Canada Drinking on the Ice

By: Stephanie Pugliese


Last night after winning 2-0 over Team USA, Team Canada partied like “true hockey players” with cigars, beer and of course champagne.





According to Howard Berkers a report from Vancouver, the International Olympic Committee weren’t too thrilled about how the celebrations came about.







The Olympic gold medalists were still in their uniform and on the ice! Also, one of the players were underage.

Marie-Philip Poulin who scored both of the goals for Canada, is only 18, she won’t be 19 until next month. Which is the legal drinking age in British Columbia

Gold Medal Earners

By: Corey Diamond

American snowboarder Shaun White stands with his own private half-pipe built by one of his many corporate sponsors. This Olympics top earner flies by his private helicopter in order to even to reach the highly secretive practice location. Shaun White is currently pocketing eight million dollars from this winter's Olympics. The majority of his earnings are made through his lucrative sponsorship deals with Red Bull, Target, Oakley, Ubisoft and At&T.

Joining White atop the list is South Korean figure skater Kim Yu- Na. Her dominance of the sport has land her a purse size close to Shaun White's eight million. She has sponsorship agreements with several brands ranging from Hyundai to Nike to Samsung.

Other popular earners on Forbes list of top earning Olympians includes U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn who earns three million and speed skating phenom Apolo Anton Ohno who snagged one and a half million from this winters games.

The complete list of earners is available through Forbes website

USA is in the Lead

by:Brianna Burns

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics already two weeks in, the United States is on top with the most medals. The USA currently has 25 medals with Germany not too far behind with 23.

There have been so many exciting matches and games that it is hard not to stay addicted to watching the Olympics.

One of my favorite games so far was when USA beat Canada in hockey. Everybody thought Canada was going to pull through and beat them but USA did it and they got to move on.

While Americans were enjoying the win, Canadians were in shock after the defeat. Here is a video of some Canadians that got interviewed about the game.

Olympics Ratings Highest in Over a Decade

By Nicole Malczan

Although the Olympics only occur on a two-to-four-year basis, in the past that fact hasn’t exactly influenced viewership for the better. Afterall, numbers were in decline for the last winter games, held in Turin, Italy in 2006. However, according to the Huffington Post, the ratings for this year's Olympic games are definitely picking up. The opening ceremony scored ratings almost fifty percent higher than that of the 2006 games. This is also one of the strongest standings for an Olympic opening ceremony ever, with only the infamous 1994 Olympics outshining the current games.


However, with the games running for a week now, a ratings decline is probably expected at some point. On this past Tuesday, February 17th, it’s reported that American Idol beat out the Olympic games in terms of viewership for that evening.


While this is a minor setback, the strong appeal of the Olympics, even a week into the games, should still compel viewers and draw out some pretty high numbers as the games continue.

Ensuring safety brings skepticism

By: Stephanie Trabold

On Saturday February 13, tragedy hit the Whistler Riding Centre luge area as 21 year old, Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia, died while practicing on the track.

Officials have claimed that while Kumaritashvili was completing the final curve of the track, he made a technical error that had caused the sled to lose control and crash at 90 miles an hour into a steel pole.

British reporter Tony Lambert provides further details.

The International Luge Federation (ILF) officials have also stated that the fatal accident had left "no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."





As an additional safety precaution, walls have been raised higher to prevent any further tragedy.

It would be more demeaning to Nodar Kumaritashvili’s memory, and a detriment to Vancouver, British Columbia if no actions were performed after his death.

Although safety is always a high priority, several athletes had complained about the fatal final curve before Kumaritashvili’s death.

The Olympics are designed to bring about world peace and competition through sports, but could the pressure of the Olympics itself overlook its initial purpose?

Generally, a hosting country receives a bid four years in advanced to prepare for the Olympic games and is under enormous pressure to build state-of-the-art facilities to host these international athletes.

Hopefully, this will be the final fatality at the Vancouver games.

American High School Skaters are Getting Pumped
By: Stephanie Pugliese


The American figure skaters Mirai Nagasu and Rachael Flatt are planning to head back to their home rinks Monday, where they will train in peace for several days. They will return to Vancouver on Friday, several days before the women’s event which begins Feb. 23.

“Mirai and I are both incredibly excited,” Flatt said, who won the national championship last month.

This video from Access Hollywood is an interview with the skater about her trip to the Olympics.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/2010-winter-olympics-rachael-flatt-ready-for-the-games_video_1201388


Both Nagasu and Flatt’s are entering into these Olympics as underdogs. Since the world championships in 2006 no American woman has won a medal.

For now, Flatt’s a 17-year-old high school student has no time to think about that. She is heading back to classes at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs.

Flatt’s stated, “I’m still trying to juggle my schoolwork with the Olympics, so it hasn’t been that easy…I can’t wait to get back here, so I can focus on the competition.”

The Torch Has Arrived

By: Corey Diamond

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics will officially kick off tonight at 9PM (EST) with the opening ceremony festivities. The event will be broadcasted on NBC and is expected to reach record breaking numbers in terms of viewership. Tonight's event will be a media frenzy, as the celebration is expected to provide the same spectacle the 2008 Beijing summer games. It was leaked earlier today that viewers can expect performances by the likes of Nelly Furtado and Sarah McLachan and speeches by legends such as Wayne Gretzky. NBC has been running many TV ad's and promotional programs in order to promote tonight's ceremony.

In this promotonial video NBC is promoting the Opening Ceremonies which take place tonight at 9PM on NBC.

Canadian Pride Advertisment

By: Brianna Burns

Although the Olympics are a crucial time that media companies like to advertise their products, it is also a perfect opportunity to advertise the location of the event. Every year the location of the Olympics change and it brings publicity to each hosting country. The 2010 Olympic Games are taking place in Vancouver, Canada.

Looking through various commercials, media companies like to promote their product through the country that is hosting the Olympic Games. Not only does that bring publicity to the product but the country as well because then people are interested in the Country or city that’s hosting it.

This television ad is for the Vancouver Olympics 2010. In this media coverage it promotes Canada’s logo “Believe” and the city of Vancouver.



Advertisements like this help promote the city and it’s patriotisms through their logo of “Believe.”

Media Advertising for the 2010 Olympic Games

By: Nicole Malczan

The Olympics are a critical time for media companies to advertise their product while tying it into the games themselves. While rarely the big companies supporting the Olympics are smaller or unknown brands, it is a chance for these companies to increase revenue by tying their name with the interest surrounding the Olympics.

I will be looking into two different big brand commercials tying into the Olympics in this post.

The first is a commercial for Visa, as voiced by Morgan Freeman. All of the visuals are Olympic related, with the tie-in at the end being that Visa is "the only card accepted at the Olympic games."



Advertisements such as these help raise awareness of the product (in this case, Visa credit cards) to the consumer while also raising excitement for the Olympic games.

The second commercial I found is for McDonald's, featuring figure skater Patrick Chan. In the commercial, the tie-in to the Olympics is the young girl asking for Chan's autograph, yet addressing the autograph to her mother. At the end, McDonald's is sure to advertise their Olympic water bottles.



These two advertisements are great examples of big-name media companies tying in their products or brands with the Olympic games. This week our blog will be looking further into Olympic advertising.

Introduction and Following the Winter Flame

By: Stephanie Trabold

During this semester, our team of students will be researching and investigating the public relations and publicity techniques surrounding the 2010 winter Olympic games in Vancouver, Canada.

We will be following the winter flame all season long, while critically analyzing these key features that surround the games:

-Athletes & Teams
-Attendance & Audience Demographics
-TV Ratings & Coverage
-Companies & Sponsorships

-Advertising &...
-athletes
-media
-corporate influence (i.e. product placement)

-Vancouver & ....
-preparation for the games
-hosting abilities
-travel to destination & tourism
-the Olympic city process (how the cities are selected).

-Olympic History & current trends
- Olympic Traditions & intercultural interpretations


Vancouver & following the 2010 winter flame

With the Olympics only a few days away, tensions are heating up in Vancouver. To gain crowd excitement, the Olympic Torch has been circling around Canada and slowly making its way toward Vancouver.

The press created a countdown and has followed the torch since its arrival in Canada on October 30, 2009.

During this time, reporters and bloggers have showcased many nearby towns and the sights around British Columbia. Anyone can follow the torch on an interactive map on the Vancouver Olympics website.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/torch-relay-videos/

Viewers can enjoy the latest information and news with interactive videos and photos while following the torch from the comfort of their homes.


The Vancouver Olympic Games website brings energy and is very clearly organized with their structure. Their tab system located at the top of the web page makes it clear to find any specific information.