A financial mess. An escape from global economic despair. The crowning glory of Colorado's Lindsey Vonn. The crowning moment for Winter X Games sports.

A year out, the story lines for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are as difficult to predict as Bode Miller's next downhill.

For Canadians, the big fear is the 2010 games will turn out more like the financially disastrous 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics than the smoothly run 1988 Calgary Winter Games.

The economy is crashing, the city was forced to borrow $458 million to finish the athletes' village on schedule, Standard & Poor's has put the city on a credit watch and cost-cutting measures have been implemented that will eliminate much of the planned Olympic feel and atmosphere.

The word "debacle" suddenly seems relevant, though Canadians are determined to get the job done.

"Whether the Olympic extravaganza arrives as a poisonous headache or a celebratory end to a dark winter, the point is the Games are coming, regardless," wrote Les Leyne of the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia.

But Olympic economic problems hardly end in Canada. The New York Times reported the U.S. Olympic Committee has been fighting to keep its sponsors, which account for 45 percent of its $150 million average annual budget. Although it has signed 17 sponsors through 2012, Home Depot, General Motors, Kodak and John Hancock have pulled out or decided not to renew their support.

10 Americans to watch in 2010

Lindsey Vonn, alpine skiing

The former Vail resident is the queen of snow, having won titles in the downhill and super-giant slalom at the recent World Ski Championships. In 1952, Andrea Mead Lawrence was the last American women to win two events at a world championships or Olympics.

Ted Ligety, alpine skiing

The 2006 Olympic gold medalist in the combined and the 2007 World Cup giant-slalom champion, he could be primed for a big performance.

Julia Mancuso, alpine skiing

The 2006 gold-medal winner in giant slalom is a clutch performer and joins Vonn to give the U.S. women a powerful one-two tandem.

Apolo Ohno, short-track speedskating

The top American since 2001, Ohno, 26, is determined to exit in style with a sixth medal, which would make him the most- decorated male U.S. Winter Games athlete in history.

Shaun White, snowboarding

The redhead, known as "The Flying Tomato," is the king of action sports and a good bet to defend his Olympic halfpipe title.

Todd Lodwick, Steamboat Springs

The four-time Olympian retired in 2006 but has returned this winter to win two World Cup silver medals in Nordic combined. Teammate Bill Demong became the first American to claim a spot on the World Cup overall podium last year.

Gretchen Bleiler, snowboarding

After finishing second to Hannah Teter in the halfpipe in Turin, Italy, the charismatic Aspen product will be shooting for gold.

Shani Davis, speedskating

A black pioneer in his sport, he's the overall world champion and an Olympic gold medalist. He'll be pushed again by Chad Hedrick, who won three medals at the Turin Games, took eight months off and now is working on regaining Olympic form.

Seth Wescott, snowboarding

The 2006 Olympic gold medalist in snowboard cross has a knack for winning the biggest races. On the women's side, Lindsey Jacobellis will be thinking about her ill-fated stunt in 2006.

Jeremy Abbott, figure skating

The Cheyenne Mountain High School graduate was the upset winner at the U.S. nationals last month. He'll have to outduel accomplished countrymen Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek. On the women's side, keep an eye on Mirai Nagasu.

Youth power

Winter X Games events will continue their climb to prominence with the help of ski cross, which will make its Olympic debut next year.

Snowboard halfpipe (1998), snowboard slopestyle (2002) and snowboarder cross (2006) not only were highly suitable for TV viewing, but added a breath of fresh air to the Winter Games, which many thought had grown stodgy.

Remember 2006, when Lindsey Jacobellis sailed over the second- to-last jump in boarder cross, leading her nearest challenger by 50 yards - then decided to hot dog it? Instead of cruising to a gold medal, she grabbed her board with her hand, blew her landing and finished with a silver.

Nevertheless, the stunt turned out to be one of the most-watched videos on NBCOlympics.com, eclipsing Ted Ligety's gold medal in combined alpine skiing.

Attracting younger viewers will be one of the topics of conversation when the the Sportaccord conference - scheduled for March 23-27 in Denver - brings together representatives of world sports federations, top officials of the International Olympic Committee and other decision-makers from the athletic world.

"It's a worldwide factor," Sportaccord executive director Anna Hellman said of new sports in the Olympics. "It's a way of life, it's how they dress, it's how they consume, it's a lifestyle."

Tuning out

The Turin Games suffered sagging TV ratings in America, where delayed broadcasts seemed archaic in the Internet age. "Delayed" might be the key word.

This time, only an invisible border separates Canada and the U.S., so crucial events will be shown in prime time.

Moreover, when cover-girl figure skater Michelle Kwan bowed out of the 2006 Games because of an injury, NBC lost its main star. Look for Vonn to help fill that void in Vancouver.

Going big

Remember the pastoral winter beauty of Lillehammer, Norway, the site of the 1994 Winter Games, or Albertville, France, host in 1992?

Today, bigger is better. Instead of mountain villages, the IOC has centered the event on metropolitan areas such as Salt Lake City (2002), Turin (2006), and Vancouver, British Columbia (2010).

In Vancouver, that means two main venues. The Vancouver area will host hockey, speedskating, short track, figure skating, curling, freestyle skiing and snowboarding. The Whistler area will be the site for bobsled, luge, skeleton, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing and ski jumping.

If that trend continues, the shortlist for potential American sites for future Winter Games is down to Salt Lake City, Denver and Reno.

Up north

Although no Canadian athlete has won an Olympic gold medal on home soil, 2010 might make that a memory.

Calgary's John Kucera became the first Canadian man to win the downhill title at the recent world championships.

Other encouraging signs for the host country: Canadian figure skaters won a gold medal and three silvers in the Four Continents championships, and they also captured three gold medals and a silver at the World Speed Skating Championships.

Happy anniversary

The approach of another Winter Olympics invariably summons memories of the 1980 U.S. hockey team, when the Americans lifted a jittery nation from the fog of troubled times with a stunning upset of the mighty Soviet Union, then won a gold medal a couple of days later.

But the 1960 team, left, was equally remarkable, winning a gold medal in Squaw Valley, Calif., despite being considered overwhelming underdogs to the Czechoslovakians, Soviets and Canadians.

With a group of scrappy college kids and amateur players - sound familiar? - they produced the original miracle in ice.

The Vancouver Games will mark the 50th anniversary of that breakthrough achievement.

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