Worries aplenty three days before start of Olympics

VANCOUVER – Folks are worried about the weather – too much snow in some places, not enough in others. There’s a firestorm over an Australian flag with a boxing kangaroo. Shani Davis isn’t following protocol.

It must be time for the Winter Olympics.

The countdown to the Vancouver Games has hit three days, with far less controversy than Beijing faced 1½ years ago in its Olympic coming-out party but a handful of small issues that could steal the spotlight from 2,500-plus athletes, including 216 Americans.

Topping the list of worries before Canada’s third Olympics (Montreal hosted in 1976 and Calgary hosted in 1988) are 50-degree temperatures at Cypress Mountain, where minimal snow is threatening freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions, and nasty conditions in Whistler, where heavy snow, stiff winds and thick fog are jeopardizing Alpine skiing.

Helicopters have been dumping snow on Cypress every 3 minutes, and trucks have been doing the same, the result of a January with an average daily temperature of 44.8 degrees, the warmest in Vancouver history. Olympic organizers sliced halfpipe training from five days to three (sorry, Shaun White) with steady rain and no snow in this week’s forecast.

So far, the training schedule has remained the same in Whistler, a mountain-locked resort 80 miles north of Vancouver, as Bode Miller puts the finishing touches on preparations for a much-anticipated comeback and Vail resident Lindsey Vonn polishes her approach in her marquee events, the downhill and super-G.

“Everyone is in the exact same boat,” said snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler of Aspen. “The conditions are what they are. The weather is what it is.”

Protests should be limited Friday when more than 60,000 people assemble at BC Place Stadium for the first indoor Opening Ceremony – the culmination of a 106-day Olympic torch relay. No word on whether the red-gloved, cartoon kangaroo in the athletes’ village that drew the ire of the International Olympic Committee will be part of the festivities.

Still, many Canadians are angered over a 17-day Olympics projected to cost $5.6 billion. Vancouver officials forecast roughly $4 billion in benefits from hosting the Olympics – a small fortune, some argue, considering $1.9 billion spent on a light rail line, $825 million on a media center, $748 million on a highway and $580 million on venues.

And part of a $1.75 billion operating budget includes more than $900 million on security, topping the original estimate by about $725 million. That presumably doesn’t count extra money spent policing Vancouver’s salty Downtown Eastside, not a tourist destination for 350,000 visitors, unless they want to hang with homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes.

“It’s terrifying,” Vancouver resident Doris Luong told The Associated Press last March. “This used to be the best city in the world. … I fear for my children.”

On the U.S. front, athletes in men’s bobsled, pairs figure skating, luge, Nordic combined and skeleton arrived Monday, and most of the 87 returning U.S. Olympians are expected later in the week. Broadmoor Skating Club member Rachael Flatt will attend the Opening Ceremony, return to Colorado Springs for school, then come back next week to practice.

The gold-medal favorite in two long-track speedskating events, Davis bailed on the U.S. Olympic Committee’s first media function, a Sunday press conference. It’s not surprising – Davis has a reputation for shunning reporters, and he caused a stir at the 2006 Olympics by not skating in the team pursuit, in which the Americans placed sixth.

U.S. long-track coach Derek Parra called this year’s squad “the strongest team we’ve had since I’ve been skating. We’ve got a lot of depth on our team that’s shown over the years. … It’s going to be exciting to see what happens.”

USOC chief of sport performance Mike English declined to predict a medal total. At least 30 are likely needed to beat Canada, which invested $110 million in the Own the Podium program, and Germany, which had the most medals (29) and golds (11) in 2006.

“Our athletes are podium-prepared in many places, and they’re going to do well,” English said. “America is going to be proud of their performance.”