Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 is Coming

Olympic Winter Games: February 12 to 28, 2010
Paralympic Winter Games: March 12 to 21, 2010

On July 2, 2003, the International Olympic Committee selected Vancouver as the host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Athletes and spectators from around the world will gather in Vancouver and the alpine resort of Whistler in February and March 2010 to celebrate winter sporting excellence. The Games, along with the region's spectacular natural playground and its vibrant venues, will put Vancouver in the spotlight as a premier sporting destination.

A few quick facts about the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games:

• Number of Olympic athletes and officials: 5,500
• Number of Paralympic athletes and officials: 1,350
• Countries participating in Olympic Winter Games: 80+
• Countries participating in Paralympic Winter Games: 40+
• 2010 Olympic Winter Games events tickets available: 1.6 million
• 2010 Paralympic Winter Games events tickets available: 250,000
• Estimated number of media representatives: 10,000
• Estimated number of Games volunteers: 25,000

Bloody Freezing!!!

The year 2010 was ushered in with the Polar Bear swim at English Bay, in Vancouver. What a Way to start the Vancouver 2010 Olympic year. Every year on New Year's Day, Vancouverites gather at English Bay to plunge into the sea. This is the 90th anniversary of the event. The temperature this year is about 8 degree Celsius. Everybody had tons of fun including our fearless group of seven which were me, Nancy, Anthony, Stu, Paul, Emma and Paige.

A couple of thousand people attended, many of them in costumes and some of them could easily be considered freaks in their approach to the swim. The video below that I found on the web shows what I mean. Another highlight of the event is Peter Pantages (founder of Polar Bear Club) Memorial 100 yard swim, however, there was no way our little band of people was ever going to make it that far in the water.