaced by sounds of power tools as temporary venues were dismantled and packed into moving vans. The red-and-white crowd had given way to more typical weekday attire, with only a smattering of Canada logos among the power suits and dark overcoats.
"We've done a lot of triple-shot drinks this morning," said Kyle Straw, the manager — and award-winning barista — at Caffe Artigiano, one of Vancouver's most popular stops for coffee. "I've never seen this city celebrate so big, never been in a crowd as intense and thick as it was last night."
The remnants of that crowd, including many of the 60,000 people crammed into Sunday s closing ceremonies, were surprisingly manageable.
Garbage was in, or at least nearby, the numerous temporary trash cans, with a solitary shoe on the sidewalk the only sign of the recent revelry.
"We expected a lot worse," said Jody Weatherby, an electrician with the City of Vancouver as he helped repair street-crossing signals damaged in the party.
Like low-lying fruit, the signals were an easy and expected target, too easy for those that had one too many to jump up, grab onto and hang from. But other than that, Weatherby said the biggest damage on Monday was to the city's mood.
"The feeling is such a cascade leading up and everybody got caught up in it and now that it is over they are deflated, he said. "They want it to go on."
That was evident down the road at the official Olympic Superstore.
The lines were shorter — less than half a block after stretching as long as five-blocks during the Games — but by noon the store was packed with people in search of Olympic memorabilia. Even with the popular $10 red mittens sold out, people lined up 50 deep to pay full price for all kinds of Canada and 2010 items, perhaps unaware the same stuff was already marked down 70 percent in the suburbs.
As willing as Vancouver residents were to pay for an Olympic memento, the long-term cost of hosting the 2010 Winter Games could be a lot more expensive and harder to swallow.
With a price tag between $2-$7 billion, depending on whether you are a critic or proponent, there are Olympian-sized bills to be paid. The City is on the hook for the $1 billion athlete's village, and can only hope the competitor's rave reviews, combined with picturesque television footage of the waterfront it sits on, will be enough to sell the units at a high enough price to cover the costs — and still keep promises of 250 units of social housing, which now seems unlikely.
That will be an ongoing rallying cry for various groups of protesters that made their voices heard during the Games, loudly pointing out the irony of escalating Olympic costs at a time of cuts to education, health care and social services, particularly in the drug-riddled Downtown Eastside.
And while most of the water cooler talk — it was also a great place to wash down some aspirin — on Monday was about Crosby and so many of the other great stories behind a record 14 gold medals for Canada, some also wondered aloud about the lasting impact of the Olympics on the city.
"Right now people are still in a bit of shock that it's over and there is an Olympic downer," said Joe Cahan, an attorney and longtime resident who was admittedly against the Winter Games, even leaving town the first week before getting caught up in the finale. "It was incredible for Canadian athletes and great exposure to the world. But we're also mulling over what it means long-term to Vancouver beyond higher taxes and property prices, and I'm pessimistic about the benefits."
Vancouver atmosphere will be tough to match
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Top that if you can.
Amid the tragedy, the medals race and the hockey frenzy, the Vancouver Olympics will be remembered above all for the fervor and ebullience of its Canadian hosts.
For future Olympic host cities London, Sochi and Rio de Janeiro, matching Vancouver's festive atmosphere will be a tough act to follow.
"The way Vancouver embraced these games was extraordinary," International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said. "I've never seen anything on this scale before. This is really something unique."
Rogge and other IOC officials were unanimous in their verdict that Vancouver delivered the greatest ambiance and public enthusiasm of any Winter Games since the magical 1994 Games in tiny Lillehammer, Norway. Vancouver's joyous mood also has been compared with the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.
"Future organizers know that there is really a need to create this kind of big embrace," Rogge said. "It's something you can't create on a piece of paper."
Despite the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash on the day of the opening ceremony and a rash of glitches and weather problems in the first few days, Vancouver lifted the Winter Games to a whole new level.
The streets were filled with partying spectators, the venues were packed with cheering fans and the entire country seem united for two weeks behind a single cause.
"For the first time, the Winter Olympic Games are on equal footing with a Summer Olympic Games," said Kevan Gosper, a senior IOC member from Australia. "When we look back, we can say Vancouver is where we could start comparing Winter Games with Summer Games and not just winter with winter and summer with summer."
The Winter Olympics, which debuted in 1924, were given their own identity when the IOC changed the cycle to put the Summer and Winter Games in different years starting in 1994.
Next up is London, which will host the 2012 Summer Games, becoming the first city to stage the Olympics for a third time. London also held the Olympics in 1908 and 1948.
London's project is based on renovating a downtrodden part of east London into a showpiece Olympic park. London's West End and other areas should be a magnet for nightlife and party atmosphere. As in Vancouver, live sites will be set up around the city for fans to watch events on big screens and enjoy musical entertainment.
Sebastian Coe, leader of the London organizing committee, was particularly impressed with the full venues and public spirit in Vancouver.
"Not since Sydney have I seen a city embrace the games the way they've been embraced here," Coe said. "My gut instinct is that is what these games will be remembered for. I haven't been anywhere where there's been an empty seat in the house. And the people look like they want to be there."
In 2012, Coe said he expects around 250,000 fans to flock into the Olympic Park every day, and at least an additional 1 million people to come to the city for the games.
London is the next Summer Games after the spectacular Olympics in Beijing, but Coe and others prefer not to make any comparisons.
"We will never see a games like Beijing again," Coe said. "That's not typical of the way games are going to be delivered. You take from Beijing the extraordinary obsession with detail and eye for delivery. You take from Sydney the party atmosphere and here the party atmosphere and engagement. These are all things you need to bring together for a games."
Gosper said Vancouver is more of a benchmark for London than Beijing.
"Beijing was a spike, with huge amounts of money thrown at the games," he said. "It was a bit of an aberration. Vancouver has brought us back to the norm and provided a more realistic backdrop for London than Beijing."
Sochi, a Black Sea resort, is hosting Russia's first Winter Games in 2014. Organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Sochi will do its best to match Vancouver.
"The Canadian atmosphere here is electric," Chernyshenko said. "That is exactly what we want to reach in Russia. We will do it with a Russian touch, a Russian look without the stereotypes."
Another priority for Sochi is recruiting volunteers. Vancouver organizers brought in about 25,000 volunteers, who won rave reviews for their smiling hospitality. Russia doesn't have a tradition of volunteerism, but is recruiting volunteers from all over the country.
Another crucial factor for future host cities: the success of the home team. Having never won a gold medal at two previous Olympics on home soil (Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988), Canada piled up 14 golds in Vancouver — an all-time Winter Games record.
Most fitting of all was the way the Canadians got the record — beating the United States in the men's hockey final 3-2 with a sudden-death overtime goal by Sidney Crosby on Sunday in the final event of the games in the sport Canadians love most.
"The games started out with a nightmare and ended up with a golden dream," Gosper said. "The interest in the home country performance here was remarkable."
Britain finished fourth in the medals table in Beijing and will hope for at least the same result at home in 2012.
"I can understand why a country would want to deliver the best-trained athletes at a games," Coe said. "It's not just important for domestic fortunes, it also sets the tone and style for the games and the excitement in those venues.
"Do we want to get great big British moments and a good haul of medals in London? Yes we do."
By contrast, Sochi organizers are counting on a much better showing from Russian athletes. They had only three golds among 15 medals in Vancouver and finished sixth in the standings — the only time they have been out of the top five since the Soviet Union first competed in the Winter Games in 1956.
"I wouldn't underestimate the Russians," Gosper said. "Somehow or the other, I believe Sochi will rise to the occasion. But Vancouver has raised the bar very high."
-- Steven Wilson
After Canada's stirring gold, NHL returns to stage
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A thrilling Olympic tournament capped with a golden goal.
Hockey was enjoying a sudden burst of popularity Monday, a day after Sidney Crosby lifted Canada to a 3-2 overtime victory over the United States to win the gold medal at the Vancouver Games.
The ending could not have been better for the NHL, with the U.S. and Canada in the final and Crosby's Stanley Cup champion Penguins playing U.S. goalie Ryan Miller's Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, when most teams are back in action.
Yet the irony is that Crosby's wrister sliding under Miller might be the last Olympic memory the NHL can share.
The league has not yet agreed to stop the season again in four years to enable its players to participate in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Two-time defending MVP Alex Ovechkin has already vowed that he will play in the games in his host country regardless of what the NHL decides.
Debate continues to rage as to what effects — both positive and negative — taking a two-week break in the heart of the season has on the NHL. It all seems good when the Olympics are held in North America and its conducive time zones for television coverage of the games, and when the gold medal game features a dream matchup.
But for every finish like this one, there is also the possibility that Sweden and Finland could fight for gold on the last day, as was the case at the 2006 Turin Olympics. And next time out, the games will be in a time zone that makes for weak television ratings in North America.
NBC said Monday that Sunday's gold medal game was the most-watched hockey game in 30 years, drawing an average viewership of 27.6 million. Not since the finals of the Americans' 1980 Miracle On Ice run, when the U.S. secured gold against Finland, had so many viewed a hockey game on American television (32.8 million).
Canada's latest golden victory was seen by 10.5 million more viewers than in 2002 when the Canadians topped the U.S. for gold at Salt Lake City — a 61 percent increase.
Still, even as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman praised the Olympic tournament, there was no discussion of the future.
"The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver served as the latest affirmation that the quality of our play — and our players — is the finest in the world. We send our Olympians back to their NHL teams with our congratulations, appreciation and thanks for having represented their NHL teams, their league and their fans with such distinction," Bettman said in a statement.
"As every member of the gold and silver medal teams plays for an NHL club, the speed and skill of our outstanding athletes and our game remains on display as the excitement of our season resumes."
The NHL had one game scheduled Monday in its return from the 14-day Olympic break — Detroit at Colorado — with a 12-game slate on Tuesday. Matching the excitement of the Olympic tournament may be an impossible task, but the league is still headed to a key moment in the season. Teams have anywhere from 19 to 22 games left in the regular season to secure playoff spots, followed by the run to the Stanley Cup.
Miller will get a chance for a bit of redemption and revenge against Crosby. The kicker is that Miller will also be facing U.S. teammate Brooks Orpik, who now goes back to being on the same side as Sid the Kid as a Penguins defenseman.
"I've seen him score many goals for us in Pittsburgh," Orpik said. "It's disappointing, but if we were going to lose, I'm glad he's the guy that won."
Settling for silver stung Orpik, but in the world of Olympic hockey, teammates and opponents switch sides in the matter of 24 hours. The same thing happened in reverse two weeks earlier when NHL teams dispersed and players joined countrymen on the world stage.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have been joined at the hip since they came to Chicago and sparked the Blackhawks' return to relevance. The Olympics broke up this dynamic duo, pitting Toews and Canada against Kane and the Americans.
Toews scored the first of Canada's three gold that ended up costing Kane his dream of gold.
"I'll definitely be very respectful of what he did and what his team did at this tournament," Toews said. "I don't see it as a joking matter between the two of us. It was such a hard-fought game that I can imagine the disappointment on their side of it.
"We were this close to coming up on the losing end, too, and it would not have been a good feeling. You've got to give it to him for the way he played. I will leave it at that."
The player movement won't just involve shifting from national teams to NHL clubs. Wednesday is the league's trade deadline, and it is traditionally a busy day for dealing. Big names such as Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Olli Jokinen were traded in the days leading up to the break, but many more could be changing places in the next day or so.
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock basked in the glow of guiding Canada to gold, but like Miller he couldn't let the celebration last. The defending Western Conference champions returned from the Olympic break just outside a postseason spot. Work needs to be done to extend Hockeytown's run of consecutive playoff appearances to 19 seasons.
Detroit will depend on defenseman Brian Rafalski, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist who tied Zach Parise for the U.S. lead with four goals and eight points in the Olympics. He will get over falling short of the gold, he just doesn't know when.
"I'll tell you as time goes on," he said.
-- Ira Podell
Napier, Kohn now turn eyes toward Middle East
WHISTLER, British Columbia — The Olympics are over, and U.S. bobsled pilots John Napier and Mike Kohn have put away their red, white and blue racing suits.
Army green could be next.
Knowing it could take them away from bobsledding — not to mention loved ones — for maybe a year or more, Napier and Kohn both are hoping they'll be called upon to serve with the U.S. Army in Iraq or Afghanistan in the coming months. Napier's National Guard unit from Vermont already has been deployed, and Kohn plans to apply to Officer Candidate School for his chance to serve abroad.
"John and I have the same perspective," Kohn said. "It's a small price to pay to be able to not only live in such a great country, but to be able to represent it at the Olympic Games. I will walk through fire if I have to to continue to live in such a great country and support it as much as I can. I couldn't ask for a better place to live, and it'd be my honor to go over there."
It's unclear if either will get the chance.
Napier is part of the Army's World Class Athlete Program, which essentially means that while he is a soldier — Napier carries the rank of sergeant — he gets to represent the military by being an ambassador through bobsledding. As much as he wants to go, and he's been talking about serving in the Middle East for many months, Napier knows it's not his call.
It's up to the Army now.
"I'll do what they want and I'll be where they need me when they need me, whether it's in Afghanistan or bobsledding next year," Napier said. "Whatever they need, I'll be there and I'll do it to the best of my ability and I'll be happy as heck doing it."
Military ties are everywhere within the U.S. bobsled program. At least four of the six American sled drivers during the Vancouver Games — including four-man gold medalist Steven Holcomb — have served in the National Guard. Several U.S. coaches have served as well, and even Canadian head coach Tuffy Latour was a member of the U.S. military before moving north.
Henry Kohn couldn't be more pleased by all that.
He's Mike Kohn's father, a 27-year Army veteran who served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War and has spent roughly 3½ years since as a civilian contractor in Baghdad. Henry Kohn flew to Vancouver to watch his son compete in the two- and four-man events, knowing there's a chance it could be the last time Mike Kohn drives a bobsled for the U.S.
"It's a culmination of 20 years of him being in and out of the sport," Henry Kohn said. "We're just extremely proud of him. He's so professional. His team works at a little bit of a disadvantage because they've got light guys pushing a heavy sled. But given all that's happened here at this track, I'm extremely proud of him. He is definitely a veteran. He has negotiated this track to the best of his ability. It's just the crowning jewel."
And to hear that both his son and Napier want to join the troops, that was a delight for a military man like Henry Kohn.
"John Napier, I can say this, is a fine young man," Henry Kohn said. "The fact that they both want to say, 'I want to put that uniform on,' know they are setting their sights on something like that, that is truly the hardest service to your country."
Napier didn't even wait to leave Whistler before plotting his next move. On Saturday, the final day of the four-man competition (he was held out of the final two runs with a sore neck after a crash while racing Friday), Napier reiterated that he was planning to talk with WCAP officials about his hopes to serve.
He knows some people might not understand.
To them, Napier would say that without the Army backing, he never would have made the Olympics — and he wants to provide some level of pay back for that assistance.
"Vermont will accept me enthusiastically. That's what they said," Napier said. "If WCAP releases me, I'll be over there right away and I'm happy about that. I'm happier than ever because that's what I want to do. I wanted to serve here, slide in the Olympics and then go serve my country. But it's up to WCAP. I'll be happy in either situation."
-- Tim Reynolds
Medvedev demands resignations over Olympic flop
MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev demanded Monday that Russian sports officials step down over the country's dismal performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Russia, a traditional winter sports powerhouse, won just 15 medals — with only three golds — in one of its worst performances. Officials said before the games that 30 medals and a top-three finish in the medal standings was the target.
Russia placed 11th for golds and sixth in the overall medal count.
In televised comments, Medvedev said if those responsible for preparing the athletes don't resign then the decision will be made for them. He did not mention anyone by name.
"Those who bear the responsibility for Olympic preparations should carry that responsibility. It's totally clear," he said. "I think that the individuals responsible, or several of them, who answer for these preparations, should take the courageous decision to hand in their notice. If we don't see such decisiveness, we will help them."
In post-Soviet history, Russia had never previously finished outside the top five in the medal standings and only won fewer medals once before, in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Russia was the top nation at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, garnering 23 medals — 11 gold.
In nine Winter Olympics between 1956 and 1988, the Soviet Union failed to top the medal standings only twice, finishing runner-up on those occasions.
Medvedev lamented that Russia "has lost the old Soviet school ... and we haven't created our own school — despite the fact that the amount of money that is invested in sport is unprecedentedly high."
The results leave Russia particularly red-faced as it takes the torch for the next Winter games in its Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2014.
"Without messing around, we need to start preparations for Sochi. But taking into account what happened in Vancouver, we need to completely change how we prepare our athletes," Medvedev said.
In an interview with the newspaper Vremya Novostei, sports minister Vitaly Mutko blamed several factors for the Vancouver flop. New sports such as freestyle skiing that "no one takes seriously" in Russia have allowed other countries to race ahead, he said.
Mutko also claimed luck was not on the country's side, saying in several disciplines Russia lacked "a shot here, a second or a point there," singling out Evgeni Plushenko, who took silver behind Evan Lysacek of the United States in a closely fought men's figure skating competition.
Doping bans had also deprived Russia of several leading medal contenders, he said.
Several Russian politicians have called for Mutko, who was appointed sports minister in May 2008, to step down.
-- David Nowak
