Now that Vancouver has the 2010 Olympics where do we go from here ?
Who will keep an independent eye on the activities of the organising committees, sponsors, environment, contracted workers and many other aspects of the games ?
Athletes and officials first if disaster hits 2010 Olympics Peter O'Neil
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, November 08, 2003
OTTAWA -- A disaster at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler could result in a new twist on the "women and children first" adage, suggests a document released through Access to Information.
The so-called Olympic family -- athletes, judges, corporate sponsors, officials and the media -- are to get special treatment in any medical plans arranged to deal with a disaster, according to a summary of an International Olympic Committee "information session" in Switzerland last year.
"In national disaster, chain of command must be clear: Olympic family to be looked after first," wrote Jane Burnes, executive-director of government relations at the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp.
Burnes was one of several Canadians who attended the training sessions. Her notes were sent to the Canadian heritage department and subsequently obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin.
Canadian Olympic officials acknowledged Friday that the reference sounds ominous, suggesting preferential treatment for elite athletes and IOC dignitaries.
"It sounds like 'women and children second,' which is not my understanding," said Canadian Olympic Committee president Michael Chambers.
Chambers, the RCMP, and the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons all insisted queue-jumping would be grossly unethical and wouldn't be sanctioned at the Games.
"I just can't imagine that someone like [IOC president] Jacques Rogge would say that, for example, 'injured children get looked after after I get looked after,' " Chambers said.
Burnes said the "chain of command" in Canada refers to the RCMP, which will be in charge of security, while the Olympic family members are athletes, judges, corporate sponsors, officials, cultural performers and the media.
"In other words, basically everyone that has a function at the Games, with the exception of spectators," she wrote in an e-mail to The Vancouver Sun.
Burnes said she doesn't recall what was said at the session that would have led her to write that line, but insisted the IOC simply wanted to make sure that a city's emergency preparedness plans take into account the Olympians in Vancouver and Whistler.
"That was just a checkmark to remember you can't just pull out whatever's on the shelf. You've got to build that whole scenario into your existing emergency plan," she said.
Chambers said the IOC naturally would want the host city and country to have a detailed plan to deal with Olympians in the event of disasters such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack.
Failure to consider the Olympians could result in a "disproportionate number of visitors to Canada in a very concentrated area virtually going around as, one might fear, like the Tower of Babel -- all speaking different languages and no one knowing where to go. It could become disaster number two," Chambers said.
RCMP Sergeant John Ward said it's far to soon to come up with specific disaster plans but said the Mounties would never allow Olympians to queue-jump.
While heads of state and diplomats associated with the IOC are "international protected persons" who require specific security arrangements, athletes and other "family" members will be protected by the same disaster plan as ordinary citizens.
"We will make sure arrangements will be in place for everyone," Ward said.
Dr. Morris Van Andel, registrar of the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, said it doesn't take a medical ethicist to recognize that queue-jumping would be grossly unethical.
"My quick reaction to that is that it is very inappropriate. People are people and in a disaster you look after those who require most help, whether they're Olympic stars or not or black or purple or green or old or young," Van Andel said after being read the statement.
"I can't imagine anybody making that statement with the perceived intent. If they say it was poorly worded, I would wonder what the wording was supposed to be.
"I would hate to think that the speedskaters' life is more valuable than my kids that are sitting there."
Burnes' notes also make reference to concerns about an incident similar to Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman's verbal gaffe that some have blamed for Toronto's failure to win the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Lastman told a reporter he was nervous about travelling to Kenya to help promote Toronto's ultimately failed bid.
"What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa? Snakes just scare the hell out of me. I'm sort of scared about going there, but the wife is really nervous," he said.
"I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me."
After an IOC seminar on "rules of conduct" Burnes wrote: "New rule [I dubbed it the Lastman Rule] reads: NOC [national Olympic committee] will supervise the activities and conduct of the city and be held jointly responsible."
Burnes said she was simply making a humourous reference to Lastman's comments.
Burnes' notes also said the IOC warned that public support in Vancouver and Whistler for the Games will likely slide before starting to surge again as venues begin being constructed and the Games get closer.
