VANCOUVER -- Vancouverites are about as excited as anyone can get for an event that won't take place for another seven years.

	Jennifer Goepel, her face painted with a maple leaf, celebrate's annoucement of Canada's first winter games since 1988.

The Roots store opened at 7:30 in the morning to sell Vancouver 2010 T-shirts, which was about an hour before the International Olympic Committee actually awarded the city the 2010 Winter Olympics. Not to be outdone, the two local daily papers distributed pre-printed souvenir editions minutes after the news while the 12,000 or so people who filled GM Place for the early morning announcement reacted as if the Canucks had just won the Stanley Cup.

"Isn't that fantastic!'' Canadian ski champion Nancy Greene Raine shouted. "We did it! We did it! We did it!''

It was a little early for serious partying Wednesday morning but by this evening, the celebratory marijuana clouds rising over the Whistler ski resort might be visible from downtown Vancouver.

"Anything is possible, let me put it that way,'' Olympic gold medallist Ross Rebagliati said. "There are going to be some parties tonight.''

Rebagliati, of course, is the snowboarder who gained worldwide fame at the 1998 Nagano Games when the IOC tried to strip him of his gold medal after he tested positive for marijuana. His delightful explanation: So many people use dope in Whistler that his body absorbed the substance from second-hand smoke just living there.

With a reputation like that, did Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria even stand a chance?

Surprisingly, yes.

Vancouver was considered the prohibitive favorite but Pyeongchang nearly pulled off a huge upset by using its biggest negative -- its border with North Korea -- as a positive. Appealing to IOC members by saying the Olympics could help foster peace on the Korean peninsula, Pyeongchang came just three votes short from winning on the first ballot. That first ballot knocked Salzburg out of the running and Vancouver won the bid on the second ballot by picking up all of Salzburg's votes, plus two more, to edge Pyeongchang 56-53.

Given the way Canada reacted when the French judge hosed them in last year's pairs figure skating competition, just imagine how the country would have reacted to losing out to Pyeongchang. To say nothing of NBC executives who just paid $2 billion for the broadcast rights.

That's the thing about the Olympics, though. The Olympics are supposed to be about our nations coming together in peaceful competition but politics and money are so embedded in the system that they appear to play a part even if they don't play a part. That is, if there ever is a time when they don't play a part. Outside of curling, I mean.

Take Salzburg's bid. The city, which stressed itself as the home of Mozart and "The Sound of Music'' in the presentation, is convinced it lost out because of geography and timing. Because the 2004 Summer Games are in Europe (Athens), the 2006 Winter Games are in Europe (Turin) and the 2008 Games are in Asia (Beijing), the Austrian contention is that North America was all but guaranteed the 2010 Olympics.

Maybe they're right, though I think much of the blame can be attributed to a bid based around an 18th century composer and a 1966 Julie Andrews movie.

But if the Austrians are right, Wednesday's announcement has implications for New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

The fact that all the Salzburg votes immediately shifted to Canada is a hint of the politics that will be involved in awarding those Games. Several European cities -- including London, Paris, Moscow and Madrid -- are bidding for the 2012 Olympics, and a resolute European bloc would certainly hurt New York City's chances.

Or maybe not. After all, the U.S. and Canada have twice hosted consecutive Olympics -- in 1976 (Montreal) and 1980 (Lake Placid), as well as 1984 (Los Angeles) and 1988 (Calgary). Further, if the 2012 Games go to Europe, that would give the continent three Olympics in an eight-year span. If they go to New York, that would give North America three Olympics in a 10-year span.

Either way, one continent is going to host an abundance of Olympics in the next decade.

Gentlemen, submit your bribes.

"We were completely agnostic about the outcome of this,'' Dan Doctoroff, the leader of New York's bid, told reporters. "From our particular perspective, we really didn't feel like we had a stake in the outcome here. ... The reality is the winter and summer games are on a different track.''

Well, we'll see about that. Meanwhile, winning the Olympic bid is an extraordinary event for Vancouver, particularly when you consider that the city didn't even have a traditional Canada Day fireworks display Tuesday because it was too much of a hassle.

Its "Sea-to-Sky Games" bid had a lot of things going for it, though. Whistler, site of the skiing and sledding competitions, regularly tops travel polls as the continent's top ski resort and Vancouver is truly one of the world's great cities -- and perhaps the most beautiful of the major cities in North America.

Vancouver will be the first coastal city to host a Winter Olympics, which is also one of the negatives -- its typical weather in February is very cloudy and very rainy. That's one reason the opening, medal and closing ceremonies will be held indoors for the first time. And while the mountains rise spectacularly from the city's edge, Whistler is a two-hour, 80-mile drive away. It can take more than two hours on the narrow highway.

That sound you hear is the Austrians moaning again.

The distance from Vancouver to Whistler was a concern for the IOC, but didn't prevent it from giving Canada the best marks for accommodations, financing and venues -- hockey, figure skating, speed skating and curling will beheld in and around Vancouver -- prior to Wednesday's vote.

"Canada is the greatest country in the world and Vancouver is the greatest city in the world,'' Canadian gold medal wrestler Daniel Igali said. "This is an opportunity for us to show the world we can host the best Olympics ever.''

Perhaps, but Rebagliati cut to the chase when he described the importance of the Olympic bid for Whistler. The Olympics may be about bringing the world together through sports but hosting them is about something else.

"The whole reason Whistler exists is because of the Olympics,'' Rebagliati said. "They cut the trails for the first Olympic bid, they built the village for the second bid and now they'll build a new highway.''

So raise a bottle of Molson and give a hearty cheer to Canada. Best wishes for 2010 and good luck on the road, eh?

Oh, and by the way, the guest room at my Seattle-area house is officially available for rent during the 2010 Olympics. Granted, it's a 2½ hour drive to Vancouver but that's all right, because you'll be able to walk out the front door and get right in line for the Roots souvenir store.

Jim Caple is a senior writer at ESPN.com