VANOC, venue workers celebrate

December 21, 2007

Wrapping up construction on the Whistler Sliding Centre and other 2010 Olympic and Paralympic venues more than two years in advance isn’t just a boon to Canadian athletes pinning their ears back for a shot at the podium.

It’s also a signal to investors that Canada and British Columbia can get the job done, Colin Hansen, B.C.’s minister of economic development and minister responsible for the 2010 Games, said during a media event at the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge track that helped mark the wrap-up of construction at the three Whistler venues.

“These are complex projects and we’ve shown that Canada can deliver,” said Hansen, one of the dignitaries — also including federal Trade/Olympics Minister David Emerson and Mayor Ken Melamed — who smiled for the cameras both inside and outside a bobsleigh near the base of the sliding centre track on Friday (Dec. 14).

Molly Furlong, Vancouver 2010 (VANOC) CEO John Furlong’s 13-year-old daughter, also took her turn mugging for the cameras with her dad inside the bobsleigh — on loan from the Whistler 2010 Info Centre for the event.

“When you have international investors who are looking for a place and a team that can deliver, the completion of this project in record time sends out a great message,” Hansen said.

VANOC officials spoke with obvious pride about the sliding centre, and their comments were buttressed by those of Duff Gibson, the now-retired 2006 Olympic skeleton champion, who said Canadian athletes in all three sliding sports are anxious to put the new track to the test.

But to a large degree, Friday’s events — which also included an indoor celebration at the Westin Resort and Spa and the official opening of what’s now being called Whistler Olympic Park (cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping) in the Callaghan Valley — were about the hundreds of workers who built the venues.

Jan Jansen, Whistler Sliding Centre project construction manager, recounted a visit from international sliding centre federation officials nearly five years ago, before Vancouver and Whistler were awarded the Games. At the time, the site near the base of Blackcomb Mountain was still mostly forest, and even for him, it was difficult to envision the facility that was to emerge.

“We’ve had as many as 250 people working on the site at a time,” said Jansen, who estimated that between 500 and 700 people had a hand in the track’s construction. “Their skill was such that every detail is precise to within three millimeters of design. There isn’t a worker on site who isn’t proud of what they’ve achieved here.”

All told, a workforce of 2,500 people from B.C. and various parts of Canada took part in the construction of the three venues — the third being upgrades to the runs and finish area for the alpine skiing events ending at Creekside. Together the three Whistler venues will host 46 Olympic and 62 Paralympic medal events in 2010.

At Friday’s celebration at the Westin Resort and Spa, Furlong and Emerson both expressed their appreciation to the Whistler community and to the workers.

“We can never be grateful enough for what you have done to put us in the position we’re in today, but please accept my thanks for your hard work,” Furlong said as photos taken during venue construction were flashed on the walls.

Said Emerson, “Internationally, people are seeing Canada as a country that promises and delivers. Mr. Furlong, you have defied gravity. I want to congratulate you and Dan Doyle (VANOC executive vice president, construction) and your whole team.”

Jansen, in fact, told the crowd he thought Doyle had made “the single biggest contribution” to getting the job done.

He recalled that when Doyle came on board a couple of years ago, he convened a meeting of all the construction managers and vowed to get the venues done on time and on budget.

“I wasn’t the only one in the room who was a little nervous,” Jansen said, “but on behalf of Doug (Ewing), Rod (MacLeod) and myself, I want to say, ‘Dan, thanks for your support in getting us there.’”

Even though the sliding centre — one of only 15 bobsleigh/luge/skeleton tracks in the world — won’t host its first test run for about two months, one VANOC official left little doubt that from a construction standpoint, it is ready to do what it was built to do.

Renee Smith-Valade, VANOC manager of communications, issued a warning to members of the media who attended Friday’s event at the centre.

As the snow fell lightly and piled up on exposed sections of the track, Smith-Valade warned, “The track has a thin layer of ice on it and if you go out onto it, you do so at your own caution. If you do so, you may go a bit further down than you’d like.”