Vancouver 2010: The Legacy is in the Follow Through

All that remains of the 201o Olympics is to determine the winner of the ultimate prize: the hockey gold, in a few hours, and then set upon the surely gargantuan task of debriefing, evaluating and pontificating.

The games have been great for the athletes and a smashing success with the public, at least on the surface and running pretty deep for that matter, at least in Canada. There are undercurrents of discontent, of course. Mostly from people who have problems with either the corporate elitism and waste/expense of the games or from the extreme Quebec nationalists, who cringe at the very sight of their youth draped in red and white, being wildly applauded by Vancouver audiences.

I would like to pontificate about one specific aspect of the Olympics. I am talking, to give it a sports spin, about the follow through.



I'm not so much talking about the immediate economic impact, such as drawing a few more tourists to B.C. for the next year or two, as the video implies. I'm talking more about the lasting effect.

All Canadians now have a chance to think about what legacy these games can have. I have heard many people say that there has been no other event as spectacular and unifying as these Olympics in Canada since Expo '67. Neither the Calgary Olympics nor the '76 Montreal Olympics really seemed to have the nationwide, gut-stirring power that these games have had.

In fact, these games have probably been more unifying than Expo '67, and in the same postal code in terms of their power to inspire and empower Canadians and grab the imagination of the country. Another thing that Vancouver 2010 had, that Expo didn't have, even in the '60s, was a substantial and formidable opposition to the hype. This, also, is a part of the Canadian psyche, a part commonly known as a conscience - and the games have given it its largest stage ever. This movement needs to be nurtured and given wings, just as the games' successes.

Unfortunately, after Expo '67, the follow up did not live up to the promise. "Man and His World" was not capable of being the sequel to the Expo dream. If we could have had a suitable follow-up program, designed to reconfirm Montreal's position as a place of creative substance, rather than of disposable pavilions, Canada might have had a different future entirely. That said, I wonder whether the Cirque du Soleil would have ever come about if it had not been for the festive and creative legacy of Expo '67.

Now, the challenge is to do something with the 2010 legacy.

The Harper Conservatives have already announced they will be ditching the controversial $110 million "Own the Podium" program immediately. A very wrong first move but nothing definitive.

To give greater meaning to the games and give them every chance of achieving good in the long run, a lot of people will need to think outside the box. It is not only about the massive grandiose mega-projects, it is also about individuals across the country, who can somehow find a way to leverage these Olympics in a way to project their dreams onto an international screen...