“Zorbs” for Sochi Handover
Zorbs – globes that symbolize a digitally connected world – will be a feature of the portion of the Vancouver closing ceremony when the Olympic flag is passed to 2014 host Sochi.
Sochi 2014 CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said that the eight-minute handover ceremony marks the end of the brand launch for Sochi begun a year ago with the launch of the new logo for the Russian host city.
He says the ceremony will include about 150 performers, including Olympic champions, musicians and a Russian supermodel.
The zorbs, as they are called, are large bubbles with a person inside. The same props were used in the logo launch in December 2009.
Spectators at the closing ceremony will receive a Sochi snow dome as a souvenir.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robinson will hand the Olympic flag to Sochi mayor Anatoly Pakhomov during the ceremony. On Monday, a Russian navy tall ship berthed in Vancouver will carry the flag to Russia, crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Cheryshenko downplayed the absence in Vancouver of Russian President Dmitry Mevedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Reports have said that disappointment with Russia’s performance in Vancouver led to their decision to stay home.
Chernyshenko says the Russian government is well-represented in Vancouver by deputy prime ministers Dmitry Kozak and Alexander Zhukov, both of whom are closely connected with Sochi 2014.
Besides, he said, "It's not for the games organizers to comment on government officials' schedules."
Chileans Skip Closing Ceremony
In the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Chile, the three members of the Chilean team to the Vancouver Olympics will miss closing ceremony Sunday evening to return home as soon as possible. The three athletes, all alpine skiers, have completed competition.
U.S. Prepares for Sochi
With a record haul of three dozen medals in Vancouver, the U.S. says it will be ready to take its team to Sochi in 2014, regardless of the challenges faced with Games staged far from home soil.
Bill Demong, the first U.S. gold medalist in a Nordic skiing event, predicts the USOC’s long-term investment in winter sport will continue in 2014.
“[Sochi is] going to be a little bit different, you can’t just get a couple hour flight and go to Sochi. To me it seems like, part of the windfall we’re having here and what I think will continue to make the U.S good at the winter Olympics is how the USOC works with the NGBs,” said Demong at a USOC press briefing Saturday.
U.S. chef de mission Mike Plant said preparationis the key to success.
“I think the credit for why we prepare the way we do no matter where it is around the world really goes to the Olympic committee working closely with national governing bodies. It transcends just the performance base it’s also operationally.
“We start sending teams to Sochi this coming year”, he said.
Plant said the USOC’s leadership team will judge the lay of the land in Sochi.
“When we do get to the Games we’re probably the best prepared team.”
Terry Fox Award Winners
Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic and Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette are the joint recipients of the Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award. The award is named after the amputee runner who is famous for his run across Canada 30 years ago to help find a cure for cancer.
The award was created in late 2009 by the Fox family and VANOC, is meant to honor athletes “who are the epitome of determination in motion, who pushed on no matter what the pain or obstacles in their path and inspired Canada and the world by displaying humility and selflessness in their treatment of others both on and off the field of play at the Olympic Winter Games,” says a release from VANOC.
Written by Ed Hula and Ed Hula III.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
