Pronger expects to fit in well at Winter Olympics

VANCOUVER - After two nights of red-eye flights and a greeting in Tokyo befitting of the Beatles, it was like a scene right out of your favorite Three Stooges episode.

The Flyers' Chris Pronger had just unpacked his bags in Nagano, Japan, and hustled over to Team Canada's common room for a meeting. Just 23 back in 1998, Pronger didn't know quite what to expect in his first Olympic Games.

And when the 6-6, 210-pound defenseman sat down to join his teammates, he really sat down. Pronger didn't miss the chair. The chair just couldn't support him, much to the delight of his teammates, who were rolling around on the floor laughing.

"The chair was like a toothpick," Pronger recalled, laughing. "I sat down and it just crumbled. I don't think they were ready for me over there. There's a lot of little people over there in Japan, I guess."

It was Pronger's "welcome to the Olympic Village" moment. And it was the beginning of a tough 2-week stay in a place designed for short-track skaters and alpine skiers, not hulking professional hockey players.

Not only did Pronger's Canadian squad not capture a gold medal - it left Japan empty-handed - but Pronger went back to the Village to sleep each night with his feet hanging over a shoe box of a bed.

The Olympic Village has come a long way since 1998. Later this week, Pronger will be heading to Vancouver - home of the NHL's Canucks and for 2 weeks, the best cold-weather athletes in the world - and he can rest assured he will sleep comfortably in his home country.

This time, Pronger will be housed in a 1,779-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment that was built as part of the grand jewel of Olympic Villages. The entire 1,100-unit area cost the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC) a little north of $1 billion.

"We aspired to create an Olympic Village that feels relaxed and comfortable," said Mark Cutler, VANOC's village development director. "We had a big hotelier join us to make sure that our athletes feel at home in these living quarters."

Cutler held the same position for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. He was in charge of the 5-year design-to-budgeting-to-production process in Vancouver for the housing of 2,730 athletes, coaches and support staff for the upcoming games.

Cutler said Pronger can expect "a lot more than what is necessary." He even hinted that "the Canadians will be very comfortable and possibly more comfortable than the others" in Vancouver.