And it looks like a ... big, tarp-blue and sea-green maple leaf.

Or at least half of one. (Not a bad sales gimmick; two posters, one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics, to make a whole leaf.)

First-blush reaction to the Filet 'o Leaf: Simple. Clean. Nice.

The question is: Will it prove timeless? The official poster for any Olympics often becomes an enduring symbol of those Games -- for better or worse. A look back through history shows some decided hits and misses. The St. Moritz 1928 and 1948, Lake Placid 1932 and Helsinki 1952 images are personal favorites, whereas the 1980 Lake Placid, 1976 Innsbruck and 1984 Los Angeles posters qualify as duds, IMHO. (See an informative Olympic Museum brochure on the evolution of Olympic posters here; see them for sale here.)

Vancouver's take on the Games poster combines two designs, each a half of the nation's iconic maple leaf -- with the traditional red color replaced by the blue/green Vancouver Games theme colors.

Says organizing committee boss John Furlong: "The poster features the traditional maple leaf rendered in a new way that is symbolic of a country that is young at heart, diverse, dynamic and fun. The unique pairing of these posters reflect our integrated approach to celebrating the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as one event for Canada."

The posters went on sale this morning for $15 Canadian and up (way up, in the case of some signed copies) at the Games' online store.

Thoughts?

(We have some of our own thoughts about the overall "look of the Games" as reflected in its merchandise. They're not all good. More on that later.)

(Photo: The official Vancouver 2010 poster, shown with left and right halves together in one image. Courtesy VANOC.)

Tough break for Bryan Clay, the Olympic decathlon champion profiled below. In case you missed the news: Clay had to withdraw from last week's U.S. track and field championships in Eugene because of a pulled hamstring.

Alas, in doing so, he forfeited a spot at this year's world championships, in spite of being the Olympic champion, as Olympics blogger Meri-Jo Borzilleri points out here.

It seems unjust, given that other U.S. athletes pre-qualify for the worlds based on their performance at worlds two years ago.

Here's something everyone should know about winning the gold medal in the decathlon -- and that fancy "World's Greatest Athlete" tag that comes along with it:

"It doesn't get me out of anything," says Bryan Clay, relaxing on the porch of his in-law's Phinney Ridge home this week.

He's referring to the mundane stuff that even Olympic champions have to do when they are the father to Jacob, 4 and Kate, 2, and husband to Sarah.

That title, and those two Olympic medals (Beijing gold, Athens silver) are nice bits of bling. But would you mind taking out the trash, Superman?

Clay, 29, laughs about this. He similarly shrugs off inevitable questions about whether it rankles him to be the best athlete in the world, by one measure, and make a salary, largely via sponsor Nike, that's likely a small fraction of the take-home pay for, say, a marginal baseball relief pitcher, or a backup NHL goalie.

"I can't be mad about it," says Clay, who has been training at the University of Washington recently, prepping for the U.S. outdoor track and field championships in Eugene next week.

"I've got what I need. This is what God has given me. I'm not hurting for anything. If I consistently sat here and looked at what everyone else was making, I would never, ever be happy. That stuff starts to consume you."

So he's learned to live with being one of the greatest, least-known athletes ever to hail from America.

Clay, who has endured the pain and fatigue that go along with training for 10 track and field events, rather than the normal one or two, for a decade, finally got his One Shining Moment in the spotlight last August, when he wrapped up the Olympic decathlon title in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium.

But his 15 minutes of fame lasted even less than that. Right after Clay finished, the Jamaican 4x100-meter relay team -- manned by some guy named Usain Bolt, set a world record in that event. And the world's television cameras, naturally, went along with them.

TV networks, when they weren't engaging in navel-to-navel beach volleyball coverage, also tended to focus on The Big Story of the Games -- swimmer Michael Phelps, who in Olympic terms is the functional opposite of Clay: a competitor in many events, with a medal for each.

It wasn't really fair, but it was reality. Thanks for playing our game, Bryan. See you next time, in London, 2012 -- if you stick around that long.

It'd be easy not to. Few decathletes have achieved Clay's feat of winning medals in successive Olympics. None has ever medaled in three straight. Clay, who says he was mentally and physically "burned out" after Beijing, can see why.

"I needed to find a reason to do track and field again," he says.

After a five-month break from serious training, he found it by looking at his own achievements -- and seeing how, with a third Olympic medal, he might go down in history not just as one of the greats, but the all time great in his sport. He recommitted to the decathlon this spring, setting two serious goals: A world record in the event by next year. And a third medal at the London Games in 2012.

Bottom line: He needed motivation that grand to make his way back out to the track for the six or seven hours a day, every day, to be an Olympic champion.

The decathlon is not for wimps, even among the world's elite athletes. The competitions themselves are grueling. And they're the fun part. The training can be brutal, because no part of the body ever is afforded a complete recovery period.

"It's tough," Clay confesses. His ultra-fit look belies the pain.

"I feel like an old man when I get up in the morning. Everything pops at some point between the bed and the shower."

He pops ibuprofen like kids eat M&Ms, just to get through the day.

"For a decathlete, there's always something wrong," he says. "I don't think I've ever come into a meet where I'm like, 'Yeah, my body feels good!'"

You learn to live with it, and manage risk. Overdoing it and blowing up a knee or shoulder or other crucial joint could end your career in a flash.

The constant mental focus required to stay on top can be draining as well, particularly in a sport most often practiced in solitude, in big, empty stadiums. And due to its grueling nature -- 10 events over 48 hours -- most decathletes only compete a few times every year, thus remain largely out of the spotlight.

Clay emphasizes that he's thankful that his family and friends and "support team" are there with him, making their own sacrifices.

"I don't think anyone could do this on their own."

But he is also self-driven -- and admits to being ultra-competitive. Clay has been known to smack a hurdle or two, or toss a javelin aside, in frustration.

How does someone with that competitive fire put one event behind him when another is looming only moments away?

"You have to be able to compartmentalize," he says.

But how, exactly, does one do that? Zen mind tricks?

Clay pauses.

"My faith plays a big role."

He tells a story about the Olympic Trials last summer in Eugene.

He had a good 100 meters, a "terrible" long jump, and then "the shot put goes really bad as well. I'm starting to admit to myself, 'This is not going well.' And I took that bad attitude into the high jump."

A coach noticed it, and admonished him: "Hey, get your head out of your ass. We only need third (to qualify for the Olympic team.)"

All the while he is thinking to himself: "I'm the number one decathlete in the world. I don't get third."

So he made a deal with God: "I'll give you the high jump," he said in a silent prayer. If it goes well, game on. If not, he reserved the right to just walk away.

His jump was nearly a personal best -- and an Olympic Trials record, the second highest by an American. He went on to cruise to victory, with a personal-best 8,832 points.

It's that kind of rebound that keeps athletes in the decathlon -- where at least one event is always likely to go bad -- coming back for more. In Clay's case, friends, coaches and supporters in the U.S. track and field community help, as well -- including the Husky coaches and staff at Montlake, where he loves to train.

Clay, a Hawaii native, says his family would love to move to Seattle. But relocating his entire staple of individual-sport coaches from California's Azusa Pacific University, where he normally trains, probably will preclude that from happening, at least before the 2012 Olympics in London.

If he makes history there by winning that third medal, he'll retire from the sport a satisfied man, he says. But he'd still like to be remembered more as a caring father and husband than the world's greatest athlete.

"It's not who I am," he says. "It's just what I do."

--------------

The Decathlon, Defined:

Events, Day one:
100 meters
Long Jump
Shot Put
High Jump
400 meters

Events, day two:
110 meter hurdles
Discus
Pole Vault
Javelin
1500 meters

World record:
9,026 points, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 2001

Bryan Clay's Twitter Quest:

Decathlon champion Bryan Clay is on a mission to garner a number of Twitter followers equal to his high score in the decathlon, set last summer in Eugene. He has a ways to go: The goal is 8,832, and at last count, he was up to 1,819. (Note: He really does update often, so it's worth your time if you're a fan). Follow Clay's quest for a world decathlon record through his Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/bryanclay.

Meet Bryan Clay:

Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay has scheduled public appearances to discuss his life, his faith and his career, at Champions Centre locations in Tacoma and Bellevue on Saturday and Sunday. For times and details see www.championscentre.com. Or: You might run into him this week at Dick's Drive-In, of which he is a fan.

(Photos: Ron Judd/Seattle Times)

It's a little early to be dragging out the "once-great" label for Michael Phelps, who finished second in two races at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix yesterday, writes Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News.

Local swim fans should note that Ariana Kukors of Auburn posted a standout performance in Santa Clara, sharing the high-point award for the meet with Mary Descenza.

Keep a grip on your wallet, Olympic fans.

Hoping to tug at your patriotic heartstrings, the U.S. Olympic Committee is about to launch a big fundraiser, "America Supports Team USA."

Nothing wrong with that. It costs money to field strong Olympic teams, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which raises almost all its money through fundraising, broadcast revenues and sponsorships, always seems to be in need of more. Especially now, when many athletes are struggling to make ends meet because of the recession and dried-up sponsorships.

But a look at the annual tax reports filed by the USOC as a non-profit might make Americans think twice before opening their checkbooks.

Eight USOC officers made more than $300,000 in 2008. And those were the paupers. Chief operating officer Norman Bellingham took home $663,369; former CEO Jim Scherr, $619,507; former communications officer Darryl Seibel, $367,779; chief of international relations Robert Fasulo, $356,214.

On and on, with 19 topping the $200,000 mark. (See the full salarly list below). And nearly all of them live in Colorado Springs, Colo., which, last time we checked, was nowhere near the top of anyone's High Cost of Living list:

Is anyone else taken aback by those numbers? The COO of the non-profit U.S. Olympic Committee pushing $700K a year?

Is this the USOC, or AIG?

Not only are USOC executive salaries failing to decline in recessionary times, they're going hell-bent in the other direction. Bellingham, for instance, got a 63 percent raise from 2007 to 2008, federal reports indicate.

Scherr, recently ousted in a palace coup by his board of directors, apparently led by new interim CEO Stephanie Streeter (nobody's talking), got a 10.5 percent bump last year. And Seibel, also leaving the Colorado Springs offices last week under what can charitably be described as odd circumstances (who walks away from a $368,000 a year PR job that comes with an unlimited Olympics pass?) got a 7.8 percent increase.

(It's striking how many job titles on that list are preceded by the word "former," indicating that something else is askew in the corporate culture of the place. But nobody seems to leave empty handed. USOC severance money flows like wine at a Roman orgy, financial reports suggest. We won't know how much ousted chiefs like Scherr and Seibel walked away with to "pursue other interests" until next year around this time, when new IRS "Form 990" reports are filed.)

Overall, while the rest of the world cut back, USOC salaries rose from $35 million to $39 million in 2008.

This is not by accident. It's by design.

In a teleconference Friday, Streeter staunchly defended the high-and-rising USOC pay structure, and suggested it will continue.

"I believe that they are justified," she said of the salaries. "We have a significant amount of talent we're trying to attract from both the sports, corporate and other worlds. It's my opinion that you get what you pay for."

National surveys, she added, indicate USOC salaries are "not out of line" with other non-profits.

But they probably seem out of line to lower-rung people in the Olympic movement, many of whom work for a relative pittance, and believe working for the USOC, or for a sport's national governing body, is a privilege.

Still, high pay at the USOC may qualify as a victimless crime. It's tough to argue that those big USOC salaries are draining funds from athletes. In fact, the USOC's four-year financing for the national governing bodies of winter sports headed into Vancouver 2010 is 55 percent more than the same sports received in the leading into the Turin Games of 2006.

"The athletes," Streeter said, "are my top priority."

No evidence suggests otherwise. But the USOC pay figures still seem high -- particularly at a time when the rest of corporate America is cutting back, and major USOC sponsors such as Home Depot and GM and now Bank of America are bailing out.

If those salaries truly are in line with other institutions, it says more about what's wrong with corporate America than what's right about the USOC.

Add the sheer-gall factor. Does the USOC really expect citizens, out of patriotism, to make "charitable" contributions to an organization whose leaders are taking home 600K a year?

Streeter sees no such contradiction. Executive salaries simply are not on the table as a means of getting through tough economic times, even as the corporate world increasingly looks at USOC sponsorship as a decidedly non-essential expenditure. And even as the organization lays off 54 mid- and lower-level employees, supposedly to make budgetary ends meet.

"We're comfortable with what we're paying people," Streeter said.

Maybe that's because she's sharing the wealth -- although we don't know how fully. Streeter, the head of a largely closed institution that's made a vaunted push for "transparency" in recent years, refused to divulge her own salary when queried about it Friday, telling a reporter to wait a year until the USOC is forced to list it in IRS paperwork.

"You'll see it in the 990s when it's published next year," she said curtly.

Touche.

But Streeter will quickly learn that in the news business, that's called creating an issue. And for the USOC, creating this one -- while asking for disposable cash from a nation with 10-percent unemployment -- is poor timing, at best.

Isn't this the sort of PR disaster they're paying former Bush Administration propagandist Ari Fleischer an undisclosed amount of money to prevent?

Here's hoping America's Olympic braintrust gets real before reality is forced upon it -- and athletes really do wind up holding the bag.

----------
U.S. Olympic Committee, top salaries, 2008:

Norman Bellingham, chief operating officer: $663,369
Jim Scherr, former chief executive officer: $619,507
Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer: $367,779
Robert Fasulo, chief of international relations: $356,214
Rick Burton, former chief marketing officer: $345,326
Courtney Harrison, former chief of member and event services: $335,016
Damani Short, former chief information officer: $323,336
Rana Dershowitz, general counsel/chief of legal and government affairs: $303,264
Steve Roush, former chief of sport performance: $298,524
Walter Glover, chief financial officer: $287,196
Chris Duplanty, USOC board liaison: $281,747
Steve Bull, former director of government relations: $249,067
Charlie Huebner, chief of U.S. Paralympics: $246,723
Larry Buendorf, chief of security: $235,299
Doug Ingram, director of international games: $228,583
Chris Sullivan, chief bid officer: $213,292
Gary Johansen, associate general counsel: $208,532
Amy Savela, associate general counsel: $207,824
John Pierce: managing director of brand and research management: $202,260
Debra Yoshimura, managing director of audit: $196,676

Someone at Alpine Canada might have some 'splaining to do.

The Canadian ski federation has learned that its allotment of skier slots for its home-turf 2010 Olympics at Whistler has been slashed from a hoped-for 22 to only 14, under a new formula developed by the International Ski Federation.

That's a big disadvantage against top ski nations Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy (22 each) and the United States (20). Especially because Canada has more specialists than all-around skiers, Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief of athletics, told The Toronto Star.

"You don't build an Olympic program a year out of the Olympics," Gartner said. "The timing of it really sucks."

He added that if Canada had known about the reduction, it would have developed more all-around skiers, to increase medal chances in more events.

Canadian officials reportedly heard rumors of the new formula, which is based on international results, and designed to get more smaller-nation athletes into the Games, for 18 months, but still said they were "blindsided" by the new allotment a month ago.

Canada had hoped for at least 20 alpine spots for the Vancouver 2010 Games.

The new quota formula is based on performance and depth of field, the Star reports, adding that Canada is hurt by the fact that Austria, Switzerland and the U.S. have twice as many skiers per discipline ranked in the top 500 in the world.

"What it means for us in reality is we're not going to put some of what we call our darkhorses in races like slalom, people who have a shot at winning something or at least do really well, be in the top 10 in the Olympics," Gartner told the Star.

Canada will plead for mercy with the FIS, but chances for the formula, already endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, to change appear small, the Globe and Mail reports:

In the interests of having a more international field, some of the spots expected to go to countries who are regulars on the World Cup will, instead, be allocated to entries from small delegations. Under the complex formula, based on FIS points, the World Cup and a basic quota, countries like Austria and Switzerland still have enough skiers and enough clout in various standings to maintain 22 athletes for the Games. Canada does not, and must earn more spots. Final decisions on quotas will be based on points accumulated by January.

"It allows more obscure nations visibility and Canada happens to be one of those nations giving up spots," said Alpine Canada president Gary Allan. "While we understand the importance of that to grow the sport, Max (Alpine Canada athletics officer Max Gartner) and his staff have been working on their program to build depth since the last Games and now we can't draw on that depth."

Gartner was more straightforward: fewer skiers means fewer medal chances for Canada.

"The effect of having 14 is that people who felt they were a dark horse to get a medal won't even be in the Olympic Games," Gartner said. "There will be skiers who were in the top-10 in World Cup races in the previous year cut to make places for athletes who haven't been there," Gartner said.

Here's the numbers breakdown:

22 Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland

20 U.S.

14 Canada, Sweden

13 Germany

12 Slovenia

8 Czech Republic

6 Finland, Liechtenstein

5 Spain, Great Britain

4 Australia

3 Moldova, Monaco, Lebanon

2 Jamaica, Turkey

1 Senegal, India, Cayman Islands

.

Vancouver Olympic ticket seller CoSport, which still has not responded to questions about the new inventory of tickets suddenly appearing on its Web site (not that anyone is complaining), has issued a news release about "Phase 2" sales so far.

Interesting nuggets:

• The company sold more than 31,000 tickets during the first 75 minutes of the May 14 online sale opener.


• More than 34,000 have been sold since the sale began.


• "Nearly half" of the tickets sold during this phase -- much like the previous phase -- were purchased by people in the Northwest.

The company provides no other information about the tickets recently added to the online sales site, www.cosport.com. But it does warn that "inventory might not be available for much longer."

Full release follows:

CoSport Announces Results of Phase 2 Sales for Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

Hospitality Packages and Individual Tickets Still Available for Immediate Purchase

Colorado Springs, Colo. - CoSport, the exclusive authorized ticket agent and Official Sponsor of the U. S. Olympic Committee (USOC), announced today the results of the Phase 2 tickets sales to the U.S. general public that commenced on May 14.

The U.S. public's interest in attending the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games remains very high. During the first 75 minutes of sales, 31,108 tickets were purchased and a total of 34,017 tickets have been sold since the launch of the Phase 2 sales. Nearly half of the tickets sold during this phase of ticketing were purchased by citizens in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

Tickets for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver are still available for sale on CoSport's website. All remaining tickets are being sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. The remaining tickets for sale include Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as men and women's USA hockey games and figure skating.

"We are very pleased with the success of the Phase 2 sales launch," commented Mr. Jean-Paul Modde, president of CoSport, "For people with an interest in attending the Vancouver Games we still have some great options available for purchase; however, with the pace of sales that inventory might not remain available for much longer so we encourage people to make their plans now."

In addition to individual tickets, CoSport offers Ticket and Hospitality Pass Packages, Accommodations Only Packages, and a variety of Olympic Hospitality packages. To view all available products and for more information about purchasing tickets, accommodations or packages please visit CoSport's website at www.cosport.com.

Christmas in June?

It almost appears to good to be true, but what appears to be a large inventory of Vancouver 2010 Olympic tickets -- in nearly all sports and at many price levels -- has appeared on the Web site of CoSport, the sole U.S. ticket retailer.

Loyal reader Jordan pointed out the find this morning, and we can confirm that yes, tickets are available to a broad swath of events, including the Opening Ceremonies and high-demand events such as the women's gold-medal hockey game.

No telling whether this inventory is anywhere near as deep as it is wide, so if you're looking for tickets, act fast, fast, fast.

We're trying to confirm with CoSport that the listings are not a mirage. A telephone operator, as usual, refused to speak to media. But she did confirm that if I went online right now, as a customer, and hit "purchase" for listed tickets, they would in fact be delivered, and that an unspecified number of new tickets are available.

I'm still going through the other usual channels to find out as much as possible about the size of this ticket allotment. It's unclear whether this new ticket stash is related to the big ticket sale about to commence in Canada, for Canadian residents only, on Saturday.

But my advice is simple: Act now. With no announcement about additional tickets, nobody is using the CoSport Web site this morning, and it zips right through the paces, right to the checkout counter.

As always, let us know how you did.

(Images: Sample Vancouver Games tickets, sans watermark and hologram, courtesy VANOC.)