Olympic Venues in Vancouver
The Vancouver 2010 Winter and Paralympic Winter Games competitions and ceremonies will be held at five venues in Vancouver, one venue each in nearby Richmond and West Vancouver, and four areas of the Whistler Resort. The Games' opening and closing ceremonies will take place at Vancouver's B.C. Place Stadium and will be the first such Winter Olympics ceremonies ever held indoors. B.C. Place will also host the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, while Whistler's Celebration Plaza (pending a final decision) will host the closing ceremony.
B.C. Place. Home to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and the opening ceremony for the Paralympics as well as nightly Victory Ceremonies, during which each day's winning athletes receive their medals. A celebration concert follows nightly. This stadium holds 55,000 spectators under its enormous domed roof. (777 Pacific Blvd., Downtown; tel.
604/669-2300;
www.bcplacestadium.com)
Canada Hockey Place. Olympic hockey will be split between the UBC Thunderbird Arena and this 18,630-seat venue. Known as General Motors Place in its regular, non-Olympic life, it's both the home of the Vancouver Canucks and a big-time concert venue. (800 Griffiths Way; tel.
604/899-7400;
www.generalmotorsplace.com)
Cypress Mountain. Located 31km (19 miles) from Downtown, Cypress Mountain will host men's and women's freestyle skiing and snowboard events. The mountain offers 51 downhill ski and snowboarding runs, although they'll be off-limits to visitors during the Games, and room for 12,000 spectators. (Cypress Bowl Rd., in Cypress Provincial Park, West Vancouver; tel.
604/419-7669;
www.cypressmountain.com)
Olympic and Paralympic Village. Located on the southeast side of False Creek, near the Telus World of Science, the village will be home to curlers, figure and speed skaters, freestyle skiers, hockey players, and snowboarders during the Games. Afterward, it will be transformed into a model sustainable community for 3,000 residents. (False Creek South)
Pacific Coliseum. Located in East Vancouver on the site of the annual Pacific National Exhibition summer fair, Pacific Coliseum is the venue for 2010 Olympic figure skating and short-track speed skating. It holds 14,239 spectators and is reachable via public transportation. (100 N. Renfrew St., East Vancouver; tel.
604/253-2311)
Richmond Olympic Oval. Located in Richmond, BC, right across the Fraser River's middle arm from Vancouver Airport, this purpose-built, 8,000-seat Olympic venue will be home to the Games' speed-skating events. (River Rd., btw. No. 2 Rd. & Dinsmore Bridge, Richmond, 14 km south of downtown Vancouver; no phone)
UBC Thunderbird Arena. Olympic hockey will be split between this new, 7,200-seat competition venue and Canada Hockey Place. Located on the University of British Columbia campus on Vancouver's West Side, the Thunderbird Arena will also host the Paralympic ice sledge hockey (aka sled hockey) events. (6066 Thunderbird Blvd.; tel.
604/822-6121;
www.thunderbirdarena.ubc.ca)
Vancouver Olympic Centre/Vancouver Paralympic Centre. Located just east of Queen Elizabeth Park, this new, 6,000-seat venue will host the Olympic curling and Paralympic wheelchair curling events. (Ontario St. & 30th Ave.)
