2010 Olympic Village

This article is about Vancouver Olympic Village. For the Olympic Village in Whistler, see Whistler Olympic Village.

For the location of the Olympic Village in Singapore, see Nanyang Technological University or 2010 Summer Youth Olympics#Youth Olympic Village

The 'Vancouver Olympic Village' is located in section 2A of Southeast False Creek

The Vancouver Olympic Village (VVL), is an Olympic Village built for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.^[1] A 600,000 sq ft (56,000 m²) village with over 600 units, that was able to accommodate over 2,800 athletes, coaches, and officials.^[1][2]

The site, a former industrial area which was previously mostly parking lot, is located on the shoreline at the southeast corner of False Creek, north of 2nd Avenue between Quebec and Manitoba Streets. Just south of Science World, its waterfront is part of the False Creek Seawall promenade and bike route, and is adjacent to the stations of the Granville Island Heritage Railway, the Spyglass Place pedestrian ferry wharf (served by Aquabus and False Creek Ferries), the Science World pedestrian ferry wharf (normally served by Aquabus and False Creek Ferries but closed temporarily from January 25, 2010 to March 24, 2010^[3]) and the Main Street and Olympic Village SkyTrain stations.

The Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village (WVL) is located in Whistler, British Columbia, it served the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Paralympics. Smaller than the VVL it accommodated 2,400 athletes, coaches, and officials with 450 beds made especially with wheelchair access. Site preparation began in 2006 with construction starting in March 2007 and it was completed in the summer of 2009.^{[4][dated info]}

Construction

The Olympic Village shot from across False Creek, two days before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics.

Preparation and construction of the site Vancouver began in February 2006. Construction was completed on November 1, 2009, and turned over to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) for use during the Winter Games. On April 7, 2010 it was returned to the City of Vancouver. The village was converted into residential housing, a community centre, daycare, retail, and service spaces.^[2][4]

Funding crisis

On Thursday, January 15, 2009 Jody Andrews, the deputy city manager overseeing construction of the Olympic Village, resigned.^[5] Vancouver city manager, Penny Ballem, was quoted as saying there was no reason for the public to lose confidence in City Hall over the resignation.^[5]

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson made a request to the British Columbia provincial government to allow the City of Vancouver to borrow additional funds to complete the project.^[5] On Sunday, January 18, 2009 an emergency meeting convened by the BC Legislature approved Bill 47, allowing the City of Vancouver unlimited access to additional funds for the development of the Olympic Village.^[6] The estimated new total cost is CAN$1 billion to build VVL, approximately CAN$ 467 million dollars were required by the City of Vancouver to complete the project. The project ran into financial woes late last year as well as the lender, Fortress Investment Group, a New York hedge fund, stopped payments to the developer, Millennium Development Group. Bill 47 is an unusual amendment to the charter for the Olympics in that it changes the original requirement that all additional borrowing is prohibited without a public referendum,^[6] and also that it was until this legislation was passed that it was illegal for the City of Vancouver to pursue such financial dealings. The city, in order to meet its Olympics commitments, required extraordinary legislative proceedings to amend the city's charter to allow it to borrow to buy out the loan from Fortress. ^[7][8]

As of January 2011, the village's developer has failed to make loan repayments, forcing Vancouver to place the property in receivership. Of the 737 apartments for sale in the development, only half have been purchased.^[9]

Australia banner controversy

A giant banner hung from the Village by members of the Australian team attracted controversy in early February 2010 when a member of the International Olympic Committee toured the site and expressed concern that it might contravene policy, as the banner is not the flag of Australia but rather depicts a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves.^[10] Former Australian deputy prime minister (now Prime Minister) Julia Gillard called it a disgrace.^[11] According to a representative of the Australian team, the flag has been at every Olympic Village since the 2000 Games in Sydney.^[10] The image had flown from the victorious Australian yacht in the 1983 America's Cup and is now a mascot of Australia's Olympic teams; the Australian Olympic Committee owns the image's trademark.^[12] After IOC president Jacques Rogge discussed the issue with John Coates, chief of the AOC, it was confirmed that the flag could remain at the Olympic Village. "While the IOC is of the view that the display of the boxing kangaroo at the Olympic village is a breach of the IOC rules relating to clean venues, the IOC is not going to request us to take down the boxing kangaroo flag on this occasion," Coates said.^[13] The AOC would be required to register the image with the IOC.^[14] The controversy sparked a demand for a version of the boxing-kangaroo flag at a Vancouver flag shop.^[14]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Southeast False Creek and Olympic Village". City of Vancouver. February 26, 2007. http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/olympicvillage/. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "About the Olympic Village". 2007-01-12. Archived from the original on May 4, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060504015928/http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/olympicvillage/village.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-07. 
3. ^ "Olympics to close three waterways to boat traffic", Vancouver Sun, April 30, 2009
4. ^ ^{a b} "2010 Villages". Vancouver Organizing Committee. http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/WinterGames/2010GamesVenues/NonCompetition/Villages. Retrieved 2007-03-07. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b c} "Deputy Vancouver manager in charge of Olympic Village resigns", CBC, January 18, 2009
6. ^ ^{a b} "Vancouver gets OK to borrow for $1B Olympic Athletes' Village". CBC News. Sunday, January 18, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/01/18/olympic-funding.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
7. ^ "Vancouver assumes financial control of Olympic village". Associated Press. February 18, 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3917080. Retrieved 2009-02-18. 
8. ^ Speech by Corky Evans in the BC Legislature, Thursday, January 29, 2009, from BC Hansard, Legislature Raids/Basi-Virk Trial webpage]
9. ^ The Economist, "Up False Creek: The cost of a property deal gone sour", 15 January 2011, p. 40.
10. ^ ^{a b} Wintonyk, Darcy (2010-02-05). "Kangaroo flag at athletes village causes IOC flap". ctvbc.ca. http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100205/bc_aussie_ioc_fight_100205/20100206?hub=BritishColumbia. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
11. ^ Silkstone, Dan (2010-02-10). "They shoot kangaroos don't they?". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/balls/they-shoot-kangaroos-dont-they/20100209-nook.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
12. ^ "Boxing kangaroo banner still hanging". CBC News. 2010-02-05. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/05/bc-olympic-australian-banner-controversy.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
13. ^ Wilson, Stephen (2010-02-07). "IOC allows Australia to keep boxing kangaroo flag in Olympic village". Winnipeg Free Press. Associated Press. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/olympics/83773272.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ ^{a b} "Boxing 'roo wins fight at Athletes' Village". CBC News. 2010-02-08. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/08/bc-boxing-kangaroo-flag-vancouver-olympic-village.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 

External links

• Vancouver2010.com profile
• Government of British Columbia
• City of Vancouver
• News and photographs of the completed Vancouver Olympic Village
• Photograph of the construction of the Olympic Village in False Creek
• Photograph of Olympic Village footbridge installation Dec 2007
• Vancouver releases secret Olympic Village documents, Bob Mackin, The Tyee, June 19, 2009

Coordinates: 49°16′15″N 123°6′24″W / 49.27083°N 123.10667°W / 49.27083; -123.10667