The IOC Elects Vancouver as Host City of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games

The IOC Elects Vancouver as Host City of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Official IOC Press Release
www.olympic.org
02 July 2003

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today from Prague on the first day of the 115th IOC Session, that Vancouver, Canada, will be the host of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010. The announcement came at the end of a day of high excitement during which the three Candidate Cities, Vancouver (CAN), PyeongChang (KOR) and Salzburg (AUT), who had made it through to the final round from an original list of eight*, made presentations to the 119 IOC members present in Prague.

The cities' presentations were followed by a report from the Chairman of the Evaluation Commission, Gerhard Heiberg who had led his team to evaluate the three Candidate Cities. Voting then commenced, with the procedure going to two rounds - see voting results below.

Right after the announcement, the IOC President Jacques Rogge, the Chairman of the IOC Finance Commission Richard Carrion, the Mayor of Vancouver Larry Campbell, the City Manager of Vancouver Judy Rogers, the President and the Secretary General of the Canadian Olympic Committee Michael A. Chambers and Christopher H. Rudge, signed the Host City Contract.

Commenting on the day and the result, IOC President said, "The election day to choose a host city is always exciting and pretty nerve wracking. All three cities made superb presentations. But this is a competition which only has one winner. Today the winner was Vancouver and we warmly congratulate them".

After Vancouver's victory, Jack Poole, Chairman and CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation said: "One of the secrets of Canada's success was the partnership that were formed. From our government partners, First Nations, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee, together we were able to put a winning bid together. We had a fantastic team to do the job!".

"We came here to tell our story, which was one of wanting to do the best we could in every way by putting athletes and sport first and building the rest of our bid around that" added John Furlong, President and COO. "This is what we felt the IOC was looking for. We hoped and believed that this commitment to sport and athletes would get us to first place, and we are delighted that, despite strong competition from the other bid cities, this belief has become a reality. We are coming home to Canada to have a big party!"

Results:

1st Round:
PYEONGCHANG: 51 votes
VANCOUVER: 40 votes
SALZBURG: 16 votes

Final Round:
VANCOUVER: 56 votes
PYEONGCHANG: 53 votes