VANCOUVER 2010: Learning And Making Good Progress

This week the personnel of the Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee (VANOC) and the Committee’s local partners have been able to draw upon a massive wealth of Olympic experience and knowledge, as they participated in the official Torino 2006 debrief that is currently being hosted by the IOC in Vancouver. VANOC is also joined in this learning experience by the other current Organising Committees (OCOGs) - Beijing 2008 and London 2012 - and the candidate cities for 2014. This information exchange will allow VANOC to assess any need to refine its current plans and anticipate some of the problems that may come up in the future, as it continues to make good progress towards delivering top quality Games in 2010.

Following the last visit of the IOC Coordination Commission to Vancouver, at the beginning of June 2006, IOC Coordination Commission Chairman René Fasel said, “They [VANOC] are clearly meeting their goal of preparations that are on time, particularly in critical areas such as venue construction, and are building a strong and experienced team.” This good progress is continuing in Vancouver, with venue construction moving forward during the important summer building months and VANOC continuing to recruit key personnel to its organisation, as it refines its plans and spreads its vision for the Vancouver Games across Canada.

As part of VANOC’s ongoing planning process and within the scope of the IOC’s Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme, VANOC has been taking full advantage of the official debrief of the Torino 2006 Games. The five days of meetings are allowing Vancouver 2010 not only to learn from the experiences of Torino 2006 but also to look at their current plans and, using the experience gained during the debrief, refine them and spot any potential issues or solutions that may have become apparent after listening to the analysis of the Turin Games.

Vancouver 2010
Vancouver will host the XXI Olympic Winter Games from 12 to 28 February 2010. The mountain events will take place in Whistler, and Whistler will also host the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games from 12 to 21 March 2010.