WHISTLER, B.C. - The 2010 Winter Games are still a year away but the head of the International Olympic Committee is already predicting they will be a success.

Jacques Rogge arrived in Whistler, B.C., on Wednesday to help mark the one-year countdown to the Vancouver Olympics.

He says everything appears to be on track for the Games, which open exactly one year from Thursday.

"I am very pleased with the progress," he said during an evening news conference. "I think everything bodes well for the Games."

From a shoreline symphony on the Atlantic to a carillon carol in Ottawa, there will be no shortage of countdown events Thursday.

Olympic officials will unveil the design of the Olympic torch in Whistler in the morning at one of two major ceremonies to mark the one-year countdown in the host province.

Between now and start of the Games on Feb. 12, 2010, the torch will travel 45,000 kilometres across Canada through dozens of different climates and conditions in every province and territory.

The uniforms torch bearers will wear as they carry the flame will also be unveiled in Whistler on Thursday.

Later, the festivities move to Vancouver and the organizing committee has put out a call for Canadians everywhere to "make some noise" at 6 p.m. local time in honour of the one-year milestone.

In Newfoundland, musicians will play a symphony from the boats in St. John's harbour, while in Manitoba, a week's worth of community sporting events are already underway.

In Calgary, the last Canadian city to host an Olympic Games, they're dusting off the torch from the 1988 Winter Olympics to light their own Olympic cauldron.

A rare honour is being given to the Games in Ottawa, where the Peace Tower bells will ring as the Olympic flag is hoisted over Parliament Hill.

In Vancouver, government and Olympic officials will gather for a celebration at the speedskating oval in Richmond, where Rogge will issue his official invitation to the world's athletes to come compete in 2010.

The anti-Olympic community has already accepted the invitation. They're holding one-year countdown events of their own, which began on last week with a "poverty Olympics" and continue Thursday with a protest march during the official Olympic celebration.

By the time an estimated 350,000 spectators, 5,500 athletes and officials and 10,000 journalists arrive for the Olympics next year, there will be parts of the city that are unrecognizable.

Billions have been spent on upgrades to highways, a convention centre, local hotels and city streets.

The Olympics themselves have an operating budget of $1.75 billion, and a venue budget of $580 million.

That doesn't include the costs the various host communities are bearing for venues, such as the $1-billion athletes village.

The countdown to the Games comes amid a world economic recession, and provincial politicians have pinned British Columbia's economic salvation on the 2010 Olympic Games.

The Olympic committee has promised a billion dollars in spending this year alone, not counting additional spending by spectators, the media and athletes during the Games.

When it's all over, the province believes the 2010 Olympics will generate $10.7 billion but the hopes aren't just financial.

Officials have challenged athletes to "own the podium" at these Games and millions of dollars have gone into developing Canadian athletes over the past several years so they'll be at their best in 2010.