From the IOC
The Main Press Centre (MPC) for the Vancouver Winter Olympics opened for business on January 12, preparing to welcome around 2,800 accredited members of the print and photographic press.
The MPC, along with the Whistler Media Centre, will be the focal point of written news distribution to the world, as the best winter athletes compete on the ice rinks and slopes of British Columbia.
The MPC will provide the world’s media with all of the technical and informational systems that they require in order to cover the Vancouver Games in the best possible manner. Linked to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), which will host some 7,000 accredited broadcasters, it will see news and images sent around the globe on a 24-hour basis at Games time.
The media are an essential part of bringing the Games to life and giving the sporting heroes of the event the place that they deserve in the public eye, and with the MPC, they will have everything that they need in order to do those sports men and women justice.
The MPC is situated in the Canada Place Complex, which was originally established to be the Canadian Pavilion at the Expo 86 World’s Fair. With its iconic white roof, resembling an ocean liner under full sail, the Complex is not just used for conventions, but is also one of the main ports of call for cruise liners on Canada’s west coast.
The IBC is housed in the west building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, providing workspace for some 7,000 accredited broadcasters and technicians who will produce live television and radio coverage of the 2010 Winter Games. Located on Vancouver’s urban waterfront with a dramatic mountain backdrop, the international award-winning west building is an expansion of the existing convention centre facilities located within the Canada Place complex.
The Vancouver Convention Centre opened its expansion this April 2009, tripling its space. One of the greenest convention centres in the world, it now offers more than 500,000 square feet (46,450 square metres) of highly flexible meeting space, unparalleled technical service and culinary excellence.
Vancouver and Whistler will host the XXI Olympic Winter Games from February 12 to 28 and the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21.
The seven Winter Olympic sports that will be on show in Vancouver are luge, skiing, skating, ice hockey, biathlon, bobsleigh and curling.
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