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Raleigh Reporter Shares News, Photos From Vancouver Olympics

By Jalil Isa, The Raleigh Telegram

Week Of Thursday, February 25, 2010

VANCOUVER - In this first-hand report exclusively for The Raleigh Telegram, former NBC17 reporter and journalist Jalil Isa sent several photos from the beautiful city of Vancouver as he went to the 2010 Winter Olympics this past week.

Isa also gives us his impressions of how the city is dealing with the crush of people and local citizens’ comments on the games’ impact on the Canadian city.

Visiting The Vancouver Olympics

By Jalil Isa

VANCOUVER - Vancouver is probably the third most beautiful city I’ve ever seen in North America (after Quebec City and San Francisco). A multi-cultural city rivaling any major metropolitan area twice its size, it has the second largest Chinatown in North America, a city park larger than New York City’s Central Park.

Oh yeah…and this year, it’s hosting the XXI Olympic Winter Games!

With that in mind, last week, I took off on an all-too-brief coast-to-coast trip for a weekend of reveling in what the Olympic experience brings.

I’m not even a big fan of sports. But after attending the ’96 summer Olympics in Atlanta, I was hooked!

The experience back in 1996 for this young college-student at the time was surreal: Picture tens of thousands of people flooding the streets at all hours of the day and night; constant parties; booths and pavilions showcasing everything from the latest gadgets available to athletes to spectacular shows that marveled the young and old.

In a word, it was brilliant!

Beijing Olympics In 2008

In addition to the 1996 Atlanta games, I went to China—as part of a grandeur trip around the world—in 2008...and made sure to coincide my visit to Beijing to take place during the summer Olympic games.

These games were not quite the same experience I had in Atlanta. For one thing, the heart of the Olympic area was basically cordoned off only to people who had tickets to events.

Most of the architectural masterpieces (‘Bird’s nest;’ ‘the Cube;’ etc) that served as the venues where most of the main events were being held were in close proximity to one another.

But this entire area was within this two kilometer square zone that was off limits to people not lucky enough to hold a ticket. I was initially one of those individuals.

I can assure you that I was frustrated beyond belief at the prospects that I wouldn’t even be able to get a look at the burning cauldron due to the security policies of Chinese authorities.

As it turned out, I was able to come across a ticket to a coveted event quite unexpectedly. But that story is worthy of its own column at a future juncture.

In short, the Olympics in China seemed to challenge some of the basic notions one has about the Olympics, such as access to the people. But then again, given the place and its history, it may not come at all as a surprise to those reading this.

Nevertheless, my faith in the Olympic experience had not wavered. I knew the energy that comes out of a city hosting the Olympics is really something that cannot be described. It must be experienced. And I had had a taste of this in the past.

Consequently, as the Winter Olympics--slated to take place in Vancouver this year--drew closer, I made firm plans to attend.

Now as a side-note, I must vent at how it still doesn’t cease to amaze me the number of people that pass up this potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I drove 12 hours to Atlanta from Miami in ’96.

But yet there were countless people in nearby places such as Seattle who simply didn’t see the point of attending. I suppose they didn’t realize what they were truly missing.

Regardless, I was going along for the ride.

Getting A Ticket

Now, past experience at these events has shown me that chances are one can always secure a ticket to a venue.

Perhaps not to the most sought after sport, but something is something when you’re in a financial position that doesn’t allow paying top dollar for any one particular event.

Even then, you can still find great deals. I remember in Atlanta buying a ticket from someone in the street for five dollars! And this was for one of my favorite summer sports—diving!

Even in China, deals, if you were patient, could be had. Vancouver was no exception.

One woman on the return bus from Vancouver to Seattle (I flew from RDU to Seattle and saved a couple of hundred dollars on airfare; then took a $37-bus across the border to Vancouver, ultimately arriving around the same time my direct flight into Vancouver would have) said she got a $380 ticket to figure skating.

She was selling the ticket for a quarter of the price from a scalper outside the venue.

This goes to show that tickets can be had for less than face value with cash in hand. And they’re not hard to come by.

I was extremely lucky. A good friend who works for a major corporate sponsor had an extra ticket to the Downhill Freestyle skiing event.

This sport consists of skiers maneuvering like hydraulic jacks over a long path of moguls and taking a couple of ramps along the way to showcase their aerial gymnastic abilities. It’s impressive to watch. And even more impressive how fast they’re able to accomplish all this.

What’s more, each skier picks their own tune they’ll ski to. The song, of course, is played for the audience, as well. And most of the skiers seem to have great musical taste.

More Than Sports

But as I’ve alluded to before, there is more to the Olympics than simply sports. Perhaps because of the commercial frenzy that now surrounds the Olympics —which also now draws so much criticism—the action outside the sporting venues can surpass the action from the athletes.

The host city will usually set up an area (think Centennial “Olympic” Park in Atlanta) or several areas, as in the case of Vancouver, where different activities are taking place.

This can range from cultural displays to areas for people to trade Olympic-themed pins (a big deal during the Olympics) to areas for people to get a feel for what it might be like to practice some of the sports the best athletes in the world are partaking in.

All of this culminates in an atmosphere that is just impossible to truly describe.

For example, when you least expect it, a laser show with fireworks may break out. Or you may see some well-known athlete walking the street; or in one case with me, have the street I was trying to cross get blocked off as the (I believe) U.S. Vice-President’s caravan was passing through.

It is this atmosphere that seems to draw many of the people attending the Olympics. Many may never catch a single live event. Yet they definitely feel more alive just for having been there.

Criticism Of The Games

The Olympics are known for stirring emotions.

These games drew their fair share. There were protests. There were clashes with police. And there were many other, less vocal critics of the Olympics.

On one early afternoon, I hopped on a cab -- I was running late, as usual; so the decent public transit was of little use to me now.

I needed to be dropped off at the ferry station where I would then cross the bay to catch an Olympic bus to Cypress Mountain, the venue for the Freestyle ski and Snowboarding events.

As you may notice by the different forms of transportation needed, there was definitely a fair amount of logistical planning required to make it to the more out-of-the-way venues. And the transportation arrangements by the city seem to have fallen short—at least during the first weekend when I was there.

Long lines were the norm for just about everything. And I’m not just talking about transit.

If anything, the subway in the downtown area and busses running throughout the city-center were frequent and accessible.

Your ticket to an Olympic event was also your ticket to freely board any public transit throughout the city. However, the flood of people within the city still made for a ‘dense’ feel.

Not to mention the price of everything, as might be expected during one of the largest events this city may ever stage, was high.

But getting back to my taxi ride, so as I talk briefly with the Indian-looking cabbie, the man immediately starts telling me how terrible this event has been for Vancouver (this was on the second day of the Games).

From my perspective as a spectator, I can’t help notice that—as is generally the case with cities pouring millions into their infrastructure to host the Games—Vancouver looks at least as nice as I remember it. Transit options have improved. Accommodations are plentiful. And the city looks, well, great!

But this driver’s has a completely different take. He tells me that he initially was very supportive of the Games. He saw the prospects of businesses, including his taxi, profiting significantly from the games.

Instead, he goes on to say, the Olympic planners have overridden the city with its own fleet of vehicles used by many of the Olympic officials to criss-cross the city.

I must admit these vehicles—with their distinctive small magnetic sign placed on the sides--were everywhere. And while I didn’t ask, previous experience at past Olympics lead me to think volunteers were driving those officials in those vehicles. An operation like this requires the likes of thousands of volunteers.

Consequently, this cabbie exclaimed, there was very little increase in riders paying for taxi fares (I should also point out the taxi fares were very reasonable).

Finally, he said the city would not only lose millions from this undertaking...but that his kids will be paying for it for decades. For the sake of everyone involved, let us hope he’s wrong in his assertion.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Upon getting to my final destination that day, I had my first taste of an Olympic venue. As this was the downhill freestyle skiing event, it was obviously an outdoor event.

But as has been much talked about, it wasn’t particularly cold. However, once I arrived I was warned from attendees to the previous day’s event that the food could run out. Huh?!

As it turns out, according to the many people I spoke with who had been to this very event the day before, not only did they have enormously long lines at the food concessions. But after all the waiting, some people were left without food because they ran out!

On the day I was attending, it didn’t appear they had exhausted their food supplies. But they sure did exhaust my patience as I was not about to stand in line for at least an hour just to get an overpriced snack.

Even getting into a port-a-john proved challenging...as I’ve seen city festivals with more toilets than I saw available at the Cypress venue!

I, fortunately, can make due with one meal a day. I only wish they had had potable drinking water. If you were thirsty, yes, you had to wait in line for an hour!

So I’m not sure what was worse—having to wait for an hour to get a meal or drink; or going hungry and thirsty in your seat because the supplies have run out? Either way, there was a lot of room for improvement.

But frustrated spectators weren’t the only critics I came across. One late evening, walking along the streets of the downtown area, I struck up a conversation with a young lady who started railing on the Games.

In a nutshell, she said the city had spent all this money to put on the Olympics while people were still homeless and while the health care system was suffering. She seemed to feel the money spent on the Games was primarily going to line the pockets of “four percent of the people of Vancouver.”

Instead, the money could have gone for more equitable uses, she insisted.

Among the most vocal group proclaiming the ills of the Olympics were a group of protesters that had a violent (by Canadian standards; let’s face it—they’re more even-tempered than we are?) run-in with police on the streets of downtown Vancouver.

Dressed mostly in black, the protesters took to destroying property such as the windows of nearby stores. They later expressed their resentment at large corporations that were benefiting from these games.

Interestingly, though I was surprised by the number of people I encountered who were critical of the Olympics in Vancouver, even these dissenters were flatly opposed to the hostile tactics this ‘group-in-black’ used to convey their opposing views.

While it may be a while before we’re able to see the entire picture of long-term impact these games will leave behind in Vancouver and Canada overall, it remains a heated debate on what legacy these Olympics will leave.

But perhaps before the entire story is told, preparations will already be underway as Sochi, Russia gets ready to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

And of course, as was already being widely touted in Vancouver, it is only two years before I try and make a trip out to London to catch the next Summer Olympics. This may prove to be the most expensive Olympic Games ever. I’ll start saving now.

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