The 2010 Olympic Winter Games took place in Vancouver from 12 to 28
February 2010. The Paralympic Games will run from
March 12 to 21 March 2010.
How the City of Vancouver became involved
In February 1998, a group of local citizens formed the Olympic
Bid Society, and approached Vancouver City Council for support of a
Vancouver/Whistler bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Council approved a
recommendation to support the concept in principle.
To address concerns about potential costs and liabilities involved in hosting
the Games, the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia entered
into the Participation Agreement in November 1998. The Participation Agreement
provides the City of Vancouver with an indemnity for any costs, losses, and
liabilities related to the bid and the Winter Olympics other than those agreed
upon by the City. On the basis of the Participation Agreement, the City agreed
to act as host city and proceed with the bid.
In December 1998, the Vancouver bid was selected by the Canadian Olympic
Association (now the Canadian Olympic Committee) to represent Canada in the
international bidding competition to host the 2010 Games. The City, the COA and
the bid group signed the Bid City Agreement. The Bid City Agreement authorized
the City to present the bid to the International Olympic Committee, and set out
the roles and responsibilities of the parties in presenting the Bid including:
community consultation, intellectual property matters (trademarks and
copyright), marketing, expenses, the signing of the IOC Host City Agreement,
federal and provincial assistance and incorporation and operation of the
Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. The terms of the Bid City Agreement
require the City to work with the COC to ensure that all aspects of the bid are
developed, managed and presented in the best possible manner and in compliance
with the provisions of the Olympic Charter and the directions issued by the IOC
to candidate cities.
In June 1999, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation,
was incorporated to organize and develop plans to win the right to host the
Games.
Now that Vancouver has been selected to host the 2010 Winter Games, a new
company will be incorporated as the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG)
to plan and present the Games.
The venues
Ice hockey, figure skating, curling and short track speed
skating, along with the opening and closing ceremonies, will take place in the
City of Vancouver. The University of British Columbia will also host some hockey
events. Simon Fraser University will host the speed skating events, and Cypress
Mountain will hold snowboarding and freestyle skiing. For Whistler, the events
proposed are alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, Nordic combined, ski
jumping, bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton, as well as all the Paralympic events.
Athletes' villages and media centers will be built at both locations. The
Vancouver organizers estimate that the Games will be attended by some 5,000
athletes and Olympic officials, 10,000 media representatives, 14,000 volunteers
and up to 2.3 million spectators.
Initial cost of Vancouver’s bid
The Bid Corporation's budget for the bid was Can$34 million. Of
the $34 million budget, the Government of Canada and the Province of British
Columbia have each provided $9.1 million in financing. Government and public
corporations financed 54 per cent of the Bid, and private companies provided 46
per cent of the funding. Corporate and other supporters included: Telus, Molson,
Canadian Tourism Commission, BC Lottery Corporation, CIBC, ICBC, BC Association
of Broadcasters, National Post, The Province; VanNet Newspapers, Vancouver Sun,
and Viacom Outdoor. The City of Vancouver provided $300,000 to the Bid
Corporation's Bid budget in 2000. In July 2002, Vancouver City Council approved
another Can $450,000 in funding from the City's contingency reserve to support
the City's participation in the Bid process to be used for security planning,
cultural initiatives, and staffing and administration.
Estimated cost of hosting the Games
The budget for hosting the Games is broken down into two
categories: the capital infrastructure budget and the Games operating budget.
The capital infrastructure budget covers the construction of new venues and the
renovation of existing facilities. The federal and provincial governments would
equally fund the Can$620 million (=US $ 402.5 million) budget.
The estimated total operating budget for hosting the Games is Can$1.3 billion
(US$844 million), which is expected to be funded by television revenues,
corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, licenses and other private contributions.
Government funding is not intended for the operating budget.
Can $86 million (US $55.7 million) of the OCOG's capital budget (funded by the
provincial and federal governments) would be spent on upgrading or constructing
City-owned facilities.
The City of Vancouver has committed itself to:
• renovating an existing community ice arena to provide an
international-size hockey arena (ice sheet only) at an estimated cost of $5
million, $2.5 million of which would be contributed by the OCOG.
• developing the permanent facilities (to be sold or rented
after the Games) for the Vancouver athletes' village. The estimated Can$167
million ($108 million US) cost would be funded from land sales, and the $30
million contribution by senior governments.
In keeping with the multi-party agreement, Vancouver will also:
• provide those services that would normally be provided by the
City within its jurisdiction and its normal budget.
• provide a level of police service that would organize
schedules to accommodate the maximum allowable deployment to the Games under the
City's normal budget.
• forgo any revenue lost by the City due to activities approved
by the City relating to the Games, including rent for City-owned venues, and
parking revenues for City parking lots and streets.
The Province of British Columbia will be responsible for any cost overruns from
the Games. The Province has provided a written guarantee to this effect to the
IOC. The Province has also provided an indemnity and release to the City of
Vancouver in the form of the Participation Agreement.
An Inukshuk is the logo for the 2010 Olympics. The
Inukshuk means "likeness of a person". They were used to mark trails,
indicate caches of food, locate nearby settlements and good paces to hunt or
fish. The rock Inukshuk embodies the spirit and persistence of the Inuit
who live and flourish in one of the world's harshest environments.
Inukshuks represent strength, leadership and motivation.