By Cord Heine Nov 3, 2009, 11:04 GMT
Vancouver, Canada - The venues are ready, the city is being spruced up and the torch is being carried across the country to the cries of 'Go Canada.'
With 100 days to go on Thursday before the start of the 2010 winter Games in Vancouver, Olympic excitement is growing in Canada.
Organizing committee VANOC chief executive John Furlong drew similarities with the athlete in the dressing rooms waiting anxiously for his or her competition to start.
Everything has been prepared as well as possible, he said, and it was now all about focusing on organizing an exciting and enjoyable event.
All venues have been tried and tested well ahead of the opening ceremony on February 12. Demand is also high for tickets, Furlong told the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Copenhagen.
'We need to make sure we have no regrets about what we are trying to achieve,' he said. 'At present we are on the last lap and we are trying to do everything to get the city into the spirit.'
The many financial problems along the way now seem to be secondary, as do the negative headlines of the past over the expense or shortage of suitable accommodation in the host city.
On the financial side, costs for constructing the Olympic village ballooned to 1.1 billion Canadian dollars (648 million euros), while the budget for security is, at 900 million Canadian dollars, now five times the original figure. The legacy of the Games could be a debt mountain of billions of dollars.
But Furlong and his staff are now feeling a sense of anticipation amid a swell of support for the Games, with events being held in Vancouver, nearby Richmond and the ski venues at Whistler 125 kilometres to the north.
The IOC has long given the hosts its stamp of approval, with president Jacques Rogge saying 'I am sure these Games will be absolutely magnificent.'
Apart from the Richmond Oval speed skating centre, the 19-kilometre-long Canada Line underground train from the airport to Vancouver city centre is the only new construction for the Games.
Both new constructions have passed their tests and will be used by Vancouver's residents after the Games are over, as will the extended Sea to Sky highway linking Vancouver and Whistler.
Arenas like the Pacific Coliseum (ice-skating and short track), the Canada Hockey Place (ice hockey) and the impressive BC Place (opening, closing and medals ceremonies) have undergone renovation work.
In view of the effects of the global economic crisis, the IOC will for the first time help a Games host financially if the organizing committee is unable to balance its books
A multimillion-dollar top-up will come if there is a deficit on an operative budget of some 1.7 billion dollars.
Rogge described the move as 'a gesture of support and partnership' because of an economic crisis no-one could have predicted.
Your Talkback on this Story