Around The Rings

VANCOUVER -- The Terminator will run with the Vancouver Olympic torch.

Vancouver Games officials say California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will carry the torch on Friday, ahead of the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Games.

Schwarzenegger, a friend of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, is one of more than a dozen international torchbearers to carry the flame on its 106-day journey from coast to coast to coast.

The Great One's father, Walter Gretzky, will also take part in the torch relay in its final hours, running in Vancouver on the final leg of the relay.

The star-studded lineup for the final days also includes astronaut Julie Payette, who will run Wednesday, and singers Jann Arden and Michael Bublé on Thursday.

Protests should be smooth

VANCOUVER -- Police are expecting large crowds of protesters to mark the start of the Winter Games later this week, but Olympic officials say they're not concerned the demonstrations will pose any serious problems.

Anti-Olympic groups are planning a large event in downtown Vancouver to coincide with Friday's opening ceremonies, and others are expected to follow throughout the ensuing 16 days of the Games.

Vancouver police have recently said they expect between 1,000 and 1,500 protesters in the first few days of the Olympics -- a significantly larger number than many had previously expected -- and protest organizers say they hope to exceed those figures.

Several protest organizers held their own news conference on Monday, saying they hope everyone from activist groups to union members to disaffected members of the public show up out to denounce the Games.

"I hope thousands of them come out if the press stops scaring people talking about the possibility of violence," said Bob Ages of the Council of Canadians. "I think it could be really big."

New doping drug to debut?

VANCOUVER -- At the Salt Lake City Olympics, blood-doping athletes used a brand-new drug called Aranesp. Six years later at the Beijing Games, the dopers turned to Mircera, a newer drug that had just hit the market.

As the Vancouver Olympics are about to kick off, anti-doping experts are wondering if the newest kid on the blood-doping block, Hematide, will be making an unwelcome appearance at the Games.

If Hematide is detected in the coming weeks, it will point to an alarming problem that extends beyond doping in sports. Unlike the earlier drugs, Hematide hasn't yet been licensed by drug regulators and should not be available.

"I would say it's the agent of choice today if they can figure out how to get it. And they can usually do that. These folks always get the drugs before other people do," says Dr. Don Catlin, a U.S. expert who is the dean of the anti-doping community.

Sylvia Wheeler, executive director of corporate communications for the drug's maker, Affymax, says the company has given the World Anti-Doping Agency the drug so agency-approved laboratories can start looking for ways to detect it.

Bell bets on mobile Olys

TORONTO -- Watching live TV on a mobile phone isn't an entirely new concept, and yet relatively few Canadians have probably done it.

Bell is hoping that changes during the Vancouver Olympics. The company is offering access to 16 channels of live video, as well as highlights packages that are updated every half hour.

But users will have to watch their data usage judiciously or face a potentially massive bill once the Games are over.

Bell has exclusive rights to transmit Olympics video to mobile phones. Users can tune into seven live channels from TV networks -- including CTV, TSN, Sportsnet and RDS -- and nine special venue feeds, which offer uninterrupted views of the action.

There's a $10 fee for existing Bell customers to get access to the video streams, while new customers can get it thrown in if they sign up for a special Olympic-themed package, or a bundle of services. But that price does not include data fees.

The 'other' Games end

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. -- Talk about being upstaged.

The 2010 Northern B.C. Winter Games in Prince Rupert, B.C., have come and gone amid the non-stop buzz about those other Games in Vancouver and Whistler. The only hint of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games was at the mention of Hazelton, B.C., wrestler Carol Huynh, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

-- From the news services

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2010 C5