Bids for the 2010 Winter Olympics
Bids for the
2010 Winter Olympics |
|
Overview · Vancouver
Pyeongchang · Salzburg · Bern
|
2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics
|
| Details |
|
| Committee |
IOC |
| Election venue |
Prague
115th IOC Session |
| Important dates |
| First bid |
February 4, 2002 |
| Second bid |
May 31, 2002 |
| Shortlist |
August 28, 2002 |
| Decision |
July 2, 2003 |
| Decision |
| Winner |
Vancouver (56 votes) |
| Runner-up |
Pyeongchang (53 votes) |
Three cities made the shortlist with their bids to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics (also known as XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games), which were awarded to Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 2, 2003. The other shortlisted cities were Pyeongchang and Salzburg. Although Bern was originally shortlisted along with Vancouver, Pyeongchang and Salzburg, a referendum held in September 2002 revealed that a majority of the citizens of Bern did not support pursuing the candidacy [1]. There were four other cities vying for the hosting honour, that had been dropped by the International Olympic Committee: Andorra la Vella, Harbin, Jaca and Sarajevo.
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. Earlier in February, Vancouver's residents voted in a referendum accepting the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents voted in favour of hosting the games. In neighboring Washington state to the south, both the state legislature and Governor Gary Locke passed a resolution in support of Vancouver's bid, and sent it to the IOC.[2]
Final round
There were two rounds of voting at the convention that decided which city would host the games. In the first round Pyeongchang received 51 votes, while Vancouver received 40 and Salzburg with only 16 votes, thus eliminating them in the first round. In the second and final round of voting, Vancouver received 56 votes to Pyeongchang's 53, which proved to be the difference in margin of victory and the closest vote for an Olympic city host since Sydney, Australia beat Beijing, China by 2 votes for the 2000 Summer Olympics.[3]
Across Canada, and especially in the province of British Columbia, celebrations broke out amidst the announcement made by IOC President Jacques Rogge, as evidenced on the CBC, by the network's chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge.[4][5] While Vancouver and the rest of British Columbia celebrated, the mood was bittersweet in Toronto which had aspirations to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. Canada's largest city has already lost bids to host the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics. The announcement came the day after Canada celebrated its 136th birthday, with Canada Day. With ice hockey being their pastime, some of the people at GM Place said that winning an Olympic Games is far greater than winning a Stanley Cup when they heard the announcement.[6][7] Wayne Gretzky made this evident in Prague, as he served as an ambassador and contributor to the games and was part of the presentation team.[8]
Candidate city which cancelled its bid
Non-selected applicant cities
Canadian selection process
In Canada, three cities expressed interest in bidding for the Games. Along with Vancouver, the eventual winner of the bid for the 2010 Games, the Canadian Olympic Association considered bids from Calgary, Alberta (host of the 1988 Winter Olympics) and Quebec City, Quebec (a candidate for the 2002 Winter Olympics). Vancouver was chosen to represent Canada. Previously, Calgary had beat Vancouver for the Canadian bid in 1988.
Notes
See also
References
External links
|
Bids for the 2010 Winter Olympics
|
|
|
|
|
| Elected city |
Vancouver
|
|
| Candidate cities |
Pyeongchang · Salzburg · Bern
|
|
| Applicant cities |
|
|