Recreation and Sport Facilities

One of our main focuses has been on building or upgrading sports facilities that will be capable of providing community benefits long after the 2010 Winter Games are over. Our venues have been designed to meet the needs of competing athletes in 2010, as well as the ongoing need for community-based recreational sport opportunities for persons both with and without a disability. VANOC also supports efforts of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee to promote sport throughout Canada.

Read our summary of Sustainability Attributes of Venues, Villages and Facilities and Venues and Villages: Environmental Assessment, Development Plans and Legacies.

Legacy operation of the three major sporting venues being constructed for the 2010 Winter Games — the Richmond Oval, The Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Olympic Park — is also supported by a Games Operating Trust (GOT). The GOT was established in 2003 by our two senior government partners, the Province of British Columbia and the Government of Canada, to support ongoing operating and capital maintenance costs of these unique facilities. The GOT will also be a source of funding for the continued development of high-performance sport at the legacy facilities and potentially throughout Canada.

The GOT was originally endowed with $110 million — $55 million each from the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia. As of March 31, 2007, the GOT had grown to $133.6 million.