Ice hockey roster revelations to spark Olympic excitement

Ice hockey roster revelations to spark Olympic excitement

By Jim Slater (AFP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin will lead world champion Russia into the Vancouver Winter Olympics and a host of his fellow National Hockey League superstars will follow him onto team rosters in the next week.

Washington Capitals playmaker Ovechkin, named the NHL's Most Valuable Player the past two seasons, and fellow stars Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar were named Thursday to Russia's 23-man provisional Olympic roster.

Other global powers will follow in the next few days, with defending Olympic champion Sweden announcing Sunday, Slovakia revealing its lineup Tuesday, Czech Republic, Finland and Canada following Wednesday and the Americans next Friday.

Decision makers have used the first three months of the NHL season as an audition period, looking to see if injured players have regained their form and young talents have improved their skills enough to join the quest for gold.

Sweden beat Finland in the 2006 Turin Olympic final with the Czechs beating Russia for bronze and Canada finishing a disappointing seventh, one spot above the Americans.

Russian talent won eight Olympic gold medals, most recently in 1992 as the Unified Team, but defeating Canada in the past two world championship finals has brought bragging rights and a sense the Olympic drought might end in 2010.

Official Olympic ticket reselling site may lead to fraud.

VANCOUVER – Olympic ticket holders will still keep their original tickets after they sell them on a new Games committee website, creating the potential for some tickets to be illegally resold.

More than 120,000 duplicate 2010 Winter Olympic tickets could be floating around by the time the Games begin in mid-February, officials said.

On Monday, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee announced the opening of its "fan-to-fan marketplace," an online ticket re-sale venue, and said it expects about 10 per cent of the 1.2 million Olympic tickets made available to the public will be re-sold.

Olympic hero Michael Phelps is beaten as 'Rocky' rules the waves in Manchester

Michael Rock beat the greatest swimmer of all time as the Duel in the Pool encapsulated everything about swimming in 2009.

Rock relegated Phelps to second in the 200metres butterfly, something the 22-year-old can celebrate for the rest of his days.

But the Stockport man was wearing a performance-enhancing suit, while the Olympic and world champion was wearing the Speedo 2010 textile-only jammer.

VanderBeek to miss 2010 Olympic Games

VanderBeek to miss 2010 Olympic Games

Updated Thu. Dec. 17 2009 8:28 PM ET

Canadian skier Kelly VanderBeek will not be able to compete in the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia.

The Kitchener native suffered a knee injury while training for Saturday's downhill in Val-d'Isere, France. She was taken from the hill on a stretcher.

The 26-year-old has spent the past four years training for the Olympic Games.

Coaches who saw the fall say VanderBeek hit some ripples on the snow. Her righttp://southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=6442

Thousands in Ottawa Valley welcome Olympic flame

OTTAWA — The streets of Ottawa Valley communities along the Olympic torch route were jammed from end to end with spectators Sunday, as people of all ages came to be part of the party.

Renfrew, Ont.’s Raglan Street looked like a summer fair for all the activity, with thousands or residents participating in a ball hockey tournament, crafts, horse-and-wagon rides, Olympic ring-toss games, free hotdogs, poster contests, and a visit from Santa and some of his elves.

"It’s a party to get ready for the Olympics," said Mayor Sandi Heins.

Mixed tennis and more women's cycling in 2012 Olympics

LAUSANNE — London 2012 will host a mixed doubles tennis event for the first time in the Olympic Games as well as more women's cycling, the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday.

But the changes, made in a bid to increase the prominence of women's sport, will spell the end of the individual cycling track pursuit races at the Olympics, the IOC said after an executive board meeting.

The changes will increase the number of women cyclists at the Olympics from 35 in Beijing to 84 -- 45 percent of the track cyclists instead of about a fifth - by introducing more track events for women.

A taste of the Olympics

REPULSE BAY - Michael Putulik returned home to a hero's welcome in Repulse Bay this past week after taking part in the Olympic Torch Relay.

Michael Putulik, centre, brings the torch he carried in the Olympic Torch Relay for a visit with students at Tusarvik School in Repulse Bay this past week. - photo courtesy of Michael Putulik

One aboriginal person from each province and territory were selected to take part in the event.

Putulik, 23, acted as both a torchbearer and a flame attendant during the relay.

He said the flame attendant takes care of the mother flame, which is the actual Olympic flame that came to Canada from Greece for the 2010 Games.

India should not bid for Olympics, says Sports Minister

Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister M S Gill on Wednesday said that India [ Images ] should not be thinking of hosting Olympics [ Images ] Games in the near future.

Gill's remarks came in response to a statement made by actor-turned-politician of Samajwadi Party (SP) Jaya Bachchan, who reportedly said that the Commonwealth Games [ Images ] gives an opportunity to bid for the Olympics.

IOA to conduct fresh elections for IWF

New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Tuesday said fresh elections will be held for the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) after its executive board stepped down taking “moral responsibility” for the series of doping violations.

The International Weightlifting Federation’s executive board will meet in Korea Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing World Championships to hear the cases of six Indian lifters returning positive in out-of-competition tests by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).

IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said Wednesday the International Weightlifting Federation has instructed the association to “withdraw the leadership of IWF and conduct fresh election.”

“IOA will take a final decision on the matter after the meeting in Korea,” Kalmadi said.

“The International Weightlifting Federation president wrote to the IOA about the doping violations committed by Indian weightlifters in the past few weeks and also mentioned that it was not the first time that our lifters tested positive,” Kalmadi said.

The legal counsel for the international organisation Monika Ungar said: “The executive board will hold its meeting tomorrow and a decision regarding the Indian federation will be taken there.”

Indian Weightlifting Federation chief Harbhajan Singh said the executive council members decided to resign en masse in the interest of the sport.

“The executive committee met Tuesday. Not everyone favoured the extreme step of resignation of the entire board and opinions were divided. We discussed it threadbare and came to the conclusion that this could be the only way to escape a harsher penalty from the IOA and the international federation,” Harbhajan told IANS.

“In any case, IOA had constituted a panel and you never know they could have asked us to resign. We thought it would be better if we take the moral responsibility instead of being forced to step down.”

“Our lifters have done well in recent tournaments. We won so many medals in the Commonwealth Championships, but at the same time it is also true that we have come under the scanner because some of our lifters tested positive. We do not want to be banned and not participate in the Delhi Commonwealth Games where our lifters have good chances of winning a rich haul of medals.”

Under international rules, three or more violations in one calendar year may result in the “national federation being banned from participation in international tournaments for a period of up to two years and/or be imposed a fine of at least $50,000.”

The IWF has twice been banned in 2004 and 2006 because of more than three or more doping violations in a calendar year.

“The international body will hear our case tomorrow and hopefully they will take a lenient view.”

IOA sources said that the association might set up an ad-hoc committee for the time being until the election could be held. source: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal

Olympics - Rio to host 2016 Games after landslide win

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics after the Brazilian city won a landslide victory over Madrid in the final round of voting on Friday.

International Olympic Committee members shocked everyone at the Bella Convention Centre by eliminating favourites Chicago in the first voting round, despite the unprecedented personal support President Barack Obama gave the bid.

Tokyo were the next city to fall before the IOC backed Rio to become the first South American city to host the Games by a final-round margin of 66 votes to Madrid's 32.

A few seconds after the announcement, an almost speechless Carlos Osorio, general secretary of the Brazilian bid, told Reuters: "Overwhelming, spectacular, unbelievable."

Brazil is already preparing to host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left in tears of joy by the announcement, said the country would have to work harder than ever to stage a Games they could be proud of.

"We are going to have to sleep less, think more and work more," Lula said at a news conference.

"Now our term of reference is going to be work, work, work -- work for Brazil to do better than any other time in its history."

CHICAGO STUNNED

Chicago went out after polling just 18 votes in the first round, despite the eloquent speeches on their behalf made by Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to address an IOC session, and first lady Michelle Obama.

Madrid led the race at that stage with 28 votes, followed by Rio on 26 and Tokyo on 22.

Rio came close to polling an absolute majority in the second round with 46 votes, followed by Madrid on 29 with Tokyo going out on 20.

The final round was not even close.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told Reuters: "Rio was a great candidate.

"It was well worth the effort. Olympic sport goes this way sometimes. We had a very good result and there will be other opportunities."

NERVOUS MOMENTS

The announcement was delayed by several nervous seconds as IOC president Jacques Rogge struggled to open the envelope.

"Like in every competition there can only be one winner," Rogge said. "Tonight I have the honour to announce that the Games of the 31st Olympiad are awarded to the city of Rio de Janeiro," Rogge said.

Carlos Nuzman, Rio bid leader, hugged President Lula, both in tears and said: "We did it, we did it," and the Brazilian delegation broke into their "Marvellous City" song, waving flags and hugging each other.

Both finalists had staged impressive presentations, featuring heartfelt contributions from Lula for Rio and former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch for Madrid.

Lula persuaded members it was time to address the fact that South America had never hosted the Games.

The 89-year-old Samaranch, who ran the IOC for more than two decades, asked voters to take his age into account.

"I know I am very near the end of my days," he said. "May I ask you to consider granting my country the honour and also the duty to organise the games in 2016?"

That tug on the heart-strings helped take Madrid into the final but could not prevent the Games going to Brazil.

(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann, John Acher and Owen Wyatt)

Brazil optimistic to win bid to host 2016 Olympics

Brazil optimistic to win bid to host 2016 Olympics

STAFF WRITER 9:34 HRS IST

Rio De Janeiro, Sep 24 (Kyodo) Brazil is optimistic that it will win the race against Japan, Spain and US to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will meet in Copenhagen on Oct 2 to announce the host city for the 2016 Games. Rio De Janeiro, Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago are cities contending to host the prestigious event.

"We are aware that anything can happen on Oct 2, but we are optimistic because we have done our homework well," Rio De Janeiro's mayor Mayor Eduardo Paes told reporters yesterday.

Paes said that IOC gave a positive analysis of Rio de Janeiro's bid report although most local sports commentators feel Tokyo will be the main rival in the race for the Games.

Cycle rickshaws to invade London Olympics

London:

London: For an outsider, it's a strange and pleasant sight to see the pedicab - akin to the cycle rickshaw in India - weave its way across the London streetscape

Since 1995, pedicabs have been a regular at West End, the entertainment area around Covent Garden, Leicester Square and the more crowded Soho, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus.

Today there are more than 400 of them going up and down the busy London streets. And come 2012, the pedicabs will play an important role in giving the London Olympics a green image.

"The Olympic Village is trying to have 100-400 pedicabs so as to have an eco-friendly environment," said Friedel Schroder, managing director of BugBugs, the market leader in creating pedicabs since 1998.

Life is not so easy for pedicab drivers who often have to struggle to earn a meagre income.

Gokhann, 20, a Turkish national, clad in blue jeans and a black turtleneck sweater , stands in front of the Leicester Square tube station. He has been waiting for two hours for a customer to hitch a ride on his pedicab.

"Sometimes I enjoy my job. But at times, I am tired, especially when I have to pedal with four people on the pedicab," Gokhann said and added on some days he earns a mere 20 pounds.

An Egyptian national who did not wish to be named took up a job as a pedicab driver the day after he came to London almost three months ago. "Money is very difficult to come by in this job. It is difficult to go on like this," he said.

With the Olympics Village giving the nod to pedicabs, there is now some hope for Gokhann and others, as they feel the humble rickshaw could get a lot of publicity during the mega sporting event.

The pedicabs are popular among tourists who take short rides in the eco-friendly vehicle for a few pounds.

"I loved chatting with the pedicabbie when I took it from Oxford Street to Edgware Road. It's a lovely way of seeing London," said Rama Arya, a communications expert for the South African government.

A short trip from Leicester Square to Covent Garden varies from five to 10 pounds and this irks the 'big brother' - the London black cabbies.

"There's no regulation on the pedicab fares. They fleece the tourists for a five-10 minute journey. Our main problem is the congestion the pedicabs creates on the streets," said Bob Oddy, general secretary, Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA).

But pedicab driver Carl, a Polish national, refutes the allegation. He says he accepts whatever the riders give as a tip, while the fare of the journey is conveyed to the riders in advance.

Soruce:http://news.in.msn.com/national

India bags four medals in Special Winter Olympics

NEW DELHI: For a country basking in the glory of Beijing Olympics success, there are more reasons to cheer as India won four medals, including a gold, in the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Idaho, US.

Paras Bhatia bagged gold in Snowboarding while Brajesh and Kaushal Manek clinched the silver medal in the same event of the Games that will conclude on Saturday.

Reena bagged the bronze in the Alpine Skiing category and became the lone girl from India to win a medal at the event, Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) Sports Director K Kumar informed.

A total of 75 students represented India at the Games which had a total participation of 97 countries, including China, the US and Britain.

Bhatia (19) of capital's Ashok Vihar area is speech-impaired like Manek, also 19, of Rohila in North Delhi.

For Brajesh and Reena, it was a 'Slumdog Millionaire' fortune as the duo hails from a South Delhi slum. Both Brajesh (15) of Sanjay Colony and Reena (18) of the same locality are deaf and dumb.

For Deepalaya, an NGO at Sagarpur near Janakpuri here, it was proud moments as two of its students selected by the SOB won medals.

"Our efforts have been paid dividends. And it's cent percentage," the NGO's chief executive TK Mathew said.

"It was something amazing that the students from the tropical country excelled to win medals," he added.

The SOB is the Indian wing of Special Olympics International, a world-wide NGO network taking care of special students.

The Indian contingent was given a ten-day training in Manali in Himachal Pradesh ahead of the Games which included events like alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, floor hockey, snowshoeing and speed skating.

sOURCE: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India-bag-four-medals-in-Special-Winter-Olympics/articleshow/4126190.cms

London to have 'Olympic university' after 2012 games

LONDON: London will have an "Olympic university" after the 2012 edition of the games are over, a bid to secure a long-term legacy for the 9.3 billion pounds being spent on the event.

According to the official announcement made on Tuesday, the university will be established on the site of the London Olympics 2012.

The facility is likely to be built within the media village once the games are over. It is part of a range of education facilities planned for the site that include a sports-focused secondary school in the Olympic stadium, an arts academy in the Olympic village and three new primary schools.

The plans include proposals to build 10,000 new homes, in addition to 3,000 already being built in the Olympic village.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, the communities secretary, Hazel Blears, and Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, said in a joint statement that their vision was for "a vibrant, thriving district of new communities surrounded by beautiful parklands and reclaimed waterways, with outstanding sporting, educational and cultural facilities".

They said the main 25,000-seater stadium would be retained to host major international athletics championships, rock concerts and festivals.

There were also plans for the arena to house the national skills academy for sports and leisure industries, and a centre for the English Institute of Sport.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/London_to_have_Olympic_university_after_2012_games/articleshow/4109799.cms?TOI_latestnews

London to have 'Olympic university' after 2012 games

LONDON: London will have an "Olympic university" after the 2012 edition of the games are over, a bid to secure a long-term legacy for the 9.3 billion pounds being spent on the event.

According to the official announcement made on Tuesday, the university will be established on the site of the London Olympics 2012.

The facility is likely to be built within the media village once the games are over. It is part of a range of education facilities planned for the site that include a sports-focused secondary school in the Olympic stadium, an arts academy in the Olympic village and three new primary schools.

The plans include proposals to build 10,000 new homes, in addition to 3,000 already being built in the Olympic village.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, the communities secretary, Hazel Blears, and Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, said in a joint statement that their vision was for "a vibrant, thriving district of new communities surrounded by beautiful parklands and reclaimed waterways, with outstanding sporting, educational and cultural facilities".

They said the main 25,000-seater stadium would be retained to host major international athletics championships, rock concerts and festivals.

There were also plans for the arena to house the national skills academy for sports and leisure industries, and a centre for the English Institute of Sport.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/London_to_have_Olympic_university_after_2012_games/articleshow/4109799.cms?TOI_latestnews

Vancouver student, 18, chosen as first Olympic torchbearer

Vancouver student, 18, chosen as first Olympic torchbearer

JAMES CHRISTIE
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
January 20, 2009 at 5:43 AM EST
Patricia Moreno beat one set of odds in being the first runner named as a torchbearer in the lead-up to the Vancouver Olympics. The next will be to show her friends they're wrong when they tease her about falling down with the torch when the 18-year-old Vancouver high-school student takes centre stage with the Olympic flame as it makes its way toward the 2010 Games.
"I don't know how intense it's going to be that day," Ms. Moreno said as she was introduced at a news conference in Toronto. "When the Coke team showed up at the recreation centre where I volunteer around Christmas, I was shaking."

Ms. Moreno was one of thousands of teens who applied online for a torchbearer job at the SoGo Active site, which the beverage maker maintains in partnership with the health-and-wellness organization ParticipAction. She was picked as the first runner to be introduced "because she embodied the infectious attitude of a young person who wanted to be active and make a difference in her community," said David Moran, director of public affairs and communications for Coca-Cola Ltd.

If Ms. Moreno overcame some odds to be selected from the thousands of applicants, so did the beverage maker. Coca-Cola has long been a sponsor of the International Olympic Committee and a sponsor of torch relays dating back to the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. But its pop image has been uncomplimentary, and its sugared marquee product has often been associated with poor diets and youth obesity.

The company is out to correct that image with this venture, Mr. Moran said. It has positioned itself as a champion of active living and got several health, wellness and environmental groups to sit on its panel to select torchbearers, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, ParticipAction, WWF-Canada and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Games, known as VANOC.
"It's a collaboration," said Kellie Leitch, adviser to Health Canada on healthy children and youth. Dr. Leitch also is a member of the selection panel for the torchbearers. "Obesity among youth has tripled in the last generation," she said. "This is the first generation of kids who won't outlive their parents. But here's an industry partner who is willing to lead the charge toward active living."

Mr. Moran acknowledged that Coke and health advocates are unusual bedfellows, but pointed out that this can be an advantage.

"We can reach a large audience and we can make a difference," he said. In fact, the sugar-sweetened product that gives the company its name is only one of about 80 products marketed to Canadians as the company "reinvents" itself as a "total hydration" operation. Coke also sells bottled water, energy drinks, coffee and juices.

About 1,000 youths will be selected from the SoGo Active teens. Another 1,100 will be picked by the selection panel from essay writers who enter at iCoke.ca, and describe how Canadians can improve their communities through a "Live Active, Live Green" approach. Other torchbearers will be designated by another presenting sponsor, RBC, Games organizer VANOC and other sponsors and suppliers.

Ms. Moreno will be one of 12,000 torchbearers taking part in the longest domestic journey yet for the Olympic flame, spanning some 45,000 kilometres over 106 days, starting on Oct. 30 in Victoria.

The route stretches to Canada's three coasts, from Vancouver Island to Cape Breton to Ellesmere Island in the north. The Olympic flame will reach Alert, Nunavut, the farthest north it will have yet journeyed. The route is designed to bring the flame within an hour's drive of 90 per cent of Canadians. The torch, which is being designed by Bombardier, is to be unveiled in Montreal next month. source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090120.wtorch20/BNStory/National/home

Brace up for glamorous women boxers in the ring

NEW DELHI: In a bid to get women’s boxing included in the 2012 London Olympics, the game’s governing body (AIBA) has decided to ‘sex up’ the sport. Taking a leaf out of beach-volleyball, which moved from T-shirts and long shorts to strictly-bikinis dress-code to beef up TRP ratings, the AIBA has commissioned some leading designers of the world with the job of creating a new dress code for the women boxers.

The AIBA is of the opinion that if it wants to make its ‘‘case stronger’’ in front of International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the upcoming meetings in June and October this year, it will have to present women’s boxing as a ‘‘popular sport".

And to popularise the sport, AIBA has realised it will have to make it ‘‘more attractive and viewer-friendly and not let the female boxers appear more like men in the ring" in order to achieve its end.

India’s MC MaryKom, the four-time women’s World boxing champion, laid out the pros and cons of the change in attire when the news was broken to her about AIBA’s intention. ‘‘I agree with the fact that our attire at the moment is boring and manly. And it irritates quite a few boxers because of it," the boxer told TOI from Imphal.

‘‘But the designers should keep in mind some of the conservative countries like India. Many boxers come from Mizoram and although they are quite cool with wearing trendy clothes in their normal lives, I’m sure they won’t be that comfortable when it comes to wearing ‘sexy dress’ in a sporting arena. I hope the AIBA will keep this in mind when it approves the design."

It might be recalled that Indian beach volleyball players refused to wear bikinis in the World Beach Volleyball tournament in Chennai last year because they thought it was ‘objectionable’. The players claimed that the skimpy outfits - mandatory dress - were against their tradition. As a result, the rules were relaxed for the Indian team and they were allowed to compete in T-shirts and long shorts.

‘‘AIBA’s argument on changing the dress-code in the recently-concluded meeting of Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) in China was that the women and men boxers look alike in the ring at the moment with their baggy-attires. Therefore the change of dress-code is essential," said PK Muralidharan Raja, secretary of the Indian Boxing Federation, who was present at the meeting.

‘‘It will help in grabbing more eyeballs which will in turn make the IOC look into the matter of including women’s boxing in Olympics with more seriousness. The fact is out of all the disciplines in the Olympics apart from boxing, every sport has women participating. The question is: Why should women’s boxing be left behind? In fact, in 1904 at St. Luis Games, women’s boxing was a demonstration event," Raja said.

The IOC has already looked into this matter and has proposed an initial plan of accepting 44 women boxers if the number of male boxers is correspondingly reduced from the present allotment of 286 at the Games. But it has not been finalised yet. The AIBA in the meantime is doing all it can to sell the dress code idea.

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Brace_up_for_glamorous_women_boxers/articleshow/3986175.cms

Vancouver might be on hook for Olympic Village

It's built on Vancouver's valuable waterfront real estate. How could taxpayers ever get soaked building a glittering, billion-dollar athletes' village for the Olympics?
Easier than you might think.

Thinking it couldn't lose in the real-estate big leagues, a few years ago the City of Vancouver guaranteed the world it could build the Olympic Village for 2010 - and even make a profit. Now the global financial crisis has turned a supposedly sure thing into a high-stakes gamble.


View Larger Image
The Olympic Village under construction in Vancouver.
REUTERS

Email to a friend

Printer friendly
Font:****The dilemma is that the local condo market has turned. The Olympic condo units, which were supposed to be occupied by athletes during the Games and then turned over to new owners, are probably worth 10-to-20-per-cent less than they were expected to be.

Even worse, the prospect of fast sales - most were expected to sell by 2010 - has evaporated. If they don't want to sell at fire-sale prices, city officials now realize sales will probably need to be delayed until the market rebounds, whenever that might be.

Holding off on selling in a falling market is, of course, what any savvy real-estate holder would do. But there's a problem: The Olympic Village is built on a mountain of borrowed money.

Putting off sales will certainly mean extending hundreds of millions of dollars in construction loans well beyond 2010. And that comes at a high price.

Vancouver city officials, and its new administration, continue to keep the details of the Olympic Village finances under a cone of secrecy. But here's what they are looking at:

The biggest loan to construct the Olympic Village is $750 million from Fortress Investment, a Wall St. financial firm. Another, emergency loan of up to $100 million was recently approved by the city. Then there's another $160 million still owed to the city of Vancouver for the sale of the waterfront land where the Olympic Village sits.

Now the assets: There are about 750 Olympic condo units that will go on the market. So far, about 250 of the lower-price condos have been sold at an average price of about $800,000, or $200 million.

Now do the math.

Let's assume building the Olympic Village entails the developer drawing down the full amount of the loans. That means $850 million left to pay. Another $160 million must also be paid back to the City of Vancouver, for its land. Total project liabilities: about $1 billion.

Now, let's optimistically assume all those 250 condos already purchased (mostly on deposit) complete their deals. At an average of $800,000 apiece, that would generate $200 million. That brings total liabilities down to about $800 million.

A year ago, paying that off didn't seem problematic. The remaining 500 units - with prices as high as $6 million - would surely earn enough to put the project solidly in the black after 2010.

Now, with nobody lining up for condos, quick repayment is unlikely. So that means extending the terms of the loans, possibly by years. What's that going to cost?

It's hard to say without seeing the books. But a conservative bet is that in the tight credit market, interest would be about six per cent a year on $800 million in liabilities. (That includes the $160-million the city is still owed, which would likely earn six per cent, too, if it were in hand and shrewdly invested. )

That means carrying costs of that $800 million are about $48 million a year. Add in management costs and deferred property taxes, because most of the Olympic Village is empty, and it's a cost of about $1 million a week to hold onto those Olympic condos.

We can continue to hope that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and his administration will find a creative way out of this scary scenario. The market might improve. More units might be sold.

But if things go sour, taxpayers will be on the hook. Vancouver city hall has guaranteed hundreds of millions of dollars of those Olympic Village loans

Source: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/viewpoints/story.html?id=56bf72b8-671e-42ef-90a6-307474cdd4f5&p=2