Olympic officials dismiss criticisms of Games
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 | 3:58 PM ET
The Canadian Press
A family looks at a makeshift memorial for luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in Whistler, B.C. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)Olympic officials are dismissing suggestions from British media that the Vancouver Games are among the worst in history.
Britain's Guardian newspaper carried a story on its website earlier this week, for example, with the headline: "Vancouver Games continue downhill slide from disaster to calamity."
Another headline, in the Daily Mail, read: "Canada's lust for glory is to blame for this senseless tragedy" — a reference to the death of a Georgian luger in a crash during a training run in Whistler.
The Games opened on the same day that the luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died while weather issues have forced delays and cancellations in Whistler and Cypress. Even ice resurfacers have broken down at the Richmond speedskating oval.
Game officials were also forced to close the general admission section of the snowboarding venue because wet weather rendered the area unsafe. There have also been transportation issues.
But International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams says he believes the Games have been very well organized, and a spokesperson for the 2010 Games organizing committee, VANOC, says they are dealing with cards they've been dealt.
Canadian Olympic Committee president Michael Chambers agrees that these are still great Games despite the problems.
Chambers says Vancouver residents and Canadians in general have embraced the Olympics and media critics are not experiencing the same Games as he is.
