Former Vanoc CEO John Furlong discusses the challenges Sochi will face.
Former Vanoc CEO John Furlong talks about 2010, and challenges faced by 2014 hosts Sochi
Four years after Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics, the cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza is looking a little worse for wear. Something was thrown at one of the four legs, and one of the heavy frosted glass panels covering it has been broken.
John Furlong, former CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, frowns. It bugs him that this icon of the Olympics, and a reminder of how Canadians rallied to support the Games, has been so carelessly damaged.
But he also knows that this is not his cross to bear any more. The Vancouver Games have come and gone, and in a month’s time it will be Sochi, Russia, where athletes will be competing and, hopefully, citizens will be crowding around another cauldron.
On Friday Furlong met The Vancouver Sun at the plaza to talk about what he thinks came out of the Vancouver Games and what problems his equally long- serving Sochi counterpart, Dmitry Chernyshenko, may be encountering.
As if he immediately knew the answer, Furlong lifted his eyes to where Cypress Mountain lay wreathed in heavy rain- laden clouds. Cypress was not Furlong’s Waterloo, but it very nearly might have been; a place so devoid of snow in January, 2010, that Vanoc had to truck in hundreds of tonnes of it from Manning Park in what became a military- like rescue operation.
Furlong hauled out his smartphone and opened up a weather app tuned to Sochi.
“See,” he said. “It’s 57 degrees Fahrenheit in Sochi today. It’s been well above freezing there all week. That’s got to be making them nervous.”
The last two years have not been easy for Furlong. He’s in the midst of a messy defamation lawsuit against writer Laura Robinson, whose untested accusations he’d physically abused First Nations students decades ago prompted several lawsuits against him. Those cases remain unresolved. In April his third wife, Deborah Sharp Furlong, was killed in a car crash in Ireland.
In an interview, Furlong said he is holding up. He did not talk about the cases or his wife, instead, he was eager to talk about why he thinks the Vancouver Games remains a lasting metaphor for perseverance. Q Four years later, when you look around, what do you think Vancouver’s real legacy is?
A I think the No. 1 legacy of the games is a human one. The city was smiling at the end of the Games and looked like a champion. I think the Games showed us that we could take anything on. Out of all that adversity came a great Canadian success story of perseverance.
Q A month out from the 2010 Opening Ceremonies, what was your greatest challenge?
A Cypress Mountain. After Christmas we woke up to the mother of all obstacles. We were left with the possibility of being the only organization in Olympic history not to have a venue ready. For us, failure just wasn’t an option. Ninety years of weather history went out the window. We realized we were being put to a huge test. You try finding enough snow to cover a mountain. We did. To me, that was a metaphor for what we were about.
Q The mountain was a challenge. What about others?
A There is no question that the death of ( Georgian luger) Nodar Kumaritashvili on the opening day was a terrible blow. Those were the worst days of my life, and it overshadowed everything we had done. We all felt a profound loss. It was very difficult to overcome.
Q What is Sochi’s greatest challenge at this stage?
A I think Sochi derived a tremendous benefit from us. They came here and they saw that this was an on- your-hands-and- knees case of clawing your success right out of the dirt. Every day we had to repeat that success. So what Sochi will have done first is stockpiled a lot more snow than we did.
Q What do you think when you hear opponents say they should target the Sochi Games with terrorism?
A It disappoints me. This is the one event in the world that is a genuine celebration of peace and humanity. It is a chance for the world to grow a bit where cultures can connect better.
I was always of the view that the Vancouver Games would be safe. I also believe Sochi will meet its obligation for safe games. But it is also in another part of the world.
Q The Olympics always appear to be someone’s political playground. What do you think the Olympics needs to do to take that away and stop being someone’s bully pulpit?
A I think the first thing is to deliver a Games that holds to the ideals of the Olympics. I always thought the Olympic
Games would be something that would inspire every Canadian child to live a better life and become a better leader, to believe in fair play and have good values.
Q If you could do anything differently now, what would it be?
A I can tell you what I would never change, and that is the mission of sharing the Games with the country. I think this whole issue of managing weather is impossible. If we had thought about it earlier, I can assure you there would have been enough snow stockpiled to cover several mountains.
Q How do you think Canada will fare at Sochi?
A I think we will do OK. But you have to remember that Sochi will be the most competitive place in the world for us. It is 10 time zones away. Russia was 10 time zones away from us in Vancouver and they didn’t do so well here. It is going to be an extraordinary home field advantage for the Russians. We’ve done everything we can to prepare our athletes for this. But for many countries, Canada is the No. 1 target now and a lot of people will be gunning for us. We’re going to have to be really on our game.
Q Do you think the Canadian men’s hockey team will be able to defend its Vancouver gold medal?
A This Canadian hockey team has more pressure on it than the prime minister. The Russians want to beat them more than anyone else in the world. I think Canada has sat down and analyzed the kind of players it needs.
Q You shared a very close bond with Jack Poole, the Vanoc board chairman. What do you think he would say about the tribulations you have endured in the last four years?
A ( Taking out his smartphone:) I’ll show you what he would tell me. It’s here on this phone “There is only today and the moment you are in. So live it well with a loving heart.” That was his philosophy. Today is the only day that matters. Stop worrying about the next day or next month.