The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games, are the next Winter Olympics, scheduled to be performed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2010.
The Games are being organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). It is responsible, through a range of legal agreements and protocols with several city governments, and the BC and Canadian governments, as well as the International Olympic Committee, for a range of specific activities.
VANOC is also building, or contributing to the cost of constructing, several sports venues in Richmond, the University of British Columbia, West Vancouver, and in the resort community of Whistler and the Callaghan Valley near Whistler.
The event is returning to North America eight years after Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, and the first by the province of British Columbia. Previously, Canada was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. The villages of Whistler and Garibaldi bid for the games in 1976 and initially failed to win. The 1976 games were awarded to the city of Denver, Colorado but a later state referendum rejected the games. The IOC subsequently awarded the games to the Whistler and Garibaldi bid, but the province's new governing party (the New Democratic Party) refused to support the bid, thus the games were given to Innsbruck. [1] Also, for the first time ever the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for a Winter Olympics will be held indoors.
The Canadian Olympic Committee, as the NOC of the host country, has pledged to obtain the most gold medals of any country at the 2010 Winter Olympics, due to its failures to obtain a gold at both the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. To achieve the goal, a program called Own the Podium - 2010 was launched.
For the first time Winter Olympic Games will be held by the sea and some venues, such as the Richmond Olympic Oval, are at sea level.
Vancouver is also the warmest city ever to host a Winter Olympics.[2] In February, when the Games will be held, Vancouver has an average temperature of 4.8 degrees Celsius (40.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Following Olympic tradition, current Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received the Olympic flag during the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, which was also attended by the premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell, himself a Vancouver native, and Governor General Michaëlle Jean. The flag was raised on Tuesday February 28, 2006 in a Special Flag Raising Ceremony. It will be on display at Vancouver's City Hall until the Opening Ceremony. At the same time, in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that the Olympic flame had begun its journey to Vancouver.[3]
Bidding
The Canadian Olympic Association chose Vancouver as the Canadian candidate city over Calgary, which sought to re-host the games and Quebec City, which had lost the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995. On the first round of voting on November 21, 1998, Vancouver-Whistler had 26 votes, Quebec City with 25 and Calgary 21. On December 3, 1998, the second and final round of voting occurred between the two leading contenders, which saw Vancouver win with 40 votes compared to Quebec City's 32. The win allowed Vancouver to prepare its bid and begin lobbying efforts internationally.
After the bid bribe scandal that took place with Salt Lake City 2002 games (which saw Quebec City asking for compensation (CDN$8 million) for their failed 2002 bid[4]), 1999 saw many of the rules around the bidding process change. The IOC created the Evaluation Commission which was appointed on October 24, 2002. Prior to the bidding for the 2008 games, often host cities would fly members of the IOC to their city where they toured the city and were provided with gifts from the city. The lack of oversight and transparency often led to allegations of money for votes. Afterward, changes brought forth by the IOC bidding rules were tightened, and more focused on technical aspects of candidate cities. The team analysed the candidate city features and provided its input back to the IOC. The bid books from the three candidate cities were submitted in January 2003 and inspections occurred before May 2003, when the final report was submitted.
Vancouver's residents were asked in a referendum whether they accepted the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents accepted the idea. It was the first time such a referendum was successful. In neighbouring Washington state to the south, the state legislature and Governor Gary Locke passed a resolution in support of Vancouver's bid, and sent it to the IOC.[5]
Vancouver won the bidding process to host the Olympics by a vote of the International Olympic Committee on July 2, 2003 at the 115th IOC Session held in Prague, Czech Republic. The result was announced by Jacques Rogge, which was his first such announcement as IOC president.
Vancouver faced two other finalists shortlisted that same February: PyeongChang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. Pyeongchang had the most votes of the three cities in the first round of voting, in which Salzburg was eliminated. In the run-off, all but two of the members who had voted for Salzburg voted for Vancouver.
Two years earlier, Canada had put in a bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Toronto, but lost out to Beijing. Many felt that Toronto's loss helped Vancouver win the bidding process.
| 2010 Winter Olympics bidding results |
| City | NOC Name | Round 1 | Round 2 |
| Vancouver, British Columbia |  Canada | 40 | 56 |
| PyeongChang |  Republic of Korea | 51 | 53 |
| Salzburg |  Austria | 16 | - |
The bid vote was televised live across Canada. On the CBC, chief correspondent and anchor Peter Mansbridge made it clear that it would be the first time in almost a quarter century that Canada would be hosting an Olympic games. Immediately when Rogge made the announcement, Mansbridge hollered on the air: "The games are coming back to Canada!
Construction
The initial problem Vancouver faced in winning the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics was fundraising for construction of venues. The Bid Committee, and subsequently VANOC, arranged for commitments of investment on a 50/50 basis by the federal and provincial governments, primarily for amounts to cover venue construction costs. It later began to achieve sponsorships and donations from private corporations and institutions. Such commitments were made enthusiastically as a chance to build on the world prestige Vancouver already gained as host of the 1986 World's Fair and to improve on the technological advances made during that event, like the expansion of the SkyTrain transit system.
The expansion was a pledge of the BC government, and not the responsibility of VANOC. Construction of the link between Richmond, the adjacent international airport and downtown Vancouver is now underway and is expected to be completed by late 2009. The BC government also indicated it would pay for a C$600 million upgrade of the Sea-to-Sky Highway to accommodate increased traffic between Vancouver and Whistler, although this highway upgrade has been over due for more than a decade and will still not meet the basic needs of the corridor.[citation needed]
As of 2004, the operational cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics is estimated to be in the range of C$1.4 billion. In 2006, VANOC CEO John Furlong estimated it would be about C$1.7 billion, all raised from non-government sources, primarily through sponsorships and the auction of national broadcasting rights. C$580 million is the taxpayer-supported budget to construct or renovate venues throughout Vancouver and Whistler, C$200 million is expected to be spent for security, of which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the lead agency.
Events
Fifteen winter sports events have been announced as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The eight events categorized as ice sports include: bobsled, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track speed skating, curling. The three sports categorized as alpine, skiing and snowboarding events include: alpine, freestyle and snowboarding. Four sports categorize as Nordic events include: biathlon, cross country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined.
The opening and closing ceremonies and the events categorized as "ice sports" (excluding bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held in Vancouver and Richmond. The sports categorized as "Nordic events" will be held in the Callaghan Valley located just to the west of Whistler. All alpine skiing events will be held on Whistler Mountain (creekside) and sliding events (bobsleigh, luge and skeleton) will be held on Blackcomb Mountain. Cypress Mountain (located in Cypress Provincial park in West Vancouver) will host the 2010 freestyle skiing (aerials, moguls, and ski cross), and all 2010 snowboard events (half-pipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross).
Vancouver 2010 will also be unique in the fact that both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 200 ft × 85 ft (61 m × 26 m), instead of the international size of 200 ft × 98.5 ft (61 m × 30 m). The games will be played at General Motors Place, home of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow more than 35,000 more spectators to attend Olympic hockey games.
Additional events
There were a number of events proposed to be included in the 2010 Winter Olympics games. On November 28, 2006, the IOC Executive Board at their meeting in Kuwait voted to include skicross in the official program. The Vancouver Olympic Committee subsequently approved the sport to be officially part of the Games program.
Events up for inclusion but were ultimately rejected included:
- Biathlon mixed relay
- Mixed doubles curling
- Team alpine skiing
- Team bobsled and skeleton
- Team luge
- Women's ski jumping
Opposition
There is a significant opposition to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, which have been expressed by hundreds of activists and politicians, including Lower Mainland Mayors Derek Corrigan and Richard Walton. Most of the public Olympic events held to date in Vancouver have been highly attended by protesters, if not almost entirely by protesters. Non-violent environmental protests at Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver have resulted in arrests of two local women, Betty Krawczyk and Harriet Nahanee.
There are several reasons for the opposition, which are reflected in the documentary film Five Ring Circus, (which screened in Vancouver, but is still in progress). These issues include:
- Large expense to taxpayers
- Destruction of the natural environment (such as Eagleridge Bluff)
- Loss of affordable housing for low income tenants, and large increase of homelessness in the Lower Mainland
There have been instances recently where protesters circled the building where VANOC members were having a meeting. The Anti-Poverty Committee has promised that they would target VANOC officials in their homes and businesses, and on 22 May, "evicted" the British Columbia Cabinet and VANOC officials by trashing their offices in downtown Vancouver.
