I’m not much of a fan of the Olympics. I think they’re an obscene waste of money that exploit athletes for the enrichment of a small cadre of IOC members and giant corporations. To add on to that, I’m not much of a sports fan except for cycling, so there’s not much to attract me to them.

That being said, you won’t be surprised that I don’t have much to say about the opening ceremonies (watched Season 4 of The Wire instead), our national team’s performance (good, I suppose — and good for the athletes who won), or the tragic death of a luger from Georgia (I’m amazed there aren’t more deaths in a sport in which people hurtle down ice chutes at 140 km/h on their back).

But it’s been interesting to watch the hullabaloo about the fenced-off location of the Olympic flame.

As I understand it, after the official opening ceremony, the flame was carried down to a location near the international media centre by Wayne Gretzky. There were big crowds there cheering him on. But the cauldron is in a security zone. So there was a high fence surrounding it. First, the fence had cloth in it to block views. Then, VANOC, the organizers of the games, removed the cloth. Now they’re moving the fence closer, but still preventing people from getting more than 25 metres away from the cauldron.

So you have an imposing piece of sculpture (not to my taste, but still imposing), which gives you pictures like this:

“The Olympic cauldron is a powerful symbol and the desire to get as close to it as possible has been remarkable ― more than we expected. We are pleased to provide enhanced opportunities for all to see the cauldron in its spectacular waterfront setting ― at its best,” explained John Furlong, chief executive officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “We invite everyone to come and enjoy it from this vantage point.”

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