THE CANADIAN PRESS
WHISTLER, B.C. — Wet snow fell and patches of fog hid the mountain peaks but it couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee officials and politicians Friday as they proudly showed off the just-completed Whistler sliding centre.
The 2010 Winter Games are still more than two years away but the major construction on the $252.2-million worth of sports venues at Whistler — which include the sliding centre, the Whistler Olympic Park and Creekside ski hill — is completed.
Testing will begin on the 1.6 kilometres of sliding track snaking down Blackcomb Mountain next month. Over 100 cross-country skiers will take to Olympic Park trials on Saturday and skiers have been using the Creekside hill all season.
John Furlong, VANOC’s chief executive officer, couldn’t help but remember the old logging road and pine trees that marked the spot of the sliding centre when Vancouver was still bidding to host the Games.
"I remember standing up here when the evaluation commission was up here and this was just red lines on white paper," said Furlong, snow flakes falling on the red and white Team Canada scarf wrapped around his neck. "It was a vision and dream we had.
"To be here today, three full winters away from the starting bell of the first event of the Winter Games, is very special. Our goal is to get is finish and give our national team a chance to come here and perfect their craft so they can be the team to beat at the Games."
A crew of 250 worked on the sliding centre which features over 100 kilometres of pipe to help make the ice, 1,000 socket weld connections and 6,000 square metres of concrete finishing.
Duff Gibson, who won a gold medal in skeleton at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, said having the track down in time for Canadian bobsledders, luge and skeleton racers to learn its nuances will be a major advantage come the Games.
"It’s a huge factor," said Gibson. "Literally, how many inches you are off the right wall going into corner four will separate you from someone else by a few one-hundreths of a second.
"The extra time and extra runs you have on the track will really separate you from the rest of the world."
The Whistler venues, located 120 kilometres north of Vancouver, will host 46 Olympic medal events and 62 Paralympic medal competitions in 2010. Cross-country skiing, biathlon and ski jumping will be held at the Olympic Park while Whistler Creekside will be home to Alpine skiing.
But while VANOC officials joined federal, provincial and local politicians in smiling for photographs, some environmental groups questioned if VANOC is living up to its pledge of a green Games.
Joe Foy, campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, said VANOC allowed 21 kilometres of recreational ski trails at the cross-country venue to be built without a proper study being done to examine the impact of Grizzly bears in the area.
"The concern is the proper studies on Grizzly bears had not been done and would require some dollars," said Foy. "Though VANOC was willing to put up some money it was not willing to put up enough to get these studies done."
The trails in question will not be used during the Olympics but are designed for public use after the Games are over.
Green Peace is also concerned VANOC isn’t using Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood in its projects.
"In the sliding centre . . . they had specified FSC wood but they did not use it," said Stephanie Goodwin, a forest campaigner with Green Peace. "Overall what we see with the Olympics (is a chance) to reduce our footprint on earth.
"We would expect VANOC would pursue all avenues to ensure the footprint of the Olympics is as light as possible."
Forest Stewardship Council or FSC-certified wood is harvested in an ecologically sustainable manner
Dan Doyle, VANOC’s executive vice-president of venue construction, defended VANOC’s environmental record, saying the Whistler Sliding Centre will leave a much smaller footprint than similar facilities around the world.
"When you go back and look at what we’ve done environmentally here, it’s very substantive," he said. "We did everything we possibly could to minimize the impact on the environment."
He was particularly proud of the care taken at the Olympic Park.
"Not one tree was taken down there that didn’t have to be come down," he said. "We were very precise with that. If you fly over it now it’s hard to see its a venue."
Foy worries the expansion of the highway that links Whistler with Vancouver, and the increased tourism the Games will bring, will have a negative impact on the environment.
"We’re going to find we’re not going to be happy with the amount of costs this Olympics is going to have," he said. "VANOC is aware of that and I think the environment gets short shift.
"It’s important for all of us that we protect the environment. That’s where our tourism industry is based. That’s over $1 billion a year and a lot of jobs. We have to keep our eye on that ball because we’re going to need that money to pay our increased taxes that we’re going to have because of the Olympics."
The total venue construction budget for the Games is $580 million in taxpayers’ money. That includes the additional $110 million the federal and provincial governments contributed to the project when VANOC realized it couldn’t complete the venues for the original projected cost of $470 million.
The Olympic Park, located about 20 kilometres from Whistler, cost $119.7 million to build. The sliding centre comes with a $104.9 price tag while $27.6 million was spent improving the Creekside ski area.