Vancouver is the worst olympic gam,es ever. no­ excuses! Canada never should never host again.

Talking to a number of people in the host city they­ feel much the same way I feel. I am all for athletic­ competition and amateur sport. I feel proud of our­ nation?s athletic accomplishments and cheer on every­ medal performance but seeing what the IOC and Vanoc has­ done first hand has turned me off of the Olympics. The­ IOC is nothing to do with athletic competition but it­ is all about making profits for themselves and the big­ multi corporations. They move into a town, take it­ over, run up the government budget deficit and if you­ dare question their motives you are looked at as­ unpatriotic. It is a very cleaver strategy of them to­ use patriotism to their advantage. It reminds me of­ going to one of those multi level marketing­ motivational meetings where everyone feels highly­ motivated, pumped up and out of reality until they­ leave the feel good environment of the meeting room. In­ the case of the luger death, it was the IOC and Vanoc­ not Vancouver citizens that quickly dealt with the­ matter as it was perceived by many as business as­ usual, profits before safety. Anyone from Canada that­ dared to question that and you are looked at as­ unpatriotic. I feel sorry for the next city that gets­ this scam that is masqueraded as the Olympics.

Speaking as visitor to Calgary in 1988 I have nothing­ but praise for the Canucks as hosts. It will always be­ one of the great events in my life. I still write to a­ couple of lovely Canadian lasses I met when out there­ and to be invited round to their parents house for­ dinner was brilliant hospitallity as it was a real­ family gathering including grandparents.

Many visitors­ and obviously locals use to meet nightly after­ prize-giving at a down town bar and with such a­ multi-racial and cultural gathering it was magic fun­ going on to the early hours - to me it summed up­ what the Olympics was and is all about. As an­ Englishman in Calgary there were a lot of jokes about­ our Eddie and our prowess at Winter sports but it was­ all great fun.

Never go drinking with a bunch of­ Norwegians celebrating medal success it took me 3 days­ to recover and I can't remember who actually­ won.

Sadly the Olympics probably have become too big­ and too commercial with security now a massive­ headache.

Some of the comments above regarding­ Vancouver and the Canucks are a disgrace and I await­ 2012 with interest to see how we fair as a host nation.

For the record I was talking about the Chinese (though­ I feel the same about Canadians) as I always get­ annoyed with all the crap one hears and reads about­ Chinese from people who have never been there,...

=Horrible games

I was wandering when someone would mention China and­ human rights.......all I can say is great people and­ great country and you may dislike them all you want for­ all the wrong reasons....

When you speak to anyone about the problems they blame­ it on the IOC. I can tell all of you Canadians the­ IOC has organise many many successful Olympics so it is­ not the IOC it is your organising Committe Vanoc who­ have got it so so wrong.

Candians could not run in a­ village fete in my view

I am here in Whistler as a Volunteer. This is my­ fourth Olympic games. This has to be the worst I have­ ever been too. The Candians are oblivious to how bad ­ the facilities are. The is no one watching. No one­ has thought about international visitors and everything­ is go Canada and forget about anyone from Europe. ­ I cannot wait to come home.

The worst olympics ever? I wouldn't agree, but it­ doesn't matter. When these games are all said and­ done, life goes on (except for the tragic death in the­ luge). And other olympics, summer or winter have been­ 'superb', but at the end of the day, it's­ all positive advertising for one of THE most BEAUTIFUL­ cities in the world. I've visited Vancouver many­ times and would love to relocate there­ permanently-great city, great people and great country!­ Beijing? SMOG, dirty, crowded, corrupt, human rights­ violations etc.......Vancouver: best olympics?­ "no" but the olympics are just business/money­ anyways, just like all American sports are. It is an­ enterprise/entertainment, not amateur competition.­ Eventually the Olympics will be too expensive to host.

I am brittish living in Toronto Canada and I have never­ been more angry at my birth country. Yes the olympics­ have been a bit of a s#$% show there are certain areas­ where Vanoc has dropped the ball ie.. the fence around­ the torch. But blaming Vancouver for global warming,­ Brand new zambonies (U.S made) breaking down and the­ officiating of events which is done by the regulating­ bodies of the individual sports is a bit much. I agree­ litlle mole hills can add up to be mountains. But still­ should not warrant inflamatory and frankly aggresive­ articles towards Canada in general from the Brittish­ media. Say what you will about the Americans sure they­ have poked fun at us but they have not come right out­ and openly attacked us either. There will be deep­ rooted resentment about this for years to come. And for­ the record the luge track is built by the FIL and has­ been in use for years and there has never been a crash­ mat at any luge finish in the history of the sport its­ a dangerous sport and people die. I feel sad about what­ happened but to call us murderers is way out of line­ especialy coming from a country that shot an innocent­ man in the head infront of everybody on the subway­ platform.There are some legitimat complaints about the­ games but there is also allot of wining going on ­ "the course is to fast" "the course­ isn,t fast enough" the downhll course is to­ scary" this is the olympics not polka dot­ door.
THANK you Brittain for helping me with my­ decision not to renew my U.K passport. Thank you­ Quebecors for standing up for us once again!! Vive le­ Quebec et Vive le Canada

comment 48...'enjoy real sport'?? what planet­ do you live on mate?? Football (maybe you call it­ 'soccer'?) is not only the biggest sport in­ world history based on participant numbers but on­ fan-base numbers. N.Americans may prefer baseball,­ basketball, and American Football, but they are in the­ vast minority. The Olympics are something special, but­ dont go knocking other sports that many enjoy and­ follow to try and prove some point...

You cannot blame the organizer's for the weather­ but the biathlon mistakes were unforgiveable. Olafsson­ might have worked harder if she knew she was going to­ be that close. I have seen under 16 events in Germany­ that was able to organize better than that......and­ then they made the same mistake the next­ day...seriously how stupid are they??

To all the negative Nellies, each hosting city has had­ it's share of issue...big knock on Torino was the­ big distance between venues. In Atlanta it was­ transportation nightmares. Athens were still prepping­ facilities as athletes were arriving. Beijing had smog­ and counterfeit tickets to events being sold in­ streets. Everyone has something!

UK should be careful­ and somewhat forgiving....they are next in 2 yrs for­ the summer olympics (London)! I'm sure one your­ turn you won't have everything go off without at­ hitch either.

well me and my famly are enjoying all the different­ sports, it was great watching my 6yr old as the luge­ was on the tv he was so excited! , with everything­ you'll alwayshave the odd @#$% up but insn't­ that part of the fun?
Im greatly saddened about the­ poor loss of life tho such a shame.

Whats the big deal about the weather woes...its perfect­ in Vancouver today (wednesday 17th)...not a cloud in­ the sky and -7 this morning at Whistler, perfect for­ skiing and tourists alike. @ Tadde, comment­ 40...Vancouver is such a beautiful city, much more so­ then Turin, so much more vibrant in a modern­ multicultural way. And btw what has happened to the­ italian team so far, you must be pretty disappointed at­ how poorly they are doing...no doubt that is the origin­ of your negativity...fear not tadde, they might better­ and then these games wont seem so bad for you.

CM, post 45, thanks for the correction I didn't­ know this and now I understand this even less: ­ I've never seen anything so gormless on the World­ Cup. Any ideas on why it happened?
Perhaps I assumed­ officials were Canadian because Canadians are­ stereotypically polite, and one official who held back­ a racer for too long detained him longer by taking the­ time to apologise!

Wonderful comment No. 22, Sport does not have to­ revolve around football, so wind your neck in and let­ others enjoy real sport,

Speaking about weather, Evelyn Browning, the famous­ 'weather lady', has been lecturing last fall­ about the weather in the upcoming winter, and she­ predicted for the West Coast exactly the kinda weather­ Vancouver is enjoying now: unusually warm and dry,­ given that this year is "El Nino" year.

The officials at the Biathlon and Cross-Country events­ are from Europe and are regulars on the Word Cup­ circuit. Do not blame VANOC for this, it was the­ officials fault and they are from Europe!

Britain is not 3rd in the all time medal list. Where­ did you get your info? Simply google the all time medal­ table you will see that not only the USA and the­ combined USSR top Britain but also the combined­ Germanys including former East. Check it up. In fact­ the combined Germanys stand second to the US in all­ time combined medal table.