Vancouver 2010, maybe not the best but nowhere near the worst

Published

4 weeks ago

13 de February de 2025

Vancouver 2010Winter Sports

Posted: Sunday 28th February 2010 | 1:18

BEFORE departing for Vancouver the British Olympic Association kindly issued all travelling journalists with a snug fleece, perfect for chilly evenings up in the mountains.

FRENZIED: Canada discovered a love of winning at the Winter Olympics – but they didn’t have much time for British journalists (Getty Images)

It was emblazoned with the words “Team GB Media”. They would have been better off providing a flak jacket.

Criticism of Canada’s Games from some members of Fleet Street’s finest has prompted the normally welcoming locals to turn a little nasty.

Poet Shane Koyczan told an audience of billions during the opening ceremony that: ‘some say what defines us (Canadians) is something as simple as please and thank you’.

Colleagues refused drinks in bar – yes they were sober(ish) – or sniped at on buses, would probably beg to differ.

On more than one occasion I have feigned an Australian accent for fearing of being refused a taxi ride back to the hotel.

I even told a waitress I was from New Zealand, only for her to declare she’d lived there as a girl – a difficult and embarrassing exchange followed as I tried to bluff my way onto safer ground.

However, it pays to be thick-skinned in this business and maybe some of this abuse was just a little deserved, I’ve met some of those it was aimed at.

As a wise hack once told me: “In journalism you meet a lot of bastards. And nine times out of ten they are other journalists.”

However, after more than three weeks in Vancouver, it’s only now that the time is right to pass sensible and reflective judgement on these Olympics.

Sochi 2014’s brand is the dullest Olympic logo ever

Published

4 weeks ago

13 de February de 2025

James Cartwright

SORRY Sochi but that is not a logo – the font might be both funky and chunky but London’s jigsaw emblem looks inspired in comparison.

NEW IDENTITY: A specially invited audience watched Sochi 2014 unveil their logo but most media was banned

In the long history of Olympic logos, this is arguably the dullest and most uninspired yet.

It’s more idiotic than iconic.

At least London were trying when they got things so horribly wrong – this effort looks like it has been knocked up in 20 minutes by someone with a basic working knowledge of Photoshop.

Simple is good. Simple can be effective but it’s hard to understand just why Sochi 2014 have been so understated – although they’d earn a place in Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner for their attempts to explain it.

Fans of fonts are already waxing lyrical about its clean symmetry.

And social media gurus believe it will enable the Games to reach new audiences through digital platforms (it’s the first time a web address has been incorporated into an Olympic logo).

Fred Burt, managing director of design agency Siegel+Gale London, told Brand Republic: “I’m no fan of London 2012 identity so it’s a relief to see Sochi 2014 restore some sanity.

“As a logo it should work well in small sizes and next to other partner logos — key from a commercial point of view. It feels fresh and up-to-date, promising a new Russia that perhaps the wider world does not know [think how Beijing benefitted in this regard].

“I’ll be interested to see how the URL plays out — has the system been designed to drop the ‘.ru’ in certain circumstances? But I’d applaud Sochi’s commitment to driving their audience to a URL, something that will allow them to control the experience much more directly.

“The typographical mirroring of the ‘h/y’ ‘s/z’ and ‘0/o’ feels clumsy, however, and undermines the symmetry of the logo. But as ever, it’s the experience not the logo that will make this brand.”

The brand-unveiling ceremony took place under a media black-out, with Russia still in mourning after 26 were killed and dozen injured during last week’s train terror attack.

But behind closed doors, the launch party – bizarrely chiefly staged in Moscow’s Red Square as opposed to the host city – was certainly more extravagant than the logo they came to celebrate, as the photos below show.

So, what are your thoughts?

UPDATED: There are plenty of alternative logos floating around the blogosphere, see here more.