Snow no show at Winter Olympic site

Despite the warmest January on record and an unseasonable lack of snow, Winter Olympic organisers say they are confident the events will be a success.

canada_truck_snow_100209_L_AAP_1872159007
Lorry loads of snow will continue to be dumped at Vancouver's troubled Winter Olympic venue of Cypress Mountain, organisers said.

The freestyle and snowboard site, just to the north of Vancouver, has been plagued by a drastic lack of snow caused by the warm temperatures which have seen the city enjoying unseasonal highs of around 10C.

In an effort to get the venue ready, organisers took the controversial decision to ban media from the site until Tuesday when training resumes.

"The final snow will be brought in on Tuesday and we will be ready to go," said Dave Cobb, the VANOC deputy chief executive.

Cobb added that there were no regrets of not having scheduled the freestyle events at Whistler which has enjoyed high snowfalls and will be the venue for skiing, ski jumping and the sliding events.

"We could have had weather problems at Whistler and having more events there would have added to the challenges of getting people up there," he said.

"Cypress will be fantastic. When the events start, no-one will say we should have moved to Whistler."

Competitors, who have been forced to switch training to Whistler, shrugged off the problems they were facing.

America's mogul hopeful Hannah Kearney, a former world champion, said she had put up with far more demanding conditions.

"In Italy we literally skied on a pile of snow on a dirt road so this is a big improvement," said the 23-year-old.

"We're all going to be in the same boat here. As an athlete you prepare for it and you come in mentally tough.

"I'm really excited about this lack of snow because now I don't have to answer questions about myself. I only have to answer questions about snow."


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AFP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world