Are these what the Olympics represent for most Vancouver residents?
I’m not sure if the final paragraph of this article about professional Olympic nomads should be of concern or not, but one thing I do know is that the sentiments expressed about Vancouver as a host city ring true:
“And what do these veteran Olympic organizers make of Vancouver as a host city? Well. They pepper their comments with words like “efficient,” “professional” and “friendly” – not exactly superlatives. Given that Vancouver’s laid-back response to the Games has come under criticism from the International Olympic Committee, they could be interpreted as a rallying cry to the city to muster more enthusiasm.
“They will be very good Games in a very beautiful place,” Mr. Kefflitz said. “The only thing I’d like to see is a little more fun.”
The reason for these observations are not very hard to pin down.
This goes directly to the heart of Vancouver’s characteristics as a city. For years I have asked what our defining trait was as Vancouverites. Rather than attempting to describe it myself, however, I will reference the Vancouver Sun’s Douglas Todd:
“Easy-going. Laid-back. Paragons of the West Coast live-and-let-live attitude. Beautiful people.”
Ok, but at the end of the day, what does that translate into?
“…maybe our lack of directness with each other hides its more insidious brother: passive aggression. Maybe our smiles mask indifference. Is it possible we just don’t care that much about our Metro Vancouver neighbours, be they of Caucasian, East Asian or South Asian origin? Maybe there is a superficiality, a lack of community, in this expanding metropolis, where many revere money as a substitute for connection.
A superficial niceness could be the dark side of the individualism and mercantilism adhered to by many in Vancouver.”
Here in lies the dilemma of this city. It is a beautiful place – some refer to it as utopia, in fact – but it is also filled with people that measure their vigour for anything against adherence to perception, self-absorption and disconnection.
So place one of the largest events in the world into this kind of environment and even the most rampant initial hype can be dampened.
This is of course only further exacerbated by the fact that the final bill for these games is expected to top $7 billion when everything is totaled up.
I firmly believe that the politicians can only do so much to invigourate a city with excitement that thus far looks to be comfortable sitting on its hands.
You can put up banners, and hold public events, and have rallies for our athletes, but putting the air back into the balloon isn’t that easy. Rather than popping with excitement, however, this balloon has been slowly leaking for the past seven years. We are in the final stretch of whimper rather than a bang.
According to a recently conducted survey by Angus Reid, 57 per cent of British Columbians expect the Olympics will benefit B.C., compared with 76 per cent of all Canadians who feel the province will gain from hosting the Games.
Twenty-eight per cent of B.C. residents feel the Olympics will have a negative impact on B.C., more than triple the nine per cent of Canadians who feel that way.
It’s funny, but I always suspected that this Olympic Games’ achilles heel would lie with our ability organize a smoothly run games. But as the professional Olympic nomads acknowledge in the quote posted above, that aspect of our effort is far from a concern. In fact, in might be a feather in our cap when it comes time to determining a legacy.
The impression we are going to leave as hosts, however? Now that is something that is at this point completely up in the air.
