Olympic lineups to be hours long

Fans attending Olympic events can expect to wait up to four hours to get into venues because of stringent security screening, Games organizers said Monday.

VANOC staged a mock lineup at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum the site of figure skating and short track speed-skating events to demonstrate the security process and remind the public about banned objects and substances.

Security will be at thelevel of other recent Olympics, according to Jan Damnavits, VANOC's director of venue management.

"This is exactly the same process as in Torino, in Salt Lake, in Beijing," Damnavits said. "We're alerting the public they will have to do this so it's not a surprise when they arrive."

Like boarding a flight

Anyone who has gone through security before boarding a commercial flight will know what to expect.

People will be asked to empty their pockets. Bags will have to be placed on a conveyor belt and X-rayed. Ticket-holders will then walk through a metal-detection gate and possiblybe scanned with a hand-held metal detector.

Items that will be seized include:

• Food and beverages, although sealed plastic water bottles will be allowed into Whistler venues.
• Large bags or coolers.
• Sports itemssuch asballs and pucks.
• Signs with religious, political or obscene messages.
• Large umbrellas, although compact umbrellas will be allowed.

Attendees also will not be allowed to leave or re-enter a venue.

People have been advised to arrive at least two hours prior to events in Metro Vancouver, three hours in advance for Whistler venues and at least four hours before the opening and closing ceremonies.

Secret measures

The botched terrorist attack aboard a U.S.-bound passenger jet in December continues to resonate with police who will be working at the Games.

"What happened Christmas Day certainly caught our attention, as it should," said RCMP Sgt. Michael Cote. He hinted that some security measures were not on display Monday.

"[They're] not the only detection systems we have and I'm going to leave it at that," Cote said. "As I speak to you today, [however], there's no threat, no specific threat against the 2010 Olympics."