Erstellt am: 1. 3. 2010 - 16:18 Uhr
The Olympics: Pride House to Tent Village
Well, the Games just wrapped up yesterday with a very intense hockey final, and then some very kitschy Closing Ceremonies (featuring Neil Young, Captain Kirk, Avril Lavigne, and to my disgust, Nickelback).
Culturally speaking, if you had a few hundred Canadian dollars burning a hole in your wallet, there were a lot of places you could do so during this year's Winter Olympics. Aside from the actual Games, everywhere from Slovakia to Ireland to Germany to Austria had pavilions, most of which required payments of double or even triple-digits, if you wanted to enter.
Even assuming the pavilions were worth the money, time also has value; the lines to get in often stretched around several blocks, leading one to potentially ask: will this experience reward queuing up outside for hours?
I asked myself this, which is why I have no pictures from within the Ontario House. (I do of course have pictures from Austria House, but I also didn't have to queue up, and I got free food.)
As much as I love some good schnitzel, it has nothing on my love for the Other Side of the Story. Even if it meant my press pass became useless as anything more than a drink coaster, the kinds of pavilions I would see during the last two weeks of the Olympics were certainly worth it.
First stop: the 2010 Brolympics
Many Vancouverites neither approved of the provincial decision to host the Games nor had the money to actually attend any of them. Out of poverty and the discontent accompanying it, sprang the 2010 Brolympics, a one-night only counter-pavilion, featuring such events as "head-to-head first-person Tetris [and] backyard ghetto luge," just to name a few.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
© Leora Courtney-Wolfman, 2010
"I don't really know why [we're doing it]," one of the (Br)organizers admitted to me, "except that it's the Olympics and we had to do something. We're local Vancouverites who are way too poor to attend any of the games."
Listen to the Brolympics here:
© Leora Courtney-Wolfman, 2010
Officially Sanctioned: The Pride House
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
One of the most interesting, officially-sanctioned places I visited during the Olympics was the Pride House in Vancouver. Located on a side street, it was a lucky accident that I happened across it.
"What we wanted in setting up pride house was [...] to have a space that would incite conversations," Jennifer Breakspear, the Executive Director of the Pride House, told me. "We hoped that a dialogue would start around homophobia in sport. Sports are so deeply closeted [because] athletes are afraid to come out when they're at the peak of their career."
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
"The things we wanted with Pride House are happening. We get visitors that aren't queer, but they've got their list of houses, and they're making their tour. 'I'm going to Heineken House, Molson Hockey House, Australia House, and Pride House, and then I'll make my way to the Atlantic Pavilion.' It's just one of many, and I think that's pretty cool."
Listen to my interview with Robin Perelle, the managing editor of Xtra West, a local biweekly Gay & Lesbian paper here:
Not Officially Sanctioned: The Tent Village
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
Since February 15th, a vacant lot leased by VANOC has been occupied by homeless and lower-income people, and dubbed the "Olympic Tent Village" after the official Olympic Villages in Whistler and Vancouver.
As of my typing this entry, the Tent Village is still occupied, although the Olympics themselves are now over. When I went to the lot, I spoke with several activists: John, Stella, and Harsha respectively.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
John: We're hoping to get more attention from our local and national Canadian media. The more publicity here, the better.
Stella: I'm with tent city to make sure that our people get homes. We need homes now, and too many people are sick and cold and hungry out here. I say: shame on Canada!
Harsha: Since the Olympic bid, we've seen homelessness almost double to triple in Vancouver. This tent city is to provide a safe space and a sanctuary for the people who are experiencing a greater amount of social cleansing and police brutality on the streets.
How has the police response been?
Harsha: At this point it's been minimal. They have not yet tried to shut down the tent city, but I think the main reason for that is there are so many supporters here. During the Olympic period, it would be a massive international embarrassment.
Is the end when the police come and kick you out?
John: More or less. All the way along, right from the inception, this has been a peaceful protest, so we plan to do nothing but just peacefully go, when we're formally, legally asked to go.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
Tour the tent village with John (activist from above) here:
Official Venues: Canada Hockey Place
Shortly after leaving the Tent Village, I went to a hockey game at an official venue, which was a particularly strange contrast. This was on Tuesday, making the competitors Canada vs. Germany.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
I tried my hand at some commentary for the FM4 Morning Show, but I'm afraid I allowed my patriotism to get the better of me...
By the way, Canada won that one 8-2.
Official Venues: The Austria House
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
Sooner or later, I had to check out the Austrian Passive House, an environmentally-friendly building that is "warm and cosy in winter and comfortably cool in summer."
Located right in the Whistler Olympic Village, I also found it chock full with Austrian sport enthusiasts, ORF colleagues, and traditional folk musicians. Frankly speaking, it was much more Austrian than Austria.
It was a bit unnerving. Here I am trying to cope:
Listen to my Morning Show interviews with Austrian athletes Christoph Sumann (Biathlon) and Nina Reithmayer (Luge) here:
The Canadian Perspective
Because we are of course unified in our opinions of the Olympics.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
The Elbow Room is located in the downtown West End, the LGBT neighborhood of Vancouver. The flamboyant owners Patrick and Brian have become local legends for their habit of insulting and swearing at their customers for the past 28 years.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
Listen to my interview with Patrick and Brian @ the Elbow Room here:
How much do Canadians know about Austrian athletes? At the beginning of the games, it was like this:
But after about a week, it was more like this:
The IOC Perspective
Trying to get anything better than feel-good nonsense out of the IOC Communications Director Mark Adams, was sometimes a very frustrating business. I got the feeling that every answer was carefully rehearsed and had, in fact, been written before I'd ever asked the question.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
My first contact with him was in the midst of the "Worst Olympics Ever" coverage in the first week. You can find it here.
Second contact was at a press conference on Thursday. I stood up in a room full of journalists and asked him a tough question:
Round Three, of course, was the Zombie Apocalypse, which should have changed everything. Listen here:
My Perspective
This is a very tough one for me, and I have very mixed feelings. On one hand, the enthusiasm and energy in Vancouver over the past two weeks was very fun. The Canada vs. USA final hockey match had me on the edge of my seat, and I was very pleased to see the Austrians doing so well.
However, having learned so much about the longer-term negative effects of the Olympics, I cannot help but find it deeply irrational and selfish of us to continuously move the Olympics around the globe, with little consideration for the people who will be displaced and the ecosystems damaged.
© Johnny Bliss, 2010
With everything included, the two-week party will have cost Canadians six billion dollars. To be fair, this includes positive effects, like the new train line which runs to the airport.
Still: My diagnosis is a short-term WIN for the fantastic sporting events and a long-term FAIL for the sheer insanity of it all.
Read more about the long-term effects of the 2010 Olympics here.