Vancouver will welcome some 2,500 athletes to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada at Friday's opening ceremony.

2010年冬奥会将在加拿大城市温哥华举行，在周五的开幕典礼上，温哥华将迎来各国2500名运动员。

British luge competitor AJ Rosen takes a training run as Canada counts down

Financial worries and a lack of snow have hampered¹（限制，阻碍） preparations, but the focus now switches to the competitors.

Canada could earn their first ever home Olympic gold medal on Saturday, while Team GB's 52 athletes have been set a target of three medals of any colour.

"We're keen（渴望的） to mark the beginning of a new era for winter sports in Britain," said British chef de mission Andy Hunt.

"It is extraordinary to have the number of athletes in the team that we do.

"We haven't set a specific medal target - our real target is for every athlete to achieve their personal best."

While the British Olympic Association (BOA) is playing down（降低，减低） medal targets, funding body UK Sport expects a three-medal return on its investment.

That pales in comparison to the pressure facing the host nation's team of 206 athletes, competing across the Games' 15 sports over 17 days.

The Canadian team has defined a successful Games as winning more medals than any other nation - rather than necessarily aiming for more golds than other countries - with the men's ice hockey（冰上曲棍球） final considered a must-win showpiece（展示品） event by home supporters.

Leading Canada's charge is 37-year-old speed skater Clara Hughes, who will carry her country's flag at the opening ceremony. A former cyclist, she has both Summer and Winter Olympic medals to her name.

Of the 82 nations expected to take part, the United States and Germany should also be close contenders both in terms of gold medals, where Norway also feature, and overall medal count.

The US team of 216 athletes is the largest at the Vancouver Games and is fronted by talismanic² skiing sensation Lindsey Vonn.

Vonn has had a troubled build-up to her five Olympic events after suffering a shin（胫骨） injury during training - but few teams have arrived at the Games without incident.

The British team, in particular, saw its skiing and snowboarding governing body go into administration just one week before the Olympics, leaving the BOA to arrange emergency funding for the 14 affected³ athletes.

And financial problems extend to the Vancouver Organizing Committee (Vanoc) itself, which has faced reports of a 30m Canadian dollar (£18.1m) revenue（收入，税收） shortfall.