Vancouver Games a winner at the half-way mark (News Feature)

By Barry Whelan Feb 21, 2010, 3:26 GMT

Vancouver - International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge (IOC) called the Vancouver winter Games 'absolutely brilliant' as organizers begin to bask in glowing praise after a week spent dealing with criticism and setbacks.

With the Games at the midway mark, officials have highlighted enthralling competition in Vancouver, Whistler and Cypress Mountains, the obvious enjoyment of athletes and spectators alike and the way organizers had responded to problems during the first week.

Rogge told German Press Agency dpa the Games would always be remembered for the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili at Whistler on February 12, the day of the opening ceremony.

But the Games have been 'absolutely brilliant' from the beginning of the week, he said. 'The Games will always be remembered for the tragic death. We do not forget but this does not take away the very good effort done by the organizing committee,' he said.

The Games had experienced 'small difficulties at the beginning, nothing substantial' and the weather was 'a bit difficult the first weekend.' But Rogge said there had been 'first class sport, warm supportive crowds, the city is a party all night' and there had been high television viewing figures around the world.

'We can be happy. If the second week is like the first one it will be very, very good Games,' he said.

Games organizers had spent much of the first week addressing problems caused by poor weather as well as technical and transportation hitches and issues such as the fencing in of the cauldron in Vancouver which had led to many complaints.

Some international press reports, notably from the British press, in the first few weeks were already writing the Games off.

But Gilbert Felli, the IOC Olympic Games executive director, said on Saturday: 'We are very pleased with the smooth running of the Games, so far, and there's no reason to believe the next eight days won't run just as smoothly.'

Felli said he had been impressed by organizer VANOC's ability to address problems within 24 hours.

Whatever the initial problems experienced by the organizers, the sport itself has lived up to expectations, with Canada able to cheer an early first gold - and a first on home soil at a third home Games - for moguls man Alexandre Bilodeau, now a national hero.

The rain and fog which held up alpine skiing at Whistler and washed out spectator areas at snow-starved Cypress Mountains has now been replaced by picture postcard blue skies.

The Games are also being accompanied by a new outpouring of Canadian national pride which could reach a climax next week in the men's and women's ice-hockey teams go on to win gold medals.

And another plus for organizers: no doping scandals. One Russian female ice-hockey player has received a reprimand after testing positive for a stimulant contained in a medicine she had taken before the Games for a heavy cold. But that's all there is to report after more than than 1,300 doping tests by Thursday night.

So far so good also for the US team which tops the medals table ahead of Norway, Germany and Canada.

It's been a US success story in alpine skiing, where Lindsey Vonn thrilled with a downhill victory while other American gold medallists include Evan Lysacek who upset defending champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia for the men's figure skating title.

Other nations have also been enjoying successful Games. Simon Amman of Switzerland in ski jumping and Norway's Marit Bjoergen in cross-country skiing have each won two golds, while Mo Tae-Bum earned South Korea a first Winter Olympics gold medal outside short track in the 500m (followed up by Lee Sang-Hwa winning the women's 500m).

Canada are expecting a strong second week for their athletes to hit their target of finishing top of the medals table, while the Games organizers will be hoping for fewer problems from now on.

'We're starting to hear the phrase 'The best ever' from our stakeholders groups including from our athletes and our broadcast rights holders,' said David Cobb, VANOC vice president.

'I've lived in Vancouver my whole life and I've never seen this level of excitement on the streets. It's a fantastic feeling to see the way the city has responded to these Games.'