We're coming up on 14 months to go until Vancouver, and those who laid out hundreds for VIP ticket packages are finding it difficult to find places to stay. The recently-held Beijing Olympics featured no problems with hotel shortages due to the Chinese government's highly restrictive visa rules, but the recent Olympic tradition of skyrocketing lodging costs will return when the Winter Games commence in February 2010.

Also, the Olympic year 2008 is coming to a close. For those in the United States (or with a web proxy) looking to get back on "the bus" and relive as much of the Beijing Games as possible: the revolutionary free on-demand service that offers thousands of hours of international-feed broadcasts will be shutting down on December 31. You have one month left.

Watching the events of four months ago may remind you of one of the few failures of Beijing 2008, and probably the difference between "remarkable games" and "the best ever." The events were technically sold out, but pictures sent around the world showed thousands upon thousands of empty seats. The International Olympic Committee is taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again, with the added challenge of a global financial crisis that, if it lasts, will surely depress ticket sales for London 2012. Last week, IOC and LOCOG officials met in London to mull over lessons learned from Beijing.

We're three months beyond the highly successful Beijing Games, but there's still plenty of developments in the Olympic world -- there's a Winter Games coming soon, after all. Here's some sports-related news as we approach Vancouver 2010.

ICE HOCKEY: Few historically successful teams are as tied to their national icon as the Canadian men's hockey team. Displaying the maple leaf, Canada built the first dynasty in the sport, winning six of the first seven gold medals awarded. After the era of Soviet dominance and the rise of European hockey powers like Sweden and the Czech Republic, the country stormed to the 2002 Olympic championship, with the leaf proudly emblazoned on their chests.

When the team, masterminded by Detroit Red Wings hero Steve Yzerman, takes the ice in their home country 15 months from now, it's unlikely that they'll be wearing the leaf. The IOC has long had a rule the forbids federations displaying their logos, but Beijing 2008 was the first crackdown. The Brazilian football team, representing a country trying to sway votes for the 2016 games, wore plain shirts instead of their national uniforms. Needless to say, Canadians aren't happy.

As has been the case over the past month, the biggest news about the Olympics has had less to do with sports and is primarily concerned primarily with financial matters, in the midst of a global economic downturn. Falling oil prices have hurt the Russian economy, which could end up impacting plans for the Sochi 2104 Winter Games. The organizers of London 2012 are scrambling to change venues for certain sports and having difficulty finding available funds as the credit markets remain tight.

The Olympic Delivery Authority and developer Lend Lease Corp. haven't secured bank financing for the 1 billion-pound Olympic Village, a 3,000-apartment complex where athletes will stay during the games, and a 400 million-pound broadcast center to be built by a group led by Carillion Plc.

2012: But it's not all gloom and doom in England as the countdown to the next Summer Games goes on. Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of Games preparation, maintains London 2012 will be "economic gold in a time of economic need." And one of the country's greatest exports, rock music, will play as key a role in the Opening Ceremony that it did in the preview in Beijing two months ago. Reportedly, the Rolling Stones will play the open, along with David Bowie, Elton John, Phil Collins, Sting and others -- creating the largest rock supergroup in history. Mick Jagger will be 69 years old when the Games begin.

Another week goes by, technically the eleventh of the 29th Olympiad if you prefer that type of calendar. Vancouver 2010 is just over 15 months away, and in less than a year (October 2, 2009, to be exact) the IOC will name a 2016 host at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen. Word comes that Mexico will stage its own mini-Olympics (presumably with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee) to coincide with its bicentennial. And don't forget about the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games over 12 days in August 2010, one of IOC president Jacques Rogge's favorite pet projects. Those will be held in Singapore.

2016: Those four finalists -- Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo -- are ramping up their bids for the long home stretch. Due to IOC anti-corruption measures put in place after the Salt Lake 2002 bid scandal, IOC members cannot make official visits to any of the aspirant cities. So the organizing committees have to pack up and proclaim their cases around the world, at places like the upcoming Africa National Olympic Committee secretary generals' conference in Kampala, Uganda.

The countdown to Vancouver 2010 is now just over 480 days, but there are always developments in the Olympic world. Here's the latest.

Nearly two months after China's Olympics, one of the host city's successful environmental experiments will be duplicated going forward. The smog that has covered Beijing since its rapid industry boom disappeared during the second week of the Games, thanks in large part to efforts to curb pollution by keeping half of the city's 3.3 million cars off the road. The city will fine drivers 100 yuan (US $14.70) if they break new rules that aim to keep one-fifth of automobiles off the road each weekday. For instance, cars with license plates ending in 1 or 6 must stay off the local highways.

With under 500 days until Vancouver 2010 and the London 2012 countdown moving past the 1400-day point, here's what's going on in the world of the Games this week.

LONDON 2012: Since the Closing Ceremony in Beijing, there have been major seismic shifts in the world financial markets, with credit dissolving and fortunes lost around the globe. These dynamics also affect the world of the Olympics, and the staging of future Games. The organizers of the next summer event four years from now are considering scaling back a bit, and with banking collapses as background, London's Olympic Board will meet this Thursday to discuss matters including privatization of some construction projects. The BBC's Mihir Bose explains:

As he had with the two Olympic ceremonies and the Paralympic opening, film director Zhang Yimou crafted a fourth distinctive and powerful show on the final night of these games. He had spoken of his desire to build "four ceremonies out of an organic whole," and this ceremony's theme touched on the paper and document themes touched on in the Opening Ceremony on 8/8/08, which now seems a lifetime ago.

The Paralympics' closing, like their opening 11 days ago, was preceded by the athletes' parade, a rare gesture that allowed them to watch the artistic portion, titled "A Letter to the Future." Millions of petals floated down from the Bird's Nest. And, as should have been expected, there were miles and miles of beautiful fireworks. The ceremony can be viewed in its entirety at this link, and many great wire service pictures can be seen at the New York Times website.

Even if you didn't follow a second of the wheelchair basketball tournament, there's no misunderstanding the power of this storyline. Canada came in as the world's best team, winning gold medals in 2000 and 2004 and crushing all opposition. But plucky Australia, which had a rough start to the tournament in beating Brazil 73-72, ended up winning the opposite Group B, and methodically did away with Japan and Great Britain on its way to the gold medal game. Once there, they shocked the Canadians with a 72-60 win, their first title since 1996. Because every Australian national team is required (by law?) to have a nickname, these guys go by the name "the Rollers."

Today is the final day of the 2008 Paralympic Games. With 465 medal events complete, all that's left to do is wrap up the five-a-side football tourney (in which China and Brazil will square off) and fencing, and end the track meet at the Bird's Nest. As in the Olympics, the marathon closes the show, but here there are four separate marathons -- for blind and wheelchair athletes.

And then, the closing ceremony, which will take place tonight.

RUGBY: Australia only had one upset in them on Day 10. The United States, dominant in this sport but still stinging from an upset in the 2004 semis, rolled over the Aussies by a 53-44 score in the wheelchair rugby final. The other "redeem team" clung to a three-goal lead in the third quarter, but put the hammer down in the final eight-minute period.

After the game, co-captain Brian Kirkland (who had trouble containing his excitement in the final moments) talked about the accomplishment and the sport's growing profile.

"I've been playing this sport for 17 years, and it used to be that people had no idea what I did," he said. "But most definitely more and more people have become aware of it in the last few years. And these Paralympics in Beijing have done a lot for disabled sports in general, no question."