If you’ve noticed a media badge hanging around my neck in various photos during the games, the BC International Media Centre is what one of those things allows me access to. This is where the non-accredited media hang out because we can’t get the officially recognized Olympics accreditation that is controlled by VANOC.
As lacking as that might sound in terms of media access, the BCIMC was a remarkable place to work out of. Aside from the responsibilities I’ve had with the radio stations, I’m also able to plug in my laptop, process photos, and upload a lot of content on their wickedly fast internet pipe.
Just ask John Biehler about how many photos he took of the various athletes they brought through for press conferences. Within minutes, he could have photos processed, uploaded, and published. He and Rebecca made a pretty solid team with the amount of coverage they’ve produced while using the BCIMC as a hub for operations.
With it being the last, full day of these Olympics, we made some rounds to various spots that I really needed to see before it was too late. So this included the medals themselves at the Royal Canadian Mint.
They are quite marvelous pieces. I can’t sum them up better than that. And when you hold it, you certainly appreciate the amount of work it takes to earn the right to hang these around your neck.
Yes, you’re reading the picture right. That’s a $1 million, solid gold coin. Due to when it was made and the current price of gold, the current worth is approximately $3.5 million.
Canada’s Northern House was next on the trek, which is a rich treatment of information of the culture that makes up this region of the country.
Wrapping up there, we got a text message from John and decided to meet him down at Russian House.
Again, the plans for Sochi 2014 keep amazing me. This miniture, model was very impressive. It gives you a real sense about the scale of their plans and how much Russia is putting into them.
From what I gather, there is a hefty upgrade going on with the rail infrastructure around Sochi. This is kind of like Vancouver as they are also building a fairly long tunnel to provide access to venues like was done for the route to Whistler.
This is a Russian radio station doing live programming from Sochi House, otherwise known as Science World to the rest of Vancouver. Auto Radio apparently has one of the most popular morning shows in Russia. On top of that, they took over some air time on a local AM station during these two weeks, broadcasting their programming locally as well as simulcast around the motherland.
Oil makes the world, and the games, go round.
These were some of the most popular threads walking around Vancouver during these games. Canada and the USA all looked sharp, but everything from Sochi really stood out. In fact, it was everywhere. I swear they were almost giving it out for free and I missed the boat.
Not sure what they were singing, but they were doing their best to keep the line waiting to get in entertained.
The mascot for Sochi is cute, but slightly awkward.
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I was also able to get my chance to hold a torch. It’s lighter than it looks but is still pretty cool to grasp something that at some point held a flame that lit the cauldron in Vancouver.
Later on, we were invited by our great friends at Molson to watch the bronze medal game at their local brewery. No pictures that night, but sometimes you need to put the camera away, enjoy some time with friends, and just watch the Olympics.
You can see all of my pictures from this day in this flickr set, Vancouver 2010: Day 16.