Vancouver Welcomes World Press

Last week, the first World Press Briefing organized by the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC), took place in Vancouver, Canada, with around 250 media representatives (written press, photographers, news agencies) from all over the world, as well as representatives from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Beijing 2008 Organizing Committee (BOCOG), London 2012 Organizing Committee (London 2012) and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee.

Participants spent the week with a city and a mountain venue tour, showing different Olympic and Paralympic venues, including B.C. Place Stadium, GM Place, Pacific Coliseum, Cypress Mountain, Richmond Oval, Whistler and the Callaghan Valley.

Furthermore, VANOC gave an overview of the planning process for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010, including presentations about transportation, accommodation, venue services, MPC, press operations, competition schedule, venue media services, rate card, accreditation and technology.

“The World Press Briefing is a perfect opportunity for the media to get an overview of VANOC’s operational planning and to ask questions. I am confident that VANOC will take the media feedback into consideration to ensure that media will be able to work under the best possible conditions during the Games”, stated Steffi Klein, IPC Media and Communications Senior Manager.

On 17 November, the IOC Press Commission, including IPC representative Alan Dickson, also met in Vancouver to supervise a report on the preparatory work in media operations, to discuss the details related to media services to be provided at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, as well as to receive presentations from BOCOG and LOCOG.

For more information, please visit the official website at www.vancouver2010.com.