Anything But The Poutine

Everyone comes from a position of bias and the main reason that the topic of the British media coverage of Vancouver 2010 has even touched my consciousness is because my wife is Canadian and because I spent two years over there. The bias of the British media is slightly harder to figure out. Why are they being so negative? Perhaps it's just their usual attempt to get everyone shouting to their neighbours over their garden fences “Have you SEEN this in The Sun? It's OUTRAGOUS! So much so that I'm going to keep on reading it and YELLING about it!”.

The BBC Online coverage has been quite measured and reasonable, from what I've seen, but some of the newspapers, much less so. I think part of that is because The BBC are actually over there and not writing from an office in London. As John Furlong (CEO of the games) said regarding some of the journalists, “I don't know where these journalists are”. Great that The BBC are over there covering the games and a big piss off to The Sun who are busy moaning about the number of journalists The BBC has sent to cover the games.

Here is a breakdown of some of the main complaints:

The death of Nodar Kumaritashvili
You can debate whether the cause of the accident was due to a mistake by the athlete, a result of restrictions on access to the luge track for practice or a technical fault with the track. Whatever the case, an article in The Daily Mail (which I won't link to) is pretty nasty. The headline was “Canada's lust for glory is to blame for this senseless tragedy”.
“Canada wanted to Own The Podium at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. This morning they can put their maple leaf stamp on something more instantly tangible: the nondescript little box carrying the lifeless body of Nodar Kumaritashvili back to his home in Bakuriani, Georgia.

Made in Canada, it should say. Made by the perversion of the Olympic movement for national gain; made by a culture of worthless aggrandisement and pride.”

The death is a tragedy, that is for sure, but until there is an investigation, perhaps best not to lay blame. Doing otherwise is a disgrace. One of the most emotional moments during these Olympics was when the Georgian team entered during the opening ceremony.

Own The Podium
People are reading too much into this. I hesitate to go so far as to say that there is a “language barrier”, but having lived in Canada, I can tell you that there is a definite cultural difference between Canadian people and The British. Canada falls somewhere between The USA and Britain. They don't have the arrogance of The USA who will charge into the room screaming “U-S-A! U-S-A!”, but neither are they a bunch of whining, pessimistic people so cruelly aroused by failure, proud just to be able to keep their chins up against all those terrible odds. Don't worry, I include myself in this.

Canadian athletes have been under-funded for many years, and the use of the “Own The Podium” slogan in the lead-up to the Vancouver 2010 games is as much a marketing decision than it is a display of arrogance. With this in mind, remember that it is The USA who have been saying that Canada can own the podium, but we're going to be renting it for the duration of the games. Now that's arrogance.

Lack of Practice for foreign athletes
The British Media (and some sour athletes) have complained that The Canadians have had more access to tracks and facilities. I'm not there, so I don't know how true it is. What I do know is that it is normal for a host nation to have more practice on their own tracks before the live there due to a technical issue known as “fucking living there, you twat”. It is true that athletes were restricted from accessing the luge for a while but that is because a) They rested the track while it was too warm and b) the games are billed as “The Green Games” so it cannot be running all the time. Yes, it's a pity that Brits have a hard time practising winter sports in Britain, but at least we have palm trees in Torquay.

The curling stones suck
Britain and Germany have both complained. The stones come from Scotland, so... erm...

One of the torches in the opening ceremony didn't light
The opening ceremony was really impressive, especially the CGI whales and such. Let's accentuate the negative, though eh? There were technical failings in Beijing where Chinese staff had to hit pieces of scenery to get them to work, fortunately not caught on camera.

The torch is (was) trapped behind a Cold War style compound
A fair point, this one. Perhaps because it is a fair point, it has since been resolved. That's not to say this is a British Press crusade. Vancouver's mayor was also calling for the torch to be “freed”.

The weather
I'm sure Canadians find it hilarious that The British Press have the audacity to complain about the weather outside of Britain. The weather has been a problem, but you can't really blame Vancouver for that. Unless it sells extra newspapers to a nation of people who are scared at the prospect of hosting The Olympic Games and so like to see other people failing at it before us. Hey, maybe it'll make ours look a bit better.