January 19, 2009 (Whistler, BC) – The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) successfully completed its operational testing today at the Nordic combined and cross-country Sport Events at Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park, which ran from January 16 to 18. VANOC staff tested field of play, Games-time operations and trained potential Games-time volunteers over the course of two training days and three competition days. The venue will also host the ski jumping Sport Event from January 23 to 25.

“We have had very positive feedback from both the FIS cross-country and Nordic combined management teams that are here to assist us,” said Tim Gayda, VANOC vice president, sport. “Though we had challenging weather the week prior to the events, we would have liked to have been pushed a little harder with the weather this week so that our work force could test field-of-play operations with more snow – but the sunshine has certainly resulted in a spectacular event for both competitors and spectators.”

This weekend’s World Cup competitions are part of the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) 2008-09 World Cup season and featured Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games medal hopefuls, representing a total of 21 countries. Broadcast live to Europe, an estimated 20 million viewers tuned in daily for the events while thousands of fans made their way to Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park to cheer on the world’s best cross-country and Nordic combined athletes.

“This weekend has been awesome,” said Sara Renner, who finished sixth at the women’s World Cup pursuit race on Saturday. “It was great to see all of the Canadians out there lining the course. They were all screaming the right things and helped me along today.”

American Nordic combined Olympic silver medallist Bill Demong was also pleased with the course and facility. “There’s no such thing as an easy course,” said Demong. “This course has a lot of transitions which makes it an exciting place to race.”

Spectator response was highly favourable to sport production elements that included bilingual, live colour commentary by Canadian summer (cycling) and winter (cross-country skiing) Olympian Pierre Harvey, European sport announcer Kjell Erik Christensen, and Canadian Olympian and 2006 cross-country gold medallist, Chandra Crawford. Of particular note for VANOC’s testing were pre-event snow removal procedures due to the heavy snowfall, medical ski patrollers on the field of play, and running events simultaneously on the cross-country skiing and ski jumping venues. Other testing included:

Field of Play
Grooming and hill preparation were tested at the large hill ski jump area. Wind data from the landing hill was continually examined, as well as the operational flexibility to adjust to the weather conditions and the requirements from the FIS management team. “The course is as we want it,” said Vegard Ulvang, FIS chairman of the cross-country committee, and former cross-country Olympic and world champion. “It has a variety of terrain, and we are pleased to see the width of the course that allows for both traditional classic skiing as well as the newer discipline of skate skiing. Aside from some minor modifications, we will not be asking for any changes at Games time.”

Press Operations/Venue Media Centre
The Venue Media Centre (VMC) team serviced some 130 local, national and international press and photographers. Positive feedback was received from the international press regarding the VMC, the competition mixed zones and photo positions. Press and photographer feedback regarding access to and movement within the mixed zones, and photo positions and interaction with broadcast media in these areas will be incorporated into planning for 2010.

Timing and Scoring
All timing and scoring systems were on time, with no issues. The integration of timing and scoring results with the Olympic Broadcast Services’ television graphic systems (athlete names and results, local weather and other graphic inlays) was successful. The transition of data, equipment and staff between the ski jump and cross-country skiing venues during the Nordic combined competition was seamless.

Technology
Technology played a significant role in the competition this weekend through the first-time testing of a number of new services including a scanning check-in system for workforce and the connecting of the venue data centre’s information to the “Olympic backbone”, a secure, private 10G fibre network that connects competition venues to VANOC’s headquarters. The event also made use of 110 cell phones and established over 200 temporary internet connections for workforce and officials and ensured broadcast connections.

Medical Services
The 16-person Medical Services team replicated Games-time field-of-play medical service levels with medical personnel ski patrollers acting as first responders. No incidents or traumas requiring medical attention occurred. Access routes for medical snowmobiles at the ski jumping venue will be re-examined and changed for 2010 allowing for quicker response times for snowmobiles in getting around the broadcast crane.

Anti-Doping
Five full-time VANOC employees and 40 volunteers from across Canada conducted 34 urine tests and 17 blood tests, on behalf of the FIS, on both randomly chosen and medal-winning athletes. VANOC also worked with the FIS to showcase its athlete outreach booth designed to educate and inform athletes about anti-doping rules and procedures.

Workforce
A workforce of approximately 750 (600 volunteers and 150 VANOC staff) took part with many of those teams returning next weekend for the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. The volunteer workforce included over 200 volunteers from outside of British Columbia who brought extensive Nordic event experience. From January 12 to the conclusion of the two World Cup events, more than 2,000 shifts were completed by Workforce.

The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, FIS Cross-Country World Cup and FIS Ski Jumping World Cup were the first Sport Events of the 2009 season. The first Sport Event was the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup held last February at Whistler Creekside. For more information on the Nordic World Cups this month, visit www.nordicfestival2009.com. For more information on the remaining Sport Events taking place from February to September 2009, including how to purchase tickets, visit www.vancouver2010.com.