The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held from February 12 to February 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with some events held in Whistler, British Columbia. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. These will also be the first games to be held in an NHL market since the league allowed its players to participate starting in 1998.
The opening and closing ceremonies and the events categorized as ice sports (excluding bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held in Vancouver and Richmond. The sports categorized as "Nordic events" will be held in the Callaghan Valley located just to the west of Whistler. All alpine skiing events will be held on Whistler Mountain (Creekside) and sliding events (bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held on Blackcomb Mountain. Cypress Mountain (located in Cypress Provincial Park in West Vancouver) will host the 2010 freestyle skiing (aerials, moguls, and ski cross), and all 2010 snowboard events (half-pipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross).
Vancouver 2010 will also be the first winter Olympics in which both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 200 ft × 85 ft (61 m × 26 m), instead of the international size of 200 ft × 98.5 ft (61 m × 30 m). The games will be played at General Motors Place, home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow an additional 35,000 spectators to attend Olympic hockey games.
The number of National Olympic Committees that will enter teams in the 2010 Winter Olympics is still unknown, but projected to be over 80. The nations listed here have already qualified athletes to the games. Nations will be added as they qualify at least one athlete or team. 35 nations have qualified as of March 28, 2009. Of those Ghana will make their winter Olympic debut.
Belgium
Ghana
Poland
Belarus
Great Britain
Russia
Canada
India
Slovenia
China
Iran
Slovakia
CzechRepublic
Israel
South Korea
Denmark
Italy
Spain
Estonia
Japan
Switzerland
Finland
Kazakhstan
Sweden
France
Latvia
Turkey
Georgia
Lithuania
United States
Germany
Norway
Ukraine
Sports
Eighty-six winter sports events have been announced as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The eight sports categorized as ice sports are: bobsled, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track speed skating, and curling. The three sports categorized as alpine, skiing and snowboarding events are: alpine, freestyle and snowboarding. The four sports categorized as Nordic events are: biathlon, cross country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined.