From the March 1, 2010 issue of TIME Magazine
In their first week, the Vancouver Olympic Games looked well on their way to a gold medal in winter calamity — tragedy on the luge track, slush on the downhill course at Whistler and drenching rain on Cypress Mountain that eventually washed away the standing-room spectator zone, costing organizers around $1.4 million in refunded ticket sales. The signature snafu may be this: the Canadians couldn't make ice. A men's speed-skating final had to be halted for more than an hour because two ice-resurfacing machines were in various degrees of breakdown — sort of like the Games themselves. Still, you'd have a difficult time convincing most Canadians that their Olympics aren't measuring up. Snafus notwithstanding, Vancouver has been a determinedly cheerful host city and Whistler an advertisement for the staggering beauty of British Columbia. Besides, there's still time to pull it out. What matters most to Canada is the men's ice-hockey gold. Win that, on the Games' final day, and the rest will be forgiven. Because Canadians will have shown the world that not only can they make ice, they can play on it too.