Olympic snowboarder Shaun White says his family is an important part of his success.

Jamaica's bid to have its bobsled team compete in this month's Olympics has come up short.

The list of nations who qualified and entered bobsled events at the Vancouver Games, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, failed to include Jamaica — which had spent the last few weeks hoping that a slot opened in the field.

Those hopes were dashed, and on Wednesday, the Jamaicans acknowledged that all chance for 2010 was gone.

"We've been in battles for many, many years," Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. "This is one more. But it's disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it's by no means a failure. It's a step going forward."

Officials from the Vancouver organizing committee are in the process of certifying those entries. There remains a chance more nations could be added, but for that to happen a sled that has entered must drop out.

The Jamaicans say they're no longer waiting for that to happen.

"I am told there are no other options at this point," team spokesman Stephen Samuels said.

They knew they were long shots to get into the Vancouver Games, but still, the notion of another team from the tiny island nation competing in these Olympics — 22 years after the first Jamaican sled raced in the Calgary Games and sparked the idea for the movie "Cool Runnings" — was enough to create a buzz.

Poorly funded and often racing with substandard equipment, the Jamaicans and driver Hannukkah Wallace managed to just sneak into the world top 50 rankings in four-man sliding, giving the chance of a Vancouver berth life.

In the end, they needed to be a few spots higher.

"If we have to be the last small nation, then so be it," Stokes said. "We'll keep the fight."

Wallace has said he wasn't sure if he'll stay with bobsledding, return to his roots in track, or possibly both. It's not uncommon for bobsledders to take some time off, especially early in a new four-year Olympic cycle.

Stokes said he believes Wallace will try to return and lead the team again.

"This is Hannukkah's third year driving," Stokes said. "People in the sport would say you need five, seven, maybe even 10 years to get to a certain level. Given the timeframe of development that we had, we knew it would be difficult. And one of the challenges we have in Jamaica bobsleigh, while other nations have several drivers coming up, we can afford only one."

The Jamaicans already say they're not abandoning all plans for 2010 — or 2014, for that matter.

As has been planned for months, the team will be at Whistler, if for no other reason than to experience what an Olympics are like, Stokes said.

"It's very important for them to go and see," Stokes said. "They'll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them."

And for the Sochi Games of 2014, Jamaica says it's hopeful of adding more sleds, more drivers — and intends to offer a coaching job to retired U.S. bobsled pilot Todd Hays, who saw his career end after a crash earlier this season. Even before retiring, Hays lent the Jamaican federation equipment and expertise.

"There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances," Stokes said.

When you tune in to the Winter Olympics next week, be on the lookout for bright red tents dotting the snowy Vancouver scenery. The Red Tent Campaign is taking to the streets of Vancuver, distributing 500 red pop-up tents...

The demonstration, sponsored by the Pivot Legal Society, has some critics shaking their heads. Why, they wonder, is this group trying to make the city look bad during its big moment in the world spotlight?

Sponsor a tent..

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Legally blind since his late teenage years, Canada's Brian McKeever will achieve a long-cherished dream and a place in the record books when he represents his country at this month's Vancouver Olympics.

Somehow, despite a global meltdown and a local thaw, the hosts are ready. Vancouver is abuzz and the stage is set for a Winter Olympics with dazzling settings and story lines.

Bring on Lindsey Vonn, skiing for a slew of gold medals, and the unpredictably intriguing Bode Miller. Anticipate the showdown between Asian figure skaters Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada. Root for, or against, a star-studded Canadian men's hockey team that knows anything less than gold will crush the home-country fans whose passion for a triumphant Olympics grows by the day.

Odds are high that it will rain at times in Vancouver during the Feb. 12-28 run of the games. On Cypress Mountain, in West Vancouver, crews are combatting unseasonably warm, wet weather by trucking in snow to cover the freestyle skiing/snowboarding venue.

But further north, at the vast ski resort of Whistler, snow abounds on the Alpine courses, and the towering mountains there combine with high-rise, harborside Vancouver to offer perhaps the most stunning mix of scenery ever for a Winter Olympics.

Many of the venues have successfully hosted world-class events over the past few years; the new bobsled/luge track at Whistler has been described as perhaps the fastest in the world.

Canada's Olympic athletes have had full access to the venues for training, part of the Own the Podium initiative that has set the bold goal for the host country to win the most medals at the games. Germany and the United States, which finished 1-2 in Turin four years ago, would love to thwart that goal

Asked what would make these games special for visitors, the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, stressed the excitement and sense of unity that they are kindling among Canadians.

"Let the world see what good Canadians can do if they work hard and pull together," John Furlong said in a telephone interview. "It's really a coming out event for Canada."

Few if any other host cities have faced such an overwhelming and unexpected crisis as VANOC did the past two years in the form of the global recession.

"We never thought we'd be confronted with an economy that went over a cliff," Furlong said. "We took the company, turned it upside down, shook it, and everything that didn't matter we left out."

Despite staggering financial woes for some of the corporate sponsors, VANOC managed to keep its own budget in order. Ticket sales have been robust, with most events sold out; even the most-hard hit sponsors — including General Motors of Canada — kept their commitments; and the International Olympic Committee has promised to help cover any post-games deficit that might emerge.

One of the biggest victims of the meltdown may turn out to be NBC, which has the U.S. television rights to the games. It expects to lose an estimated $200 million, with advertising revenue not matching the high bid price of $820 million that it committed to in 2003.

The fiscal crisis forced VANOC to become more creative as it trimmed some staff and operational costs without scaling back on the events, festivities and amenities being offered to the Olympic family and the public.

"We had to pay attention to every single tiny thing we were doing," Furlong said. "We didn't lose anything that anyone else will notice."

Now, on the eve of the games, VANOC has declared itself ready to welcome 5,500 athletes and a projected 350,000 visitors. Trendy restaurants and bars in Whistler and Vancouver's Gastown district will be bustling; official entertainment acts include DEVO, Usher and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

The influx of visitors will mean some inconveniences. For example, access to Whistler for Alpine events will be strictly controlled, and private cars without parking permits will be stopped at a checkpoint along the 90-mile Sea-to-Sky Highway.

For all events, authorities are advising spectators to arrive at least two hours early to allow time for the screening process.

The security budget for the games, initially projected at $175 million, quintupled to more than $900 million. Personnel will include about 4,500 members of the Canadian military; more than 6,000 police officers, mostly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but also scores of other Canadian jurisdictions; and 5,000 screeners hired by a private security consortium to conduct searches, under RCMP supervision, of people entering Olympic venues.

"We want to do this in Canadian style — we're subtle but we're ready," said RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet, a spokesman for the security task force.

For some Vancouverites, there's concern about the hundreds of surveillance cameras being installed, not only at Olympic venues but also in some other crowd-attracting parts of the city.

Richard Smith, a communications professor at Simon Fraser University in suburban Burnaby, has helped lead a campaign to ensure that all the cameras — whether operated by the city or the Olympic security team — are dismantled after the games.

"I'm concerned that in the enthusiasm to provide security, people go way over the top," Smith said. "Canadians are fairly anti-surveillance — they like their privacy."

In most of Canada, Olympic fever has been high — notably during the torch relay that began in October. By Feb. 12, it will have passed through more than 1,000 Canadian communities — from major cities to Arctic hamlets — over a 28,000-mile route.

Not all Canadians are enthralled, of course. Some activists from Canada's aboriginal communities have viewed the games as a chance to press political grievances, and on a couple of occasions protesters prompted changes in plans for torch relay legs through native areas.

A rallying cry of these protesters was "No Olympics on Stolen Land" — a reference to the fact that in much of British Columbia, unlike other provinces, treaties were never completed to address the takeover of land by white settlers.

However, the prospect of serious friction diminished once VANOC established official partnerships with the four First Nations whose traditional territories overlap the vast Olympic zone.

Another challenge for organizers has been dealing with Vancouver's skid-row neighborhood — the Downtown Eastside — an area just a few blocks from the city center that abounds with run-down rooming houses, drifters and drug addicts. Prostitutes from the area were the main targets of serial killer Robert Pickton, serving a life prison term after being charged in 2002 with the deaths of 26 women.

VANOC and an array of civic leaders depicted the Olympics as a chance to uplift the Downtown Eastside, pledging to promote new affordable housing, provide jobs for inner-city residents and patronize local businesses. Some activists say more should have been spent to combat homeless and predict the end result will be gentrification that displaces many down-and-out residents.

Overall, residents of Greater Vancouver have displayed an understandable ambivalence about some aspects of the games. Many are wary of the transportation plan that will curtail driving into downtown, and one recent poll indicated that British Columbians — more so than residents of other provinces — are apt to think that too much money has been spent on the games.

Furlong said he understood why some Vancouverites might have curbed their Olympic enthusiasm to a greater degree than other Canadians, but senses a change as the opening ceremony approaches.

"The debates all took place here," he said. "The whole city has had to do all the work, the planning, and by the time the games start, they might have a different view."

"The community has lived it," he added. "Now they can enjoy the fruits of their labor."

As spring flowers bloom early and birds start to nest around balmy Vancouver, officials there have chartered a fleet of helicopters to fly in thousands of tons of snow for the Winter Olympics.

Without the emergency snowlift, which is also shipping in tons of snow in convoys of giant lorries, Olympic chiefs feared they might have to abandon the Games that have already cost £1.5 billion and are due to start in three weeks.

How do you get tickets to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver? Where to go, what to look for and general prices to aid during your ticket shopping.

Where to go to buy your 2010 Winter Olympics tickets? If you are Canadian you are urged to go through the official site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. For the rest of us there are various vendors that can be found by doing any general internet search, such as CoSportor Ticket City. Tickets are being sold now at these outlets in packaged deals and separately. Ticket availability at these sites can vary as they are constantly repurchasing inventory depending on demand.

Seating is either "reserved" or "standing room". The tickets are broken down into categories A, B, C and D. Category A contains the premium seats and are the most expensive category B is the second most expensive seats and so on. The amount of reserved and standing room only seats depends upon the venue, the seat configuration and the type of event. Seating maps will contain detailed descriptions of the type of seat for the correlating event and venue after January 2010.

How much will it cost to catch the Opening Ceremony and some Luge? Here is a quick run down of some Olympic event prices. The closer the event is to a medal round the more expensive the ticket.

Opening Ceremony: $175-$1100
Closing Ceremony: $175-$775
Hockey: $25-$550
Figure Skating: $50-$525
Speed Skating: $95-$185
Short Track Speed Skating: $50-$150
Ski Jumping: $80-$210
Nordic Combined: $50-$120
Snowboard: $50-$150
Alpine Skiing: $85-$150
Bobsled: $30-$85
Biathlon: $25 and $70
Luge: $40-$85
Skeleton: $30-$85

Some events, like the Nordic Combine that take place outside on a large course, are free to spectators along the route. Check out the schedule of events and start planning your arrangements. Tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis so get online with your ticket broker today.

Now that the games have started keep up with the action with the following Winter Olympic game installments:
1. Opening Ceremony, Kearney Brings Home First Gold and Ohno Gets Silver

2. Canada Gets Home Gold and USA Wins First Medal Ever In Nordic Combine

3. Bode Medals In Downhill And Wescott Dominates Snowboard Cross

Hello Newsviners,

The Winter Games are almost upon us. Being based here in Seattle, we're totally pumped up for the Winter Olympics - so, I've created the official Newsvine 2010 Olympics Group, open to all. Please join me in seeding, clipping and writing about the Winter Olympics.

Especially useful will be accounts from Newsviners on the ground in Vancouver or Whistler, during the Games. Tell us what you're seeing and hearing - even if you're not one of the lucky few that somehow got tickets to an event. What is the nightlife like? Has your city been turned upside down? Is public transportation what the VANOC promised it would be, back when Vancouver/Whistler won the games? Have you seen any of the athletes out and about town? Are you planning to travel to the Olympic Games, and if so - how have you gone about making your plans? Share your experiences by writing an article.

I was reading about record snowfall up at Whistler a couple weeks ago. Last week it was clear down here in Seattle, but now it's raining again and I hope its dumping up in Whistler!

Let's all pool our resources together by publishing anything Winter Olympics-related to this group, the winter-olympics tag page and the Vancouver region page.

Here's to an exciting new year and the 2010 Winter Olympics!

With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching, it's appropriate that researchers in Germany are studying how to adapt ski wax and coatings to best suit particular snow conditions, allowing skiers to obtain the fastest speeds possible.
Using a ski tribometer, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials have been testing the friction between snow and skis in various temperatures--a small section of ski circles about a snow-covered disc, trying out different combinations of ski waxes and coatings to achieve optimum speed.