Wow, what a finish.
It’s official, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have come and gone. 17 days of intense competition and partying are sadly over.
As the final cheers rang out throughout the SeaBus terminal corridors in North Vancouver, a sudden sense of satisfaction rolled over me; the Games’ coverage was great.
Black Press had two of its finest reporters, Abby News’ own Grant Granger and Vernon’s brightest star Kevin Mitchell, controlling the Olympic vernacular for the entire run. The two filled the pages of almost 70 papers thoughout British Columbia, Alberta and Washington State, and kept the web looking fresh.
Backing up the copy consortium with the visuals were The Progress’ Jenna Hauck and Victoria News’ Don Denton. Both of these photo-phenoms filed images for all 17 days of events, while collecting some serious mileage going back and forth between Vancouver and Whistler. Whether it was at the Sliding Centre in Whistler or at Canada Hockey Place in downtown Vancouver, the colour these two brought to our eyes was spectacular.
Tom Fletcher, Jeff Nagel and myself collared up the on-the-street action throughout as well. Between covering protests, numerous wine tastings (I don’t think ever made it to print) and the nightlife, we were all kept extremely busy shooting video, chasing athletes and riding transit.
What usually gets overlooked in any newsroom or production house is the grand organizer; the overall head of headquarters; the assignment editor. The North Shore Outlook’s Justin Beddall made quick schedule changes, made sure none of us were sleeping on the job and threw together the online and print packages. He pulled together a flawless performance conducting a small team to huge heights.
The team was great; the games were great; the travel was tough, but the memories will last forever.
Great work guys. We deserve a serious pat on the back.
Sleep now!
