Vancouver 2010: What Could Go Wrong?

Image via Wikipedia

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver got off to a tragic start with the death of Nadar Komaritashvili, a Georgian athlete who crashed on the luge course during a practice run prior to the Games.  As a result, the men's competition started where the women were supposed to, and the women started theirs where the juniors would have been, in order to cut down the speed on a track that some have called dangerous.

But that was only the beginning.  There was a malfunctioning torch at the Opening Ceremonies, Zamboni problems at the speed skating oval, and Alpine skiing events were postponed because of either too little snow or too much--which allowed American skiier Lindsey Vonn to give her celebrated shin a chance to heal.

Other than that, the big story so far is that Canadians have finally won Olympic gold on their own soil, even if it is in events deemed more suitable for ESPN's X Games.  Alex Bilodeau in men's moguls and Moelle Ricker in women's snowboardcross made history for the Maple Leaf.  Jenn Heil in women's moguls would have been the first, had she not lost to American Hannah Kearney.

The most significan accomplishment for the United States thus far is that Apolo Anton Ohno became the most decorated male athlete ever at the Winter Games with six medals.  He won a silver in the men's 1500-meter short track speed skating event.  Bode Miller won the bronze in the men's downhill.

All that stuff about Canadians "owning the podium" has yet to pan out, with Germany leading the medal count as of Tuesday night.

NBC's coverage benefits from the Games being in the same hemisphere as its audience, which was not the case in Beijing two years ago.  They're even showing some of the major events live in prime time.  Or is it "plausibly live"?  However, not everyone is so fortunate.  A quick check of the website for KING, NBC's Seattle affiliate, tells us that the West Coast is getting the Olympics coverage on tape delay even though it's in their own time zone.

In the past, we've been hearing from viewers in Detroit, Buffalo and International Falls talk about how much better the Olympics coverage is on Canadian television than on NBC.  Since CTV, not CBC, is covering these Games, we've yet to hear if it's still true.

The forecast for Vancouver and environs is for improving conditions, which would be enough to make every event remain on schedule, cramped though it may be.  Everyone involved--the athletes, organizers and TV networks--is keeping their fingers crossed that everything else goes off without a hitch.