The 2010 Winter Olympics, known formally as the XXI Olympic Winter Games, will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Several venues will also be featured in the resort community of Whistler. The games, the first in North America since Salt Lake City hosted the games in 2002, is expected to be officially opened by either the Governor General of Canada on behalf of the Monarch of Canada, or by the Monarch in person, on February 12 and will be declared closed on February 28 by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge.

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada. Previously, it was home to the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. The village of Whistler bid for the games before and failed to win.

Bidding

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 were subjected to a referendum accepting the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents accepted the challenge. Vancouver faced two other finalists shortlisted that same February: Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Although Bern, Switzerland 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 honor that had been dropped by the International Olympic Committee: Andorra la Vella, Andorra; Harbin, China; Jaca, Spain; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There were two rounds of voting at the convention that decided which city would host the games. On the first round, Pyeongchang received 51 votes while Vancouver received 40 votes. Salzburg was eliminated carrying only 16 votes. On the second round of voting Pyeongchang garnered 53 votes but Vancouver carried the votes originally cast for Salzburg and garnered 56 votes, winning the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics [2].

Construction

The initial challenge Vancouver faced in winning the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics was fundraising for construction of venues. The committee charged with planning the games received commitments of investment by the federal and provincial governments as well as 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.

As of 2004, the cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics is estimated to be in the range of C$1.4 billion. C$620 million is the approximate cost to construct venues throughout Vancouver and Whistler, C$200 million is expected to be spent for security, and C$600 million will be used to refit 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. Vancouver and Whistler will maintain an operating budget of about C$2 billion from the provincial and federal governments.

Events

Fifteen winter sports events were announced as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Eight events categorized as Ice Sports were included: bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, speed skating short track, curling. Three sports were categorized as Alpine, Skiing and Snowboarding events: alpine, freestyle and snowboarding. Four sports categorized as Nordic Events were included: biathlon, cross country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined.

See also

• 2010 Winter Paralympics
• 2010 in Canada
• Winter Olympics
• Olympics

External links

• Official Website of the 2010 Winter Olympics
• Daily Vancouver 2010 Coverage

• Official Website of Tourism Whistler