As the bobsled driver told his team, it's all downhill from here.

So too is it for Irishman John Furlong, 58, the Chief Executive Officer for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralymic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia.

On this particular day, Wednesday, February 11^th, he is one year, and one day, away from the Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics, marking first time in 22 years that the Olympics have returned to Canada.

"It's a nice place to be," he says. He is speaking on his cell phone as he is driven back to Vancouver from Whistler as preparations continue to welcome the world next year. "There's a lot going on. Half of it is in Whistler and half of it is in Vancouver."

Furlong is heading the $2 billion operation to get Canada's third largest city ready for the games, a job he won back in 2004 ahead of 200 other candidates.

"I can hardly remember where it started," he says, somewhat breathlessly, as he begins his sixth and final year at the helm, before pointing out proudly that "the venues are being built. The project is coming along. The city is looking more and more ready every day."

Furlong often wakes up at 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time in order to "just get myself together and organized," before heading off early to the office. In the course of a day, it is not unusual for him to handle complex negotiations with sponsors, staff, national sporting federations and others, vying for his attention, as well as dealing with issues ranging from technical problems, handling the media, accommodations, and "just putting the team in place," which currently stands at around 50,000.

"The one thing you do notice is that they [problems] get more complex and need to be resolved faster," as the big day approaches, he says. "You have to be [at] a very high energy level, [with] an enourmous amount of adrenalin and patience."

While he has been eating, living and breathing the Olympics seemingly forever, he admitted that "they're part of your DNA."

Furlong admits that his is a seven-day-a-week job, and "it is a rare occurance to have an Olympic-free day. It never sleeps," he says, before adding that "it's always there and very exciting and compelling...There are no two days the same. Things you need to do versus things you want to do or would like to do. It's very much a balancing act."

He places a lot of the success though on his staff. "The people in my life are jugglers. They get me what I need."

The people of British Columbia's lower mainland are grateful for Furlong's efforts, and are not afraid of showing him, especially when complete strangers hug him in the middle of the street.

"That has happened!" Furlong says with a laugh. "Most of the time, you'll get positive encouragement."

Back when Vancouver/Whistler won its bid to host the 2010 games, he and his entourage were heading back to Canada from Prague, Czech Republic.

"I just wanted to rest," he recalled, once he got back home to the west coast. However, about 20 minutes away from Vancouver, the airplane's captain came back to Furlong's seat and told him that people "had already started to celebrate. You might want to prepare yourself [since] there's a large crowd at the airport."

He was not prepared for the sight of hundreds of people cheering Furlong, who headed Vancouver's bid, and his team back to Canada.