VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- OMEGA president Stephen Urquhart was joined by Swatchgroup CEO Nick Hayek Jr., IOC President Jacques Rogge and John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) at a ceremony to mark one year to go in the countdown to the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090212/NY70496 )
Spectators cheered as the OMEGA Countdown Clock reached exactly 365 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds.
As the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, OMEGA is actively involved in preparations for the competitions.
The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games will feature some technological debuts, including:
- A high-definition judges' scoring system will be used in figure skating
- A high-definition video replay system will be employed in the short track speed skating events
- The Swiss Timing Universal Tracking System, based on global positioning technology, will follow the progress of the competitors in cross-country skiing
- Radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder technology will be used in ski cross and snowboard cross
- The new Chronos device will time the alpine skiing events
Mr. Rogge commented on OMEGA's role in the development of sports timekeeping, describing the Swiss company as "a source of enormous confidence for the IOC and the organizers of the Olympic Games." He also commented on the warmth of the people in British Columbia and the beauty of the host cities.
Nick Hayek Jr. presented a ceremonial version of the Olympic bell, used to announce the final lap in long competitions, to VANOC CEO John Furlong. The two executives made brief comments to the spectators and expressed confidence that the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games would meet or exceed all expectations.
The opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will take place on the 12th of February, 2010 and the sporting competitions will begin the following day.
No one knows yet which of the 80 or so nations participating in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games will top the medals table when the competitions are over but one thing is certain: each medalist in every event at the Games will have had his or her results measured and displayed by OMEGA, the world's most successful sports timekeepers.
