Olympics: Vancouver has everything but snow as village opens

New Zealand's 16-strong Winter Olympics squad is highly regarded but medals might be as hard to find as snow at the bottom of Cypress Mountain, Dunedin-based national performance director Ashley Light says.

Vancouver woke up yesterday to blue sky, bright sun and no sign of snow the city needs to put the finishing touches on its preparations.

"The sun's out, there's a beautiful blue sky and the mountains are as clear as you like," Light said from his base in Vancouver yesterday.

"There is no snow but the top of Cypress Mountain, which they say is low on snow, is absolutely covered at the top.

"It is just lower down they are struggling a bit for fresh snow.

"But it won't be a problem for any of the events.

"There's plenty of snow for that.

"It's just that it won't look as white and as pristine as they'd like it for the cameras."

Light said Canadians had embraced the Games and the city was buzzing as it geared up for the mammoth event, which starts next weekend.

An army of volunteers were whirring around in a frenzy of activity.

"Vancouver has really turned it on.

"There are 25,000 volunteers working for the Games and they are really pulling out all the stops to make sure everyone has what they need."

The newspapers were full of Winter Olympics news and the Canadian team had adopted the slogan "own the podium" in its quest for glory.

Most Canadians, it seemed, would sacrifice a huge haul of medals for one gold medal in ice hockey, Light said.

Ice hockey to Canada was like rugby to New Zealand, and there was a lot of hype around the national team's prospects.

The chances of a New Zealand athlete standing on the podium, though, were slim.

"If we get some top-10 performances, then New Zealand can feel very proud.

That would be considered very creditable," Light said.

"A medal would be absolutely outstanding but just the way the athletes have been tracking it would seem unlikely but not impossible."

Cantabrian Annelise Coberger became the first person from the southern hemisphere to win a medal at the Winter Olympics when she won silver in the slalom in France in 1992.

It remains New Zealand's only Winter Olympics medal.

Palmerston North speed skater Shane Dobbin is arguably the best medal prospect.

The long track skater is "capable of pulling something out of the bag", Light said.

"Michelle Greig is definitely capable of making the final and has shown she can finish in the top 16 in her event (skier cross).

Wanaka's Juliane Bray has potential in the half-pipe and James Hamilton will definitely be looking to make finals."

The Games village was officially opened yesterday and the New Zealand team had started drifting in.

Queenstown's Greig was the first New Zealander to arrive and the remainder of the team was expected within the "next four or five days".