Yesterday was Quebec day at the 2010 Olympics and what could be more fitting than having someone from Quebec win the FIRST gold medal on Canadian soil and the 1st gold medal of the 2010 games for Canada!

Canada’s Golden Boy

Congratulation Alexandre Bilodeau for being the champion that you are! Congrats Canada for being such an amazing host nation and supportive fans.

Victory Celebrations at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver)

The nightly Victory Celebration Ceremonies are held in both Vancouver and Whistler. Last night I was lucky to have tickets to the Celebrations at BC Place and attending Canada’s first Gold Medal Ceremonies in 3 Canadian Olympics.. At 22$ a ticket, i think the victory celebrations are a good deal for fans and any family looking to do something fun and soak in the Olympic spirit.

BC Place is feeling magical and the space looks like a winter landscape / northern dream. The screens are well positioned allowing everyone to see clearly what is happening on the main stage. (They are only using a section of the stadium, with the main stage separating the space nicely.

I am going again on the 18th and I hope that we will have the honour of seeing more Canadian Olympians celebrating their victories…

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BC Place – The Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games will be held in BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.

This will also be the site for nightly Victory Ceremonies presentations.

BC Place Stadium – will seat approximately 55,000 spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies and features the largest air-supported stadium roof in North America. The enclosed venue offers many advantages in addition to protection from winter weather, including an unprecedented opportunity to stretch the boundaries of ceremonies’ spectacle using state-of-the-art lighting, projection, sound and special effects technology.

Gates open 4 hours prior to the ceremonies & People will be let in 2 hours prior to the event.

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Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Game Venue Map – both official and unofficial venues.

Green callouts – Official Competition Venues
Blue callouts – Official Non-Competition Venues
White callouts – Other venues such as National Houses, Provincial Pavilions or Sponsor Sites.
Pink callouts – Other locations of interest!
Yellow callouts – SkyTrain and Canada Line stations

View Vancouver 2010 Venues in a larger map

Map created by Andrea (via @kk)

Vancouver BC Place Stadium dome un-flates

Vancouver’s noble and venerable stadium BC Place – which opened in 1983 as one of the first self-supporting domes in the world – is the latest casualty of the wildest winter weather ever around here. Early reports say a 40 foot rip caused the collapse under the wet heavy snow. Check out more with Derek Miller’s Penmachine and CBC and Vancouver Sun and Now Public. No injuries reported. I recall the inflating of the dome with a batch of 747 engines and seeing David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and The Tubes there in August 1983. But i digress …

The two venues BC Place (home to the CFL Lions plus hosts a variety of concerts, trade shows, exhibitions and concerts) and GM Place (home of the NHL Canucks plus concerts etc.) sit on False Creek. Oddly enough… in recent Olympic 2010 talk, there was discussion of removing the roof for a more ‘wintery’ experience in the opening and closing ceremonies. Wonder if the estimated $175 million (how did they come up with that number?) will encourage that decision.

Meanwhile, Vancouver’s beloved Stanley Park is still recovering from the loss of 3000+ trees during the recent hurricane-force winds (well technically typhoon-strength winds since we are a Pacific city, not Atlantic), not to mention the boil-water requirement, a few massive snow storms (by our standards) and the wettest November ever (which is really something).

Press conference is scheduled for 2:30.

Note: Photo updated with correct date, apologies for any confusion.

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usual inflated dome