PR Event in the Olympics: Death of Georgian Luger

Tragedy strikes today at the Whistler Sliding Centre where a 21-year old Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili died when his sled crashed, throwing him off and hitting a metal support beam. You can get the details of the accident and a link to watch the video here: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/luge/news/newsid=39315.html

Now when something totally unplanned (possibly the worst thing that can happen in an event) actually happen, how do the organizers and event planners prepare for the media and the questions regarding the incident?

This is truly a PR test and I'm not sure if the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games John Furlong has prepared himself for and, in fact, says exactly that he wasn't during an interview at the pre-show for the opening ceremonies Friday night.

The biggest question: To what extent does an Olumpic organizer plan for accidental deaths of athletes? Interesting.


Another thing to pay attention to are the advertisements during the opening ceremonies. It feels like the Super Bowl all over again when it comes to these ads; each one has a specific tone but was created for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Rona - this one follows a measuring tape as it retracts across Canada's diverse landscape. "It takes a great country to build great games."

Bell - a guy sends a message from his Bell mobile device while watching an Olympic hockey game that reads "Canada scored! What a goal!" and his message is carried across the country on a snowflake that travels from the venue to the remotest part of Canada.

Molson Canada - if you think their other commercials are patriotic, this one's that x3. It's pretty good.

Tim Hortons - a man prepares to pick up his wife and kids emigrating to Canada and brings a pile of jackets, toques, and mitts for the cold weather outside. He welcomes his wife with her first Tim Hortons cup of coffee. It is a touching story of the many immigrant families that makes up our country.

Hey did everybody see the opening video that lead to the start of the ceremonies? was it just me or was that just as exciting as the first Transformers movie? The announcer in the video got me super pumped when he described Canada's biggest competitors and ended the segment with "They are all here..." - how powerful is that?! Go Team Canada Go!