T-minus 1 day until the official start of the 21st Winter Olympics!

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, we have been home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec (youpiee!) and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. I put together some fun facts about the Vancouver Winter Olympics you may not know below. Feel free to use them to impress your friends.

1. No Canadian athlete has ever won an Olympic gold medal on home soil!
   
2. The townhouses where athletes are staying are 98 per cent sold and owners are being allowed to hang framed photos of themselves and their families. In exchange, athletes will be encouraged to leave their own photos or a note giving some owners the prospect bumping up the property value, especially if their athletes' win medals!
3. Athletes will have to do their own laundry. But the soap and the machines will be free of charge.
4. The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at BC Place stadium. Since the stadium with a solid roof, it is the first time that the Olympic torch will be lit indoors.
   
5. The torch relay at the 2010 Winter Olympics is set to be the longest relay in Olympic history.
6. Ghana, Bahamas, Gabon and The Cayman Islands will make their Winter Olympic Debut in 2010.
7. The 2010 Games boast “the greenest medals yet”. The medals include recycled metal reclaimed from electronic waste.
8. Ski cross will make its debut at the 2010 Winter Olympics, it's the only new event at these Winter Games.
9. Bears, yes Bears! are one of the security threats at Whistler athletes' village, which is why conservation officers are part of the Integrated Security Unit.
10. Sidney Crosby, Alternate captain for Canada’s Hockey team use to hang out with my little sister in Nova Scotia (where he is from). But strangely enough she doesn’t call him by his name, she calls him “that hockey guy”.
    

Sources: Vancouver Sun, This.org