Vancouver 2010 Stays Focused on Game Plan

The Organizing Committee for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) responded today to the claims of anti-Games activists by re-affirming its commitment to fiscal responsibility and environmental, social and economic sustainability in planning, building and staging the 2010 Games in Vancouver and Whistler.

“We accept that there will always be critics of our project; we would only hope that criticism will be constructive and truthful rather than political and destructive in nature,” said John Furlong, VANOC Chief Executive Officer. “We owe it to the people of British Columbia and Canada to stay focused on organizing the best Games possible. We will not allow ourselves or this project to be undermined by naysayers who never have and likely never will support the Games.”

“That said,” he continued, “we are very proud of the programs we have in place to ensure accountability to the taxpayers of B.C. and Canada, and to achieve one of the most environmentally and socially responsible Games in Olympic and Paralympic history. We have also promised to deliver our venue program for less than the $580 million capital budget and to finish the venues well ahead of the Games. This will provide Canadian athletes with the maximum training advantage and will help ensure a first place finish for Canada in 2010. We are on schedule to deliver on both of these commitments.”

VANOC continues to deliver upon commitments in key areas where Canadians want and deserve a high degree of accountability:

On sustainability

VANOC Vice President of Sustainability, Linda Coady, is developing a comprehensive program to achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability for the 2010 Games. VANOC will be issuing its first annual sustainability report in the first quarter of 2007. The report will provide a detailed review of VANOC’s performance on the full range of its sustainability commitments.

Highlights include:

• The Whistler Sliding Centre site that has been designed to minimize the footprint on the landscape. Venue buildings at this and other sites have been designed to optimize energy performance and reduce energy demand. All waste wood from site clearing at Whistler was chipped and composted for re-use.
  
• Two million dollars from Bell’s Olympic sponsorship that has been committed to create economic opportunities for inner-city communities.
  
• Contracts awarded to inner-city businesses, which include Mills Basics, Cook Studio and United We Can.

On accountability and transparency:

VANOC has committed to the same level of financial accountability as a publicly traded company and issues quarterly financial reports and audited annual financial reports. The first quarterly report was issued on June 14th 2006, and in accordance with general accounting reporting practices the next quarterly report will be issued on October 25th.

VANOC’s primary areas of responsibility and accountability are as follows: 

• building the Games venues on time and on budget within its $580 million capital budget provided by government partners;
• raising the Games operating funds in the private sector through sponsorships, ticket sales and television broadcast revenues; and
• staging a successful Games that leave a legacy for sport and the community for generations to come.

On security:

The Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit (VISU-2010), led by the RCMP, holds the responsibility for planning and executing Games security. The goal is to stage Games in 2010 that offer the absolute safety and security of all participants. The cost to provide Games time security was estimated at $175 million in the 2002 Games bid. The final security budget will ultimately reflect the level of security required at Games time and the measures necessary to ensure a safe and secure environment.

On to the success of other Games:

The most relevant comparison to the 2010 Games are past Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and particularly those held in North America, including Lake Placid (1980), Calgary (1988) and Salt Lake (2002).

The only other Canadian Winter Olympic Games (Calgary 1988), contributed more than $1.4 billion to the Canadian economy in the lead up to the Games during the 1980s. Positive economic impacts were associated with capital facilities, enhanced business, tourism and sports opportunities, and extra employment/household income.

In the end, the 1988 Olympic Winter Games recorded a profit that fuelled an endowment fund of more than $60 million that is now worth $170 million. (*Source: Final Report of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games; VANOC Impact of North American Winter Games on Host Communities Study). Among other legacies, the 1988 Olympic Winter Games left a wealth of recreational and high performance sport infrastructure that was a major contributing factor to Canada’s 24 medals at the Torino 2006 Games.

VANOC is currently undertaking a comprehensive study into the long term economic, social, educational, tourism, employment, recreational and high performance sport benefits of hosting Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in previous North American host communities and will release the study mid-fall.

Detailed information on VANOC’s sustainability and accountability commitments, its venue construction program, its quarterly reports and the Own the Podium 2010 program to support Canadian athletes may be found at vancouver2010.com

VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010.

Media contact

VANOC Communications
mediarelations@vancouver2010.com