Who Are the 2010 Winter Olympics Mascots?

HISTORY OF OLYMPIC MASCOTS

Since the 1968 Winter Olympics, the official games have had a mascot. The mascot generally represents an animal native to the hosting country or a well known cultural figure. The mascot serves as an ambassador that conveys the spirit of the games and their home city, especially to young children. In the past, mascots were Misha (brown bear from Moscow), Sam (the bald eagle from the United States), and Hodori (a tiger from Korea.)

CANADA'S PAST CHOICES

As past host of the Olympic Games, Canada has offered mascots in the past. In the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, there was Amik, a beaver. Amik represented the spirit of hard work which is crucial for athletes to gain the stature of being Olympic champions.

In 1988, for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, the world met Hidy and Howdy, polar bear siblings, whose names expressed feelings of brotherhood and welcome. Both are very important parts of the Olympic spirit.

2010 VANCOUVER MASCOTS- MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Miga

Miga is an adorable sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod near Tofino, off the coast of British Vancouver. She loves snowboarding. According to First Nations' legends, a sea bear part killer whale and part bear. The myth, Gonakadet, is one of the known tales of the sea bear. Miga is a combination of killer whale and Kermode bear. 

Killer Whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. They have been called by names such as Orca, Blackfish and Wolves of the Sea. They travel in family groups and depending on the type will eat seals, fish, and sharks.



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Sinead and John Kerr head British Olympic skating team

Great Britain has a chance of winning its first figure skating medal at a Winter Olympics since Torvill and Dean 25 years ago.

The biggest team since 1994 will head to Vancouver in February and includes ice dance duo Sinead and John Kerr, who are ranked in the world's top five.

They will be joined by ice dancers Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes and pairs skaters David King and Stacey Kemp.

Jenna McCorkell will represent Team GB in figure skating.

Scottish siblings the Kerrs finished a creditable 10th in the 2006 Games in Turin and have moved up the world rankings since then.

Last season they won a bronze medal at the European Championships and this season have finished on the podium twice at the ISU Grand Prix and qualified for the final in Japan as one of the top six couples.

John Kerr said: "It's a wonderful feeling to be selected for the team. We learned an enormous amount about competing for Team GB when we were at the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, and of course we're looking forward to repeating that in Vancouver.

"It was a fantastic experience to finish in the top 10, but we're aiming to go even higher in 2010."

McCorkell, from Coleraine, is the seven-time British champion and is believed to be the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete for Team GB in the Winter Olympics.

"I've been fortunate enough to have won the British title seven times, but the Olympic Winter Games is the pinnacle of our event. I'm thrilled to have been selected for Team GB," she said.

Britain last won an ice skating medal in 1994 when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean took bronze in Lillehammer - a decade after winning gold in Sarajevo.

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WHO to monitor for flu outbreaks at Vancouver Winter Olympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -The World Health Organization is sending a representative to the 2010 Winter Olympics to monitor for potential disease outbreaks, and organizers and health experts have taken steps to protect against the H1N1 virus.

Planning for any impact H1N1 could have on the games has been under way since April, when British Columbia health officials increased the stockpile of antiviral drugs available in the province, according to briefing notes released under an Access to Information request. The WHO declared an official global pandemic in June.

Most athletes, officials and spectators are expected to be vaccinated against H1N1 by the time the Winter Olympics begin in February.

“If the vaccination rate is high enough, I don’t think H1N1 is going to be a risk,” said Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, the agency overseeing health services for the Olympics.

British Columbia’s provincial health officer said the original supply was boosted by 3 million doses, bringing the total amount available to 10 million.

About 250,000 spectators are expected at the games, and there will be about 10,000 media members, and 5,000 athletes and officials.

The expected high rate of vaccination doesn’t mean the virus won’t be present, just that drastic measures won’t likely be needed, said Dr. Perry Kendall.

“I can’t imagine levels of absenteeism from influenza – whether it’s seasonal or from H1N1 – being so high you couldn’t operate the games,” he said.

Even so, swine flu remains a top issue for security planners.

“Even with the injections and the boosters and everything else that comes with it, (H1N1 is) still probably one of the biggest things that concern me,” said Bud Mercer, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and head of the Integrated Security Unit.

The ISU will have 750 officers on standby in case of illness or another major emergency and VANOC, the organizing committee, has a pool of volunteers that could be dispatched in an emergency.

The committee is also asking its staff and volunteers to get vaccinated, with plans in the works to offer the shots when volunteers pick up their uniforms in December.

Vancouver organizers and the International Olympic Committee have also recommended to all of the national Olympic committees that their athletes and officials be vaccinated against both H1N1 and seasonal influenza.

Daly said international athletes will be offered the vaccine when they get to Canada, with some teams arriving as early as January to begin training.

Public health nurses at the athletes village will conduct tests and monitor for illness at venues, including hotels where officials and sponsors are staying.

It’s the convergence of people from all over the world in Vancouver that’s prompted the WHO to get involved, said Dr. Mike Wilkinson, VANOC’s director of medical services.

“They are there to help us in monitoring anything that may come from outside, any of the incidences from any of the areas where the athletes might be coming from,” he said.

Seasonal flu is always a risk at a Winter Olympics, but monitoring done during prior games has shown little danger of a major outbreak.

At the Olympic village during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, 188 cases of influenza were diagnosed out of the more than 2,000 visits to the clinic there, according to statistics from Utah health researchers.

During the 2006 Olympics in Turin the incidence of influenza-like illness was less than that recorded during the same period a year earlier, according to Italian researchers.

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Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Legacy is beginning already

The Olympic legacy is being felt even before the 2010 Winter Olympics have begun. Cuts in the Arts and the closure of popular tourist attractions shows how tight money is.

The funding the British Columbia Arts Council receives from the Provincial Government is being slashed by 82%. In 2008/2009 the funding was $19.5 Million, but for the next two years the amount the BC Arts Council will receive is $3.5 Million.

The reason given by the Provincial Government for the huge decrease is that certain parts of the economy need the $16 million more, including Health - budget 14 billion dollars - and Education with its $5 billion budget. No other Canadian provinces have cut their support for the Arts during the current economic crisis. In fact, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Ontario have increased their Arts funding. Indeed in Quebec, the province’s funding of the Arts now makes up 26 percent of every performing arts organization's budget.

This huge cut in funding could not have come at a worse time. The same provincial government that has cut Arts funding is introducing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on July 1st 2010. The HST is replacing the Provincial Sales Tax (PST set at 7%) and Government Sales Tax (GST set as 5%) and will add an extra 12% to the cost of all items. Because theatre tickets weren’t subject to PST or GST, this means that the price of tickets to arts and culture events will increase by 12%.

A good illustration of the effect these changes will have is the famous Bard on the Beach festival held in Vanier Park in Vancouver. The festival’s funding will drop from $80,500 in 2009 to $14,900 in 2011 and ticket prices will rise from a highest price of $34 in 2009 to $38 in 2010.

The next legacy of the Olympics is the closing of the Stanley Park Petting Zoo and the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth II Park, which will save around $2.8 million. One reason for closing the Conservatory was that the roof of this heritage building, consisting of plexiglass bubbles, needs replacing at a cost of $2 million. This price should be placed into the context of the cost of the replacement roof for the BC Place Stadium, for which a $458 million fixed-price contract was recently negotiated.

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John Kucera's injury hurts ski team's medal hopes at Olympic Games

By Jim Morris (CP) – 16 hours ago
John Kucera's season-ending injury means one of Canada's best threats to win multiple medals won't be competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Kucera's leg injury, suffered in the first super-giant slalom race of the World Cup season, will also make it more difficult for Alpine Canada to reach its goal of winning at least three medals at the Vancouver Games.
"It's a huge blow," Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief athletics officer, said Monday in a telephone interview from Lake Louise, Alta. "He's not only a threat in downhill, but also in super-G and giant slalom.
"As far as the Olympics go, there was a couple of shots he had and they are now gone."
Kucera, the reigning world downhill champion, underwent surgery Sunday night after fracturing the tibia and fibula in his left leg in a race at Lake Louise. Dr. Christopher Irving, Alpine Canada's medical director, said in a release that the 25-year-old from Calgary won't compete at the Olympics or ski this season.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, B.C., won Sunday's race, while Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., placed fourth and Robbie Dixon of North Vancouver was fifth.
Gartner said the results show the depth of the Canadian program.
"We figure we have about 10 athletes that have medal potential," Gartner said. "We don't have too many with multiple events. These chances are less now. It means the people who are contenders have to convert to reach our goal.
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Winter Olympics: Brits to watch

While the official team announcement is still to take place here are Sportsister’s predictions for who will be the ones to watch for Great Britain at the Vancouver Olympics. Will the nation have a new golden girl?

Skeleton
British women have a great record in Olympic skeleton racing. In this unique sport ‘sliders’ do a sprint start then literally hurl themselves down the shared bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track on a thin sled, head first, just inches from the ice using their bodyweight to steer.

It first appeared in the Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, where Alex Coomber took a bronze medal for Britain. In 2006 in Turin, Shelley Rudman went one better – winning silver.

In Vancouver next year it is likely that Shelley, along with Amy Williams (pictured right) who won a World Championship silver earlier this year, will be battling it out for a podium finish.

The track in Vancouver is the fastest in the world with top speeds touching 100mph. Every track is unique and the more you can practice on it the better. But Team GB may only have 20 practice runs before the competition in comparison to the hosts Canada, who will have up to 400 runs prior to the Games. It’s going to be tough, but the British sliders are definitely ones to watch in Vancouver.

Figure skating
Not since the most famous Brits to take to the ice, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, won Olympic gold in ’84 and bronze in ’94, has Britain found Olympic success in figure skating. But Scotland’s brother and sister duo Sinead and Jonn Kerr may change this.

Earlier this year they won Great Britain’s first major medal in 15 years with bronze at the European Ice Dance Championships in Helsinki, Finland. They are six time British Ice Dance Champions, finished tenth in Turin in 2006, eighth at the 2008 World Championships and are currently ranked seven in the world.

Britain’s number one figure skater Jenna McCorkell (pictured below right) is also one to watch on her Olympic debut. Jenna is the current six times British Senior Champion, finished 9th in last year’s European Championships and 20th at the World Championships.

Snowboarding
There are three snowboarding disciplines that women can compete in at the Winter Olympics – Giant Parallel Slalom, Half Pipe and Snowboard Cross (also known as Boardercross). Britain has never won an Olympic medal on the snow, but in Vancouver all eyes will be on Zoe Gillings. She came 15th in the Turin Olympics, is currently ranked 5th in the world and is optimistic of her medal hopes for next year.

Lesley Mckenna has competed in the half pipe event at the last two Olympics and is hoping to be in Vancouver. At the time of going to press she was well on her way to meeting the selection criteria. Kate Foster, also a Turin Olympian, looks set to be joining her.



Curling
Were you one of the 5.7 million British viewers that tuned in to see Rhona Martin, Deborah Knox, Fiona MacDonald, Janice Rankin and Margaret Morton win gold on the curling rink in Salt Lake City? It’s one of the most loved moments of Team GB at a Winter Olympics in recent times.

In 2010 look out for reigning and three time world junior champion Eve Muirhead who will be competing in her first Olympics. She will be joined by former World Champion Jackie Lockhart, who will be at her fourth Games, along with Kelly Wood, Lorna Vevers and Karen Addison. (Pictured above left).

Britain has qualified in seventh place for the Olympics. This team will also represent Scotland at the European Championships, which are staged in Aberdeen in early December. All the qualified European nations are sending their Olympic squads to this event, which will be a real marker of medal prospects in February.

Skiing
There are five disciplines in the Olympic alpine skiing schedule – Downhill, Combined, Slalom, Giant slalom and Super G. Chemmy Alcott is Britain’s only female to compete at World Cup level and will be the only one in Vancouver at this event.

It will be her third Olympics, having competed in both Salt Lake City and Turin in four of the five events (not slalom). Her best result was 11th in the Downhill in Turin. But with four more years experience, and despite a fractured ankle hampering last season’s preparations, she is back fit and ready to fulfill that childhood ambition of an Olympic medal.

Also look out for Ellie Koyander in the Mogul discipline of the Freestyle skiing. While the eighteen year olds target is a medal at Sochi 2014, she has made the qualifying grade for Vancouver. In the Olympics competitors race each other down a specially constructed slope with a multitude of bumps known as moguls. They jump off the bumps performing acrobatic maneuvers and are marked on their technique, speed and the quality of the two jumps required.
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Omega releases commemorative watches for Winter Olympics

FEATURES
SCREW-IN CROWN
UNIDIRECTIONAL ROTATING BEZEL
HELIUM ESCAPE VALVE
DATE
CHRONOMETER
LIMITED EDITION

As the clock counts down to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Omega is releasing two commemorative watches. The Seamaster Diver 300m ‘Vancouver 2010’ is being produced in 41mm and 36.25mm versions, each in an edition limited to 2010 pieces.

The Vancouver watch has a distinctive white lacquered dial with red anodized aluminium bezel rings, recalling the maple leaf on the Canadian national flag. There is a further connection to the Games with the addition of the five Olympic rings on the counterweight of the red-tipped rhodium-plated second hand. All hands and indexes are coated with white Super-Luminova, creating a soft blue reflection in low light.

The ‘Vancouver 2010’ has its caseback embossed with the Winter Olympics Games logo, including a design based on the stone cairns erected by Canada’s First Nations peoples as a greeting to visitors in their territories. Called Ilanaak – the word means ‘friend’ in Inuktitut – it is the official symbol of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

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