2010 Winter Games by the Numbers

Facts & Figures about Whistler 2010

The Athletes:

  • 3,500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and officials call the Whistler Athletes’ Village home.
  • 26 Canadian Olympic medals - 14 Gold, 7 Silver and 5 Bronze
  • 19 Canadian Paralympic medals - 10 Gold, 5 Silver, and 4 Bronze
  • 34 of 86 Olympic competition events hosted in Whistler
  • 62 of 64 Paralympic competition events hosted in Whistler

The People:

  • 51,000 average daily overnight in-resort population (Feb) 26, 645 average daily overnight in-resort population (March)
  • 97% occupancy rate during the Olympic Winter games (Feb)
  • 12,000 Olympic Family members in Whistler
  • 4,000 Paralympic Family members in Whistler
  • 5,000 spectators watched Canada win hockey gold on Whistler Live!  via the screens in Whistler’s Village Square.

The Vibe:

  • 72 Whistler Live! bands performed on the Village Square stage
  • 400+ Whistler Live! Performances and exhibitions throughout the Village
  • 60 artists featured in the Whistler Live! ArtWalk
  • 27 skiers and snowboarders flew through three rings of fire in the Fire & Ice Remix
  • 80 centimetres of snow fell on the mountains the first few days of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

The Media:

  • 3.5 billion  worldwide television viewers estimated to have tuned into Olympic Games rights holding broadcasters
  • 47%  more global television coverage of the 2010 Winter Games than for the previous winter games
  • 4,000 members of the media in Whistler (Feb)800 members of the media in Whistler (March) capitalizing on worldwide recognition for Whistler
  • 220,000 articles and media stories in which Whistler was mentioned in the first 12 weeks of 2010.

Whistler’s Most Memorable Moments of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

The Olympic Torch Relay attracts more than 15,000 people to Whistler’s Skiers Plaza.

Canada’s first gold medal on home soil is won by Quebec’s Alexandre Bilodeau.

for an incredible performance in Men’s Moguls – Whistler Village was watching live on giant viewing screens and the cheers echoed off the mountains for hours.

The red Olympic mittens created specially for the Games become a huge hit and long line-ups form at the Olympic Store daily as revelers try to, literally, get their hands on some!

The long stretch of gorgeous sunshine in the middle of the Games saw people celebrating on outdoor patios, taking in Whistler’s stunning views and getting a face tan while watching the alpine skiing and Nordic events.

Petra Majdic of Slovenia wins the bronze medal in the Ladies’ Individual Sprint cross-country skiing race after suffering five broken ribs and a collapsed lung in a training wipe-out. Despite being in agonizing pain, Petra made it through the quarterfinals, semifinals and then ultimately won bronze in the final. She had to be helped on stage at Whistler Medals Plaza by a medic that evening to receive her medal.

Switzerland’s Simon Ammann wins both ski jumping gold medals to become the first man ever to land four gold medals in the sport. Simon won the gold in both Normal Hill and Large Hill in Salt Lake City in 2002 and did the same in Whistler in 2010.

In true Canadian style, Jon Montgomery chugs beer in Whistler Village after winning Olympic Gold in Skeleton. It was the fourth gold for the country, but the first at an event held in Whistler.

The Whistler Live! arts and culture component to the Games brings thousands of music fans to Village Square every day to catch the free concerts by bands such as Barenaked Ladies, Sam Roberts and Blue Rodeo.

Whistler athletes make the community proud by giving their all in Olympic competitions. Ashleigh McIvor wins the first gold ever in Ski Cross, an inaugural Olympic event; Maëlle Ricker wins gold in Snowboard Cross; siblings Mike and Britt Janyk compete in alpine skiing events on the mountain they grew up skiing; ski cross athlete Julia Murray, daughter of Crazy Canuck Dave Murray, competes in her first of likely many Olympic Games.

Two Canadian women’s bobsleigh teams own the podium, winning both gold and silver in the event. Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse, Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown bring it home for Canada right here in Whistler.

While these moments were celebratory and defining, the list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the saddest moment of the Games, the death of young Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. Nodar came to Whistler to pursue his Olympic dream and will live on in our hearts forever.

2010 Paralympic Winter Games By the Numbers

  • 4,000 Paralympic Family members in Whistler
  • 62 of 64 medals awarded in Whistler
  • 26,645 average daily overnight in-resort population
  • 34 Whistler Live! bands performed on the Village Square stage
  • 4,304 visits to Whistler Canada Paralympic House
  • 800 members of the media in Whistler
  • 1 million-plus visits to whistler2010.com visits January 1 to March 26
  • 6 headline acts featured in Whistler Medals Plaza
  • 275 million visitors in total to vancouver2010.com, shattering the previous record of 105 million set during the Beijing 2008 Games
  • 27 days and nights and more than 370 hours of scheduling programming for Whistler Live!
  • 2,917 people read the Whistler Today newsletter daily
  • 3,625 whistler2010.com Facebook fans during the Games
  • 500-plus athletes from 44 countries attended the Paralympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony in Whistler.
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