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The Bid for Vancouver 2010
The atmosphere at BC Place is electric. The stadium is filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans, many of them waving Canadian flags. The Olympic logo is flashing on the jumbotron. Is it a new world record? Has Canada just won an Olympic gold medal? No, it's something even better. It's July 2, 2003, and Canada has just won the privilege of hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The crowd goes wild! Relive the announcement.
For an athlete, winning an Olympic or Paralympic medal is an extraordinary feat, one that requires years of preparation, focus, and the support of a world-class team.
Although many Canadians don’t realize it, winning the right to host the 2010 Olympic Games required the same sort of exceptional effort from Canada’s 2010 bid team which was led by the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation and supported by the Government of Canada’s 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Federal Secretariat, the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and local First Nations.
In 2001, Toronto finished second in bidding for the right to host the 2008 Summer Games, ultimately losing to Beijing. The lessons learned from this bid process were crucial to the success of Canada's 2010 bid. Not only did Canada go on to win the right to host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, but the winning bid yielded best practices that have since been replicated around the world.
Of note, the 2010 Federal Secretariat, responsible for supporting the Government of Canada’s involvement in the bid process, signed a legally binding Multi-Party Agreement (MPA). This agreement ensured that over the seven-year life of the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic project, every area of logistical responsibility would be carefully assigned, accepted, and accounted for in the bid by all 2010 Games Partners, and aligned the efforts of customs and border services, sports associations, regional transit authorities, and dozens of other public sector organizations.
The MPA helped assure both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Canadians themselves that the 2010 Winter Games would be staged with the utmost professionalism, accountability, and vision. Although initially uncertain about the value of this innovative agreement, the IOC soon came to recognize the MPA as a vital element of Canada's successful bid. As a result, prospective host cities have followed Canada's lead and developed their own MPAs.
In this way, as in so many others, Canada continues to contribute to the International Olympic and Paralympic Movement, adding to its vital legacy, and building towards the 2010 Winter Games when, once again, Canada will welcome the world.
