2010+Vancouver+Winter+Olympics



=**2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **=

As a country we should all be very proud to be able to have the opportunity to host such an amazing event! It is our duty to strongly support our fellow Canadian athletes from February 12th to the 28th as this does not come very often and is a great chance to be patriotic to our awesome country CANADA!

**BID** The **2010 Winter Olympics**, officially known as the **XXI Olympic Winter Games** or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with some events held in the resort town of Whistler and in Richmond, a Vancouver suburb. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Following Olympic tradition, then Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received the Olympic Flag during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The flag was raised on February 28, 2006, in a special ceremony, and will be on display at Vancouver City Hall until the Olympic opening ceremony. The event will be officially opened by Governor General Michaelle Jean. The Canadian Olympic Association chose Vancouver as the Canadian candidate city over Calgary, which sought to re-host the games and Quebec City, which had lost the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995. On the first round of voting on November 21, 1998, Vancouver-Whistler had 26 votes, Quebec City with 25 and Calgary 21. On December 3, 1998, the second and final round of voting occurred between the two leading contenders, which saw Vancouver win with 40 votes compared to Quebec City's 32. The win allowed Vancouver to prepare its bid and begin lobbying efforts internationally.

**Torch Relay**

The Olympic Torch Relay is the transfer of the Olympic flame from Ancient Olympia, Greece — where the first Olympic Games were held thousands of years ago — to the stadium of the city hosting the current Olympic Games. The flame arrives just in time for the Opening Ceremony. For the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the flame was lit in Olympia on October 22, 2009. It will then travel from Greece, over the North Pole to Canada's High Arctic and on to the West Coast and Vancouver. The relay will start its long Canada journey from the British Columbia capital of Victoria. In Canada, the torch will travel approximately 45,000 kilometers over 106 days, making it the longest relay route within one country in Olympic history. The Olympic Torch will be carried by approximately 12,000 Canadians.

**WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES**
The **Winter Olympic Games** are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. Fewer countries participate in the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Prior to this, figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Olympics. The Games were held every four years from 1924 until 1940 when they were interrupted by World War II. The Winter and Summer Games resumed in 1948 and were celebrated on the same year until 1992. At that time the Winter Games split from the Summer Games, and were begun to be celebrated on alternating even years. The first Winter Olympic Games to be held on this new schedule was in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. The Winter Games have undergone significant changes since their inception. The rise of television as a global medium for communication has greatly enhanced the profile of the Games. It has also created an income stream, in the form of the sale of broadcast rights, and advertising, which has become very lucrative. This has also allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to influence the various aspects of the Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has had to address several internal scandals, and the use of performance enhancing drugs by Winter Olympic athletes. The Winter Games have also been used by countries to demonstrate the superiority of their political systems. Many countries have played home to the Winter Olympics. France has been host to the Games three times. The United States has hosted the Games four times, more than any other country. Several countries including Italy, Japan, Austria and Norway have hosted the Games twice. The Games will then be hosted by Sochi, Russia in 2014. This will be the first time that Russia has hosted a Winter Olympic Games.

...All this information was gathered from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Winter_Olympics