2010 Winter Olympics bids

Three cities made the shortlist with their bids to host the 2010 Winter Olympics (formally known as XXI Olympic 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 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 neighbouring 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.

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 votes. Salzburg was eliminated carrying only 16 votes. In 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

2010 Host City Election — ballot bidding results
City	Country (NOC)	Round 1	Round 2
Vancouver, British Columbia		40	56
PyeongChang		51	53
Salzburg		16	—

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. 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.

Candidate city which cancelled its bid

• Bern, Switzerland

Non selected applicant cities

• Andorra la Vella, Andorra
• Harbin, People's Republic of China
• Jaca, Spain
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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. Ironically, Calgary beat out Vancouver for the Canadian bid in 1988.

Joke bid

• Smiggin Holes, Australia: During their coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Australian comedians Roy & HG launched a campaign for the 2010 games at the little-known, tiny Australian ski resort of Smiggin Holes, even going so far as to produce a promotional video, jingle and directly raising the issue with IOC President Jacques Rogge.

Notes

• Whistler, British Columbia, where some of the Vancouver 2010 events are to be held, was previously asked to host the 1976 Winter Olympics after Denver, Colorado, the original host city, declined to host the Games due to cost concerns. Whistler, which had previously placed a bid on the 1976 Games, declined the opportunity. The 1976 Games were eventually passed onto Innsbruck, Austria.

References

External links

• 2010 Olympic bid