Vancouver had its host of controversies during the Olympics, from cauldron mishaps to unaccommodating weather and – most tragically – the death of an athlete. But those accidents are being filed away as learning experiences for future Games and, in some cases, may pave the way for safer and better Olympic events, said Lucia Montanarella, media operations consultant with the IOC.

"Whatever happens, the bad and the good, is always a lesson for the future," she said. The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the opening day of the Olympics led to a closer look at safety policies.

"No one in their wildest imaginations [thought we] would be confronted by this," said Vanoc president John Furlong of the athlete's death. "We planned for terrorism, plane crashes, every conceivable thing and never believed ever we [would face this]."

For this February's world luge championships in Italy, the International Luge Federation pushed for an extension of track walls on high-speed points of the track.

New wood panels were added to act as guardrails in case an athlete lost control and felt the need to exit the track.

Then there was the high-profile lawsuit against Vanoc by a group of female ski jumpers arguing their exclusion from the 2010 Games was based on gender.

The IOC said the sport wasn't developed enough on the international platform, but has since it’s looking favourable at including women's ski jumping at the next Winter Games. "I think the time has come," said Furlong of the sport taking its place at the next Olympics. "I'd be very surprised if it isn't on the program in Sochi."

Having checked off the growth of the sport as one of the mandates, the International Ski Federation is now shifting its attention to increasing crowd interest. The Nordic World Ski Jumping Championships takes place later this month, and new ticket selling.