Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics - results & video highlights Official Reports arrow The venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games stretched over a 120-kilometre zone from Richmond, through downtown Vancouver and north to the mountain resort of Whistler. Drawing on both new and existing facilities, VANOC’s goal was to create spectacular theatres for sport that provide top conditions for athletes and a welcome place for spectators to experience the excitement of competition. Vancouver Venues Overview The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games events in Vancouver included curling, figure skating, ice hockey, sledge hockey, short-track speed skating and wheelchair curling. Speed skating took place in Richmond, while the snowboard and freestyle skiing events were hosted at Cypress Mountain in the District of West Vancouver. The Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, were staged indoors at BC Place in Vancouver city centre.

Whistler Venue Overview For the 2010 Winter Games, Whistler hosted Olympic and Paralympic Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and biathlon, as well as Olympic Nordic combined, ski jumping, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. Olympic and Paralympic Villages and media facilities were located in Vancouver and Whistler. Quick Facts about the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games 17 days of Olympic Games events 2566 athletes 10,000 media representatives 3 billion television viewers worldwide The city of Vancouver was elected host city of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010 at the 115th IOC Session in Prague on 2 July 2003. Eight cities applied to host the Games: Andorra la Vella (Andorra), Bern (Switzerland), Harbin (China), Jaca (Spain), PyeongChang (Republic of Korea), Salzburg (Austria), Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Vancouver (Canada).

The following cities were accepted as Candidate Cities to host the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board on 28 August 2002 (in the order of drawing of lots): Vancouver (Canada) PyeongChang (Republic of Korea) Bern (Switzerland) On 27 September 2002, the city of Bern withdrew its candidature to host the XXI Olympic Winter Games. 115th IOC Session, 2 July 2003, Prague: Election of the Host City of the XXI Olympic Winter Games: Rounds 40 56 On the obverse, the Olympic rings marked in relief accompanied by Aboriginal designs taken from the orca work produced by laser and giving the impression of additional texture. On the reverse, the official name of the Games in English and French, the two official languages of Canada and the Olympic Movement. Also present are the 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem and the name of the sport and event concerned. The undulating shape of the medals was devised by Omer Arbel, a Canadian industrial designer and architect originally from Vancouver.

This distinctive look requires the medal to be struck nine times as part of the 30-step fabrication process. The inspiration for these medals came from a large artwork by Corrine Hunt, a Vancouver-based artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage. Each of the medals has a hand-cropped section of the artwork, thus making each medal one of a kind. More info Quatchi and Miga The Vancouver Games mascots were creatures inspired by the fauna and tales of the First Nations on the West Coast of Canada. Number of torchbearers: around 12 000 in Canada and 560 in Greece Total distance: around 45 000 km in Canada and 2 180 in Greece Countries crossed: Greece, Canada More info The official report of Vancouver 2010 has a unique format: an official commemorative book published by Wiley, “With glowing hearts” and a multimedia set, “Post-Games report guide: the official report of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games”. This set contains an explanatory brochure, two CD-ROMs containing the official results and texts, as well as a commemorative film on DVD, “The Canada that now is”.

The two volumes are fully bilingual – French and English. Vancouver 2010 Vancouver 2010 Vancouver 2010 Vancouver 2010 legacy lives on More than two years after it hosted the 2010 Olympic Winter Games , Vancouver is still benefitting from being an Olympic city thanks to the legacy plans that were put in place by the Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee (VANOC), local stakeholders, and with the support of the IOC . From new sporting venues and infrastructure improvements to environmental and economic benefits, the city used the Winter Games as a catalyst to create a number of lasting legacies. Perhaps the most evident is the sporting legacy that the Games provided. As well as the construction of new facilities – such as the Richmond Olympic Oval – Vancouver 2010 also helped get more young people involved in sport, thanks, in part, to the successful performance of the Canadian Olympic team . “After the Games, kids were on their way to skating rinks the next day and signing up for curling and skiing and ski jumping , and this is what the Olympics can do,” said John Furlong, VANOC CEO, in an interview in February 2011.

“Ultimately you hope that, as a result of the Games, every child will get a chance to experience sports .” Getty Richmond mayor hails legacies of Vancouver 2010 The mayor of Richmond, which hosted the long-track speed skating events during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, has highlighted the long-term legacies that the Games can create in an Olympic host city. In particular, Mayor Malcolm Brodie highlighted the benefits that Richmond has enjoyed as a result of the 2010 Winter Games , such as the Richmond Olympic Oval, which was built especially for the long-track speed skating events and has since become a highly successful community facility that includes an indoor track, two ice rinks, badminton courts, volleyball courts and a 23,000-square-foot fitness centre. Find out more about Richmond's Olympic legacies Getty When it undertook the 2010 Olympic Oval project, the City of Richmond, Vancouver, summarised its Olympic project mission: “To use the Olympic opportunity as a catalyst to transform our city to international stature, and create new social and economic capital that significantly enriches Richmond’s quality of life.

We will do this by blending the spirit of Olympism with inspired leadership, and seamlessly combining a world class site, a sport and wellness agenda and innovative community planning to create the premier legacy of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.” From the outset, The City of Richmond viewed the Olympic project from the perspective of what such a facility could contribute to Richmond’s long-term development in the post-Games period. The City’s central goal was to use the project to accelerate its vision to transform its city centre into an even more dynamic urban core that embraced its waterfront connection by creating a new mixed-use residential precinct on the banks of the Fraser River, anchored by the iconic Oval construction. Post-Games, the Richmond Olympic Oval was designed to meet the city’s long-term needs for sports, recreation and wellness facilities, as well as to provide a boost to the community’s business development and add to its inventory of cultural amenities. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from the Richmond Olympic Oval experience about community planning, construction project management, environmental design, economic sustainability and community engagement surrounding a Games venue, which should be useful for any Olympic host or venue city.

Getty Three thousand stanchions, 1,200 media positions, 1,000 signage pylons, 100 benches, 12 medal presentation podiums, one Nordic finish line structure, wheelchair ramps, sports racks, on-hill warming huts, fencing, street barricades, picnic tables, judges’ chairs, commentator positions, luge sled box, bobsled podium, rifle lock-ups, sled hockey shelves, mascot stands. These are the kinds of custom-manufactured, visually prominent wooden items that every Winter Games requires in order to bring the venues to life and to complete the athlete and spectator experience. Normally the Games Organising Committee works with a fabrication facility that is overseen by its Overlay Department to produce and supply these items.

What is unique in the case of the Vancouver Games is that over 11,000 of these items were manufactured (at competitive prices and industry standards of quality) in a fabrication facility that was established by the Organising Committee in partnership with its National Partner, RONA, as part of a programme which included a 30-week community-based training course providing carpentry skills training and employment experience to individuals who, because of various life challenges, had not yet had success in the workforce. It also co-hosted a six-week community-based construction readiness programme for people with barriers to employment. These two programmes, created through multi-party collaboration, allowed the RONA Vancouver 2010 Fabrication Shop (“RONA Fab Shop”) to achieve its most important output, providing the “tools of life” to more than 200 predominantly young adults. In this way, VANOC’s operational needs created legacies of improved economic and social conditions for disadvantaged groups as a result of this Olympic collaboration.

IOC During the planning and preparations for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, a major mass transit infrastructure project was undertaken to establish 19.5 kilometres of new advanced light rapid transit (ALRT) service between downtown Vancouver, Vancouver International Airport and the City of Richmond. The City of Richmond is a municipality within Metro Vancouver and was a venue host city for long-track speed skating events at the Richmond Olympic Oval. This new ALRT link was planned as an important addition to the Metro Vancouver transport infrastructure operated by Translink, the regional transport authority. The infrastructure project was developed by senior governments and transportation agencies through a public-private partnership. The new transit service, now called the Canada Line, began operations in August 2009, six months in advance of the 2010 Winter Games, and was a critical component of delivering an efficient, reliable, safe and sustainable transport programme for the Games.

Host City of the 2010 Winter Games | City of Vancouver Host City of the 2010 Winter Games Media centre Host City of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games In February and March of 2010, Vancouver took its place on the world’s stage by hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Games were an rare opportunity for Vancouver to create an amazing and memorable experience for locals, visitors, and athletes. The lasting legacy of the 2010 Winter Games The City continues to see an excellent return on investments made in the 2010 Winter Games, from sustainable community centres to public art, community involvement, and transportation infrastructure. Artwork that will live on in the city As part of the legacy component of the Games, the City commissioned a collection of light-based artworks and sculptural installations to animate Games venues and locations around the city. All of the works, but one, are permanent. A leading sustainable community The Olympic Village housed 2,800 athletes and officials during the Games. Now a residential community, it is one of the greenest communities in the world, making Vancouver a leader in sustainable development.

Award-winning recreation facilities The facilities used for the Games (Creekside and Hillcrest community centres, as well as the Killarney and Trout Lake rinks) were planned as a community recreation legacy: budgeted, designed, constructed, and converted with the specific post-Games use in mind. A community of volunteers Learn how you can volunteer for public events, emergencies, and disasters with the Vancouver Volunteer Corps. Did you know? Vancouver 2010 to Be Warmest Winter Olympics Yet Vancouver 2010 to Be Warmest Winter Olympics Yet But the balmy temps may be a boon to Vancouver 2010 athletes, experts say. View Images A man carries his skis as snow melts at the Whistler ski area, site of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, on February 8, 2010. Photograph by Fabrice Coffrini, AFP, Getty Images The Vancouver 2010 games will be the warmest Winter Olympics yet, at least within city limits, experts say. And that may actually be good news for Olympians.

Related Content 6 Pictures Highlight Climber Dean Potter's Extreme Moments Already the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver in February 2010 is going to be even balmier than usual, experts say. The Pacific Northwest Canadian city ( Vancouver map )—which will host the games from today through February 28, 2010—just experienced its warmest January since record keeping began in 1937. Temperatures averaged 44.8 degrees Fahrenheit (7.1 degrees Celsius), considerably warmer than the average of 37.9 degrees Fahrenheit (3.3 degrees Celsius). Average February temperatures for Winter Olympic host cities are typically below freezing. (Related: Vancouver must-dos for travelers .) At first glance the culprit behind the city’s balmy winter weather appears to be the current El Niño, a game changer in worldwide weather patterns that occurs every two to seven years. During an El Niño event—such as the current one, which began in summer 2009—the Pacific Ocean warms up near equatorial South America and disrupts large-scale atmospheric circulation.

"Once El Niño starts, Vancouver typically gets warmer and slightly drier weather," said William Hsieh, an atmospheric scientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. El Niño usually peaks in the tropical Pacific Ocean in December and January, but it takes about a month for El Niño waters to travel north to Vancouver's latitude. "So our peak El Niño effect is around February,” he said—just in time for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Even so, Hsieh said, "This is not a particularly big El Niño, whereas it's a record [warm] January." Hsieh said. The discrepancy may in part be explained by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (or PDO) an apparent North Pacific temperature cycle. Since about 1900 the PDO has resulted in 20 or 30 years of cooler temperatures followed by 20 or 30 years of warmer temperatures for Vancouver and other western North American cities. In recent years, though, the PDO has been fairly erratic, with fairly short cool and warm periods. The phenomenon had a cooling effect on Vancouver starting around late 2007, but last summer that effect disappeared quite rapidly.

"It sort of appeared to have faded and no one knows why," Hsieh said. And just as the PDO's cooling effect sputtered, in stepped El Niño. "That really stacked the deck against us," he said. But the warmer weather for the Vancouver 2010 games may not put a damper on the 2,000-plus Olympic athletes' quests for gold—snowfall has been plentiful at some Olympic ski venues, and the warmth may actually improve performance, experts say. Vancouver 2010 Snow: Good News, Bad News Outdoor events for the Vancouver 2010 games will take place at several venues around Vancouver and Whistler Blackcomb, an alpine resort town about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Vancouver. (Test your Vancouver knowledge .) Thanks to higher altitudes and mountainous surroundings, Whistler Blackcomb and Callaghan Valley—the main outdoor venues for the games—haven't been as affected by El Niño, and have seen good snowfall rates. In fact Whistler Blackcomb has enjoyed record snowfall in winter 2009-2010, boasting 32 feet (9.9 meters) of the white stuff.

Not so at Cypress Mountain on Vancouver's north shore, which will host the 2010 Olympics' snowboard and freestyle skiing events. Cypress usually sees about 98 inches (250 centimeters) of snow during February and March, but this winter's warmer coastal temperatures have plagued the resort with a snow drought. To compensate, the resort is trucking in natural snow from a park just shy of the Canadian Rockies , since Vancouver is so warm right now that on-site snow machines can't meet the demand alone. Warm Temps and Vancouver 2010 Venues, Gear To cope with the expected warmer, wetter snow—which means more friction, and therefore slower speeds—skiers and snowboarders athletes will turn to specially formulated ski waxes and finishes. At the Vancouver 2010 games, for example, the home team will be trying out a brand-new, top-secret, water-repellent base. Christo Stamboulides, a chemical engineer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, found a chemical additive that—when mixed with the plastic base of a snowboard or ski during manufacturing—makes the gear perform better in warm and wet snow.

So far the base is available only to Canadian Olympians and so hasn't been widely tested, but, Stamboulides said, "I know that for our athletes this is the best they have used, and they're very happy with it." Regardless of the difficulties in creating the perfect Olympic conditions for Vancouver 2010, the risk—and charm—of the games is dealing with the uncertainty of competing outdoors, said Carl Foster , director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. In events such as alpine skiing or snowboarding, one competition may last two to three hours—enough time for the conditions of the course to change dramatically. "The big issue is competition fairness and how consistent conditions stay during the day," Foster said. For example, during the speed skating competition at the Albertville Winter Olympics in 1992, conditions on the race track shifted as the sun moved along the rink. The incident prompted speed skating competitions to be brought indoors at future Olympics, where temperature can be more closely controlled. Improved Performance at Vancouver 2010?

In general, the less exposure to extreme cold, the better physical performance you can expect from an athlete, said Matt White, an environmental physiologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. "What's happening in the cold is their muscle strength or performance decreases dramatically as [the muscle] cools," White said. Winter Olympics on slippery slope after Vancouver crackdown on homeless | World news | The Guardian Winter Olympics on slippery slope after Vancouver crackdown on homeless Canada's £3.5bn 2010 winter games have triggered a cruel cleanup, critics claim View of Vancouver from top of Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The city is due tio host the 2010 Winter games. Photograph: Chris Cheadle/Getty Images/All Canada Photos Lucy Hyslop Wednesday 3 February 2010 16.20 EST First published on Wednesday 3 February 2010 16.20 EST Close This article is 6 years old Oversized neon Olympic rings illuminate Vancouver harbour while a giant mural of a snowboarder mid-trick welcomes visitors to the airport. In the city centre, a sleek steel-and-glass Olympic clock is counting down to next month's winter games.

But for 51-year-old Wayne, a homeless drug addict, looking up at the snowcapped mountains where the downhill competition runs will be fills him with dread. "We're all going to be cleared out of here before the Olympics," he said, wrapped in a flimsy sleeping bag and clutching a bag of bottles plucked from street bins which he will exchange for money. "The clean-up will happen – they all want to hide the city's black eye, right?" That black eye is the Downtown Eastside (DTES), one of the most highly visible and divisive parts of the Canadian city's involvement with the Olympics. The area is both ghetto and historic community. It boasts a high concentration of single-room accommodation and cardboard-and-shopping-trolley "homes" for Wayne and many of the region's other 2,660 homeless people. With Canada's poorest postcode sitting within a city regularly ranked as the most livable in the world, the city's leaders know Vancouver is preparing for a barrage of scrutiny: yards down the street, the British Columbia provincial government has even set up an information centre, DTES Connect, to try to showcase its work in the area to the world's media.

Ever since the games were awarded to Vancouver, population 611,000, and the nearby resort of Whistler in 2003, resistance has focused on housing. Ceremonies have been disrupted, and officials of the Vancouver games organising committee (Vanoc) have been threatened with symbolical "evictions" from their homes by Anti-Poverty Committee protesters. Before Christmas, more than 100 campaigners blocked rush-hour traffic, shouting and waving banners saying "Don't kidnap the homeless for the Olympics". The anxiety stems from a recent provincial government law empowering the police to force rough sleepers into shelters in extreme weather, a move which homeless groups appear to view as an Orwellian effort at civic image control. Police officers have been told to use only "non-forceful touching" in implementing the Assistance to Shelter Act, but that has not stopped critics calling it the Olympic Kidnapping Act. "Word on the street holds that this is a way to clean-up during the Olympics," said Tracey Axelsson, project manager for Home for the Games, a non-profit organisation for residents to host visitors for the Olympics and split the rental income with homeless groups.

David Eby, the executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, said: "I don't feel that there is any question among most people who have been following the homeless issue in Vancouver that this act is targeted at giving police a tool to remove homeless people from high-visibility tourist areas." Although proposed bylaws against sitting or lying on the pavement were rejected, he thought there would be further attempts to displace the homeless. For three decades, the port has been a magnet for sex workers driven out of wealthier neighbourhoods, addicts and people released from mental wards shut in the 1990s. Methamphetamine and crack-cocaine users shoot up on the street yards from a police station. A relatively moderate climate and the concentration of needle exchange, safe injection sites and sex worker drop-in centres are further draws. Where Vancouverites are most divided is whether there is any connection between spending more than £3.5bn on the Olympics and the city's homelessness problem: according to the most recent official homeless count, numbers soared 137% between 2002 and 2008.

"There are those who argue," Eby said, "that we shouldn't be spending billions on a two-week party until we've dealt with the fact that people are freezing and starving in our streets." Chris Shaw is a professor of ophthalmology at the University of British Columbia, and a spokesman for 2010 Games Watch, part of the Olympic Resistance Network. He thinks the benefits of the games are nothing more than empty promises. "There are just greater attempts to 'solve' the problem with more policing and expelling the homeless," he says. All the main partners involved in the games deny this, pointing instead to the planned affordable housing in the athletes' village, residents being hired to collect rubbish for recycling during the games, and multi- million-dollar revitalisation plans for the area. "We are not going to try to 'cleanse' our streets," Kerry Jang, a local councillor, said. "We're investing in the community, and we feel very strongly that things are getting better. But it's not going to happen overnight." Some homeless groups have seen the games as a catalyst for action.

"I can't say for sure if the same level of government support towards reducing homelessness would have occurred without the Olympics," said Michelle Clausius of Covenant House, a group that supports homeless youngsters, "but I know that the issue is much more in the spotlight than it was prior to the awarding of the games." As for Wayne, after six years of sleeping rough he has his own opinion on the long-term solution: "I despise the Olympics, but you know what the answer is? Just pull down the whole of the Downtown Eastside, with its bedbugs and cockroaches. Just destroy it all." Geography of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada By Amanda Briney Updated July 21, 2016. Vancouver is the largest city in the Canadian province of British Columbia and is the third largest in Canada . As of 2006, Vancouver's population was 578,000 but its Census Metropolitan Area surpassed two million. Vancouver's residents (like those in many large Canadian cities) are ethnically diverse and over 50% are not native English speakers.

The City of Vancouver is located on the British Columbia's west coast, adjacent to the Strait of Georgia and across that waterway from Vancouver Island . It is also north of the Fraser River and lies mostly on the western part of the Burrard Peninsula. The city of Vancouver is well-known as one of the world's most " livable cities " but it is also one of the most expensive in Canada and North America. Vancouver has also hosted many international events and most recently, it has gained worldwide attention because it and nearby Whistler hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games . The following is a list of the most important things to know about Vancouver, British Columbia: continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States The City of Vancouver is named after George Vancouver- a British captain who explored Burrard Inlet in 1792. Vancouver is one of Canada's youngest cities and the first European settlement was not until 1862 when McLeery's Farm was established on the Fraser River. It is believed, however, that aboriginal people lived in the Vancouver region from at least 8,000-10,000 years ago.

Vancouver officially incorporated on April 6, 1886, after Canada's first transcontinental railroad reached the region. Shortly thereafter, the nearly the entire city was destroyed when the Great Vancouver Fire broke out on June 13, 1886. The city quickly rebuilt though and by 1911, it had a population of 100,000. Today, Vancouver is one of the most densely populated cities in North America after New York City and San Francisco, California with around 13,817 people per square mile (5,335 people per sq km) as of 2006. This is a direct result of urban planning focused on high-rise residential and mixed-use development as opposed to urban sprawl. Vancouver's urban planning practice originated in the late 1950s and is known in the planning world as Vancouverism . Because of Vancouverism and a lack of large amounts of urban sprawl as seen in other large North American cities, Vancouver has been able to maintain a large population and also a large amount of open space.

Within this open land is Stanley Park , one of the largest urban parks in North America at around 1,001 acres (405 hectares). Vancouver's climate is considered oceanic or marine west coast and its summer months are dry. The average July high temperature is 71°F (21°C). Winters in Vancouver are usually rainy and the average low temperature in January is 33°F (0.5°C). The City of Vancouver has a total area of 44 square miles (114 sq km) and consists of both flat and hilly terrain. The North Shore Mountains are located near the city and dominate much of its cityscape, but on clear days, Mount Baker in Washington, Vancouver Island, and Bowen Island to the northeast can all be seen. In the early days of its growth, Vancouver's economy was based around logging and sawmills which were established beginning in 1867. Although forestry is still Vancouver's largest industry today, the city is also home to the Port Metro Vancouver, which is the fourth largest port based on tonnage in North America. Vancouver's second largest industry is tourism because it is a well-known urban center worldwide.

Vancouver is nicknamed Hollywood North because it is the third largest film production center in North America following Los Angeles and New York City. The Vancouver International Film Festival takes place annually each September. Music and visual arts are also common in the city. Vancouver also has another nickname of "city of neighborhoods" as much of it is divided into different and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. English, Scottish, and Irish people were Vancouver's largest ethnic groups in the past, but today, there is a large Chinese-speaking community in the city. Little Italy, Greektown, Japantown and the Punjabi Market are other ethnic neighborhoods in Vancouver. To learn more about Vancouver, visit the city's official website . Reference City Mayors: 2010 Winter Olympics City Mayors reports news from towns and cities around the world. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa | Events | Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa are competing for the annual World Mayor Award. More City Mayors ranks the world’s largest as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries.

More City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world and questions them about their achievements, policies and aims. More City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide. More City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries.

More City Mayors examines the importance of urban tourism to city economies. More City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More City Mayors invites readers to write short stories about people in cities around the world. More City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities. More City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More The 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will take place in Vancouver from 12 to 28 February 2010. The Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities will run from 5 to 14 March 2010.

How the City of Vancouver became involved In February 1998, a group of local citizens formed the Olympic Bid Society, and approached Vancouver City Council for support of a Vancouver/Whistler bid for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Council approved a recommendation to support the concept in principle. To address concerns about potential costs and liabilities involved in hosting the Games, the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia entered into the Participation Agreement in November 1998. The Participation Agreement provides the City of Vancouver with an indemnity for any costs, losses, and liabilities related to the bid and the Winter Olympics other than those agreed upon by the City. On the basis of the Participation Agreement, the City agreed to act as host city and proceed with the bid. In December 1998, the Vancouver bid was selected by the Canadian Olympic Association (now the Canadian Olympic Committee) to represent Canada in the international bidding competition to host the 2010 Games. The City, the COA and the bid group signed the Bid City Agreement.

The Bid City Agreement authorized the City to present the bid to the International Olympic Committee, and set out the roles and responsibilities of the parties in presenting the Bid including: community consultation, intellectual property matters (trademarks and copyright), marketing, expenses, the signing of the IOC Host City Agreement, federal and provincial assistance and incorporation and operation of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. The terms of the Bid City Agreement require the City to work with the COC to ensure that all aspects of the bid are developed, managed and presented in the best possible manner and in compliance with the provisions of the Olympic Charter and the directions issued by the IOC to candidate cities. In June 1999, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation, was incorporated to organize and develop plans to win the right to host the Games. Now that Vancouver has been selected to host the 2010 Winter Games, a new company will be incorporated as the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) to plan and present the Games. The venues Ice hockey, figure skating, curling and short track speed skating, along with the opening and closing ceremonies, will take place in the City of Vancouver.

The University of British Columbia will also host some hockey events. Simon Fraser University will host the speed skating events, and Cypress Mountain will hold snowboarding and freestyle skiing. For Whistler, the events proposed are alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton, as well as all the Paralympic events. Athletes' villages and media centres will be built at both locations. The Vancouver organisers estimate that the Games will be attended by some 5,000 atheletes and Olympic officials, 10,000 media representatives, 14,000 volunteers and up to 2.3 million spectators. Initial cost of Vancouvers bid The Bid Corporation's budget for the bid was Can$34 million. Of the $34 million budget, the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia have each provided $9.1 million in financing. Government and public corporations financed 54 per cent of the Bid, and private companies provided 46 per cent of the funding.

Corporate and other supporters included: Telus, Molson, Canadian Tourism Commission, BC Lottery Corporation, CIBC, ICBC, BC Association of Broadcasters, National Post, The Province; VanNet Newspapers, Vancouver Sun, and Viacom Outdoor. The City of Vancouver provided $300,000 to the Bid Corporation's Bid budget in 2000. In July 2002, Vancouver City Council approved another Can$450,000 in funding from the City's contingency reserve to support the City's participation in the Bid process to be used for security planning, cultural initiatives, and staffing and administration. Estimated cost of hosting the Games The budget for hosting the Games is broken down into two categories: the capital infrastructure budget and the Games operating budget. The capital infrastructure budget covers the construction of new venues and the renovation of existing facilities. The federal and provincial governments would equally fund the Can$620 million (=US$402.5 million) budget. The estimated total operating budget for hosting the Games is Can$1.3 billion (US$844 million), which is expected to be funded by television revenues, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, licences and other private contributions.

Government funding is not intended for the operating budget. Can$86 million (US$55.7 million) of the OCOG's capital budget (funded by the provincial and federal governments) would be spent on upgrading or constructing City-owned facilities. The City of Vancouver has committed itself to:  renovating an existing community ice arena to provide an international-size hockey arena (ice sheet only) at an estimated cost of $5 million, $2.5 million of which would be contributed by the OCOG.  developing the permanent facilities (to be sold or rented after the Games) for the Vancouver athletes' village. The estimated Can$167 million ($108 million US) cost would be funded from land sales, and the $30 million contribution by senior governments. In keeping with the multi-party agreement, Vancouver will also:  provide those services that would normally be provided by the City within its jurisdiction and its normal budget.  provide a level of police service that would organize schedules to accommodate the maximum allowable deployment to the Games under the City's normal budget.

 forgo any revenue lost by the City due to activities approved by the City relating to the Games, including rent for City-owned venues, and parking revenues for City parking lots and streets. The Province of British Columbia will be responsible for any cost overruns from the Games. The Province has provided a written guarantee to this effect to the IOC. The Province has also provided an indemnity and release to the City of Vancouver in the form of the Participation Agreement. Larry Campbell, former Mayor of Vancouver Introducing Larry Campbell, former Mayor of Vancouver Larry Campbell, who has been mayor of Vancouver since December 2002, was born in Brantford, Ontario in 1948. In his early years he worked as a steelworker in Hamilton. After moving to Vancouver in 1969, Larry Campbell worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), becoming a member of the Drug Squad in 1973. He changed careers in 1981, and established the first Vancouver District Coroner's office. In 1996, Mr Campbell was appointed British Columbia Chief Coroner, at a time when drug overdose deaths in the province rocketed to as high as 400 deaths per year.

He advocated publicly for drug use to be considered a health issue, and was instrumental in bringing the issue to national attention, leading to the development of the Four-Pillar Approach to Vancouver's drug crisis - enforcement, treatment, prevention and harm reduction. Larry retired as BC Chief Coroner in 2000, but continued to advocate on behalf of the thousands of people suffering from drug-related harm. He worked as a private consultant, and provided forensic services for both industry and government. In addition, he was a script writer for the Gemini award-winning television series Da Vinci's Inquest, which chronicles the life of a Vancouver coroner. In 2005, Larry Campbell was appointed to Canada's Senate.

Question: What city hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics?
Answer: Vancouver