VANCOUVER (Reuters) - So you are looking ahead to Friday's start of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and you think to yourself: "Hey, how can I make some quick bucks on the stock market from this thing?"

Welcome to the Olympic freestyle investing race. It's a tougher competition than you might think.

On the surface, the race course looks promising.

Vancouver's hotels are filling up, the sport venues are ready and Olympic sponsors are rushing around trying to get the attention of the hundreds of reporters arriving on Canada's Pacific Coast from around the world.

The Olympics are expected to help propel Vancouver to the top of Canada's economic growth podium this year, buffering the impact of the global downturn, which had threatened to punch a hole in the Games' financing plan.

The city expects to enjoy economic growth of 4.5 percent, with 4.2 percent for the host province of British Columbia - both well ahead of the 2.9 percent expected nationally, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

The Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) has listed sponsors, ranging from the likes of national names like Bombardier Inc. Teck Resources Ltd. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., to small fry such as ALDA Pharmaceuticals.

There are also International Olympic Committee sponsors such as General Electric and Panasonic.

Sponsors will get publicity during the Games, but does that translate into profit?

That's hard to say, according to the author of a government-sponsored study examining the economic impact of the Games.