Posted by: Kerry Gold on MarketWatch
February 25, 2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (MarketWatch) — It was the height of irony, that against a backdrop of the Olympic Games, snow-capped mountains and ocean air, people were grumbling about a chain-link fence.
The fence in question is a necessary eyesore and security measure required to protect the Olympic flame, lit more than a week ago by hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful for February — brisk and sunny, clear skies overhead. And yet the tourists complained aloud about the difficulty of trying to take a photo through a chain link fence. It was one oversight that rankled the international media into a Vancouver-bashing frenzy, enough so that the mayor finally held a press conference announcing they’d cut holes in the fence and open a viewing deck to make the flaming cauldron more camera-friendly. But the mayor could have offered free helicopter tours and you get the feeling the griping media would have still gone into overdrive.