TORINO, Italy — A sprawling, multicultural seaport, Vancouver will be a Winter Olympics host dramatically unlike any before it — an even bigger metropolis than Torino, in a more spectacular setting.
Overlooked by mountains rising abruptly from the shore, with a majestic park jutting into the harbor, it guarantees an eye-catching backdrop for the ice sports and ceremonies of the 2010 Games. Two hours away — maybe three, to be on the safe side — the skiing and sliding events will take place in and around Whistler, rated consistently as one of the top ski resorts of North America.
Yes, it rains in Vancouver in February — every other day, on average. But the prospect of gray skies, and an array of logistical and financial challenges, have not dented the confidence of organizers that the 2010 Games will be a hit.
"In a few days, the giant spotlight will move from Torino to Vancouver, and it will be our turn to show the world what we can do," 2010 organizing chief John Furlong said Thursday. "It's pressure, but it's good pressure."
To approach his self-stated goal of perfection, Furlong and his fast-growing team have plenty of work on their hands. A short list includes rising costs in a heated local economy, a highway controversy and the future of Vancouver's toughest neighborhood.
Earlier this month, in what Furlong pledged would be the last such request, organizers asked federal and provincial authorities for an extra $96 million to cover surging construction costs, raising their projected budget to $580 million. Contractors worry about a local shortage of skilled labor and have dispatched recruiters as far as Europe.
Crucial to the 2010 plan is an upgrading of the scenic but sometimes slow and dangerous Sea to Sky Highway that links Vancouver with Whistler over a twisting, mountainous route. Organizers say work is ahead of schedule and will be done by 2009, but many residents and politicians in affluent West Vancouver are furious that the project now calls for an overland four-lane highway, not a tunnel, through a scenic section of bayside bluffs.
Close to Vancouver's vibrant, trendy center city is a starkly different neighborhood called Downtown Eastside, long a skid-row destination for drifters and drug addicts who frequent dilapidated rooming houses. Organizers have pledged to help upgrade the area without causing displacement, but a residents' association predicts rents will soar as landlords and hotel owners try to cash in on the Olympics.
Another possible but seemingly remote threat would be a renewed push by separatists in French-speaking Quebec to secede from Canada. The separatists narrowly lost a secession referendum in 1995, and their new leader has vowed to try again if his Parti Quebecois wins provincial elections due by early 2008.
But an actual breakaway remains a long shot; even a recent proposal by one separatist leader for Quebec to form its own hockey team didn't catch on.
"Nobody in Quebec thinks the Olympics are a bad idea," Furlong told The Associated Press. "They're flat-out determined to be involved."
Indeed, public and political support is high across Canada — and organizers want to keep it that way by maximizing medal prospects for Canadian athletes. Furlong said venue construction is on schedule, with hopes that all will be ready by 2008 to give Canada's competitors extra time to train on them.
Coming off a record-high medal haul in Torino, Canada also is launching a program called "Own The Podium" that is drawing government and private funds to develop a team that can win the most medals in 2010.
Vancouver's profile will rise even higher Sunday, when its quadriplegic mayor, Sam Sullivan, accepts the Olympic flag at the closing ceremonies. Sullivan, who broke his neck skiing when he was 19, plans to maneuver his motorized wheelchair so the flag — inserted into a special attachment — will flutter even though he cannot wave it.
The concept bemuses some pundits. "Its message, essentially, is that the world of ice and snow won't have Canada to kick around anymore," observed the Toronto Sun. "No more Mr. Nice Guy."
Furlong said there was no contradiction between the medals programs and the 2010 slogan being unveiled in Torino, "Come Play With Us."
"It's our way of inviting the world," Furlong said. "It doesn't mean we won't compete as hard as we can."
First-time visitors will find a distinctive metropolis of nearly 2 million people — and some distinctive Olympic plans.
With hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Hong Kong, India and Pakistan, Vancouver is one of the most Asian-flavored of North American cities. Part of its huge waterfront convention center will become the games' media center; and 55,000-seat BC Place Stadium, with an air-supported dome, will become the first facility to host opening and closing ceremonies indoors — easing any worries about rain.
Furlong heads an 80-strong delegation in Torino, taking notes while also promoting Vancouver and its province, British Columbia. One catchy move was to erect a giant log cabin in a downtown piazza — it's drawn up to 6,000 visitors a day to play street hockey, view ice sculptures and learn about vacation and business opportunities in Canada.