-0.7°C Light Snow 
Despite concerns about the weather, the high cost of security and the lack of a “winter” feeling outside the Vancouver, the “fundamentals” for successful Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler starting next week are strong, says the head of the body that oversees the Games.
Dr. Jacques Rogge, who is set to arrive in Vancouver today (Feb. 4) and remain in the region through the closing ceremonies on Feb. 28, last Thursday (Feb. 28) also said he’s a big fan of Canada’s Own the Podium program even thought he thinks most people place too great of an emphasis on medals.
“I think the fundamentals are good,” the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president said in a conference call with Canadian media outlets. “You are a winter sport country. You have a lot of expertise in the organizing committee. You have a great team and the success of the home team is always a significant factor.
“I acknowledge that the weather is an uncertainty, but it is something that we humans and mortals cannot trust. But for the rest I am really very confident.
Even where it comes to the dwindling snowpack on Cypress Mountain, Rogge found reason for optimism, saying he has been impressed by Games organizers’ work on contingency plans and their execution.
“VANOC has done a great job with contingency planning and we’ve just heard that the preparations on Cypress Mountain are going very well and that the competitions will be first-rate,” he said.
“There is still some work of working on the snow, but according to the latest I heard, the competitions will take place in good conditions and on schedule, and of course there is absolutely no problem in Whistler.”
Early in the conference, Rogge said he first heard about the Own the Podium program — Canadian sport and political leaders’ initiative that aims to see Canadians win more medals than any other country this month — shortly after he announced that Vancouver had been awarded the Games in 2003. He said the success of the home team always adds to the enthusiasm of the home fans and to the success of the Games as a whole.
“This program has definitely lifted the level of Canadian sport and Canadian Olympic sport. It’s been a very good program,” Rogge said. “The quality of the home team is of paramount importance to the Games in terms of the home country’s enthusiasm, not only in the home country but also abroad, and I believe it will have great results.”
Later, Rogge was asked whether he felt too much emphasis is placed on medals and he answered in the affirmative.
For example, he said he found it “strange” during and after the Summer Games in Beijing in 2008, when the United States won more total medals than any other country but China won more golds. Newspapers in China printed the medal standings based on gold medal count, while most U.S. publications emphasized the overall medal count.
“There is a lot of importance around medals. I agree with you, probably too much,” Rogge told the questioner. “I tend to have my own calculation where I think a team that has a lot of finalists finishing in the top six or the top five is equally important as having medals.”
Rogge said that like many Canadians, he thinks it’s unfortunate that organizers — primarily taxpayers — have had to spend so much on security for the Games, with the total likely to top $1 billion when it’s all tallied up.
“It is a lot of money,” he said. “It’s not up to us, who are not experts, to discuss the budget for security. That’s something to be discussed by the public and the authorities in your country. I think it’s a reflection of a world that it changing… we are living in a more dangerous world, and that’s something that affects every major gathering.
“You have to live in the real world and the reality is that society as a whole is living in a dangerous world. If you go to an airport to take a plane today, make a comparison to the hassles you had at airports just five, six years ago… you have to wait hours in line in some cases, but that’s just what you have to do ensure your safety. Of course, that development is not a pleasant one. I agree with you.”
He also said the IOC expects and even welcomes some political demonstrations during the Games. In fact, he said that in some cases, the IOC has helped host cities set up systems that ensure that free speech is respected and that demonstrations don’t have to occur behind barriers.
“If they want to protest, that’s freedom of speech and we respect freedom of speech,” he said. “The only thing we ask is that protests not be violent and they not disrupt the pleasure of the athletes.”
As for complaints by the national sport federations of some countries about access to the Richmond Oval, the Whistler Sliding Centre and other facilities for training, Rogge said, “I’m a bit surprised by what you say, by what I’ve heard. We made an inquiry at the international federation about VANOC… there are very specific rules regarding access to the venues for training and it seems to us tthat VANOC has always respected these rules.”
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