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2010 leader John Furlong urges Vancouver to bid for 2030 Winter Games

Feb 20, 2020 | 8:06 AM

VANCOUVER — While Vancouver celebrates the 10th anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the man who co-led the bid and headed the organizing committee wants the city to do it again in 2030.

John Furlong told the Vancouver Board of Trade in a speech Thursday he thinks the city could and should bid for the 2030 Winter Games.

The Canadian Press obtained a draft of the speech.

The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., were said to have broken even.

The cost of hosting was roughly $4 billion.

The B.C. government’s separate spending on a rail line to the airport and a convention centre completed for those games brought the total to $7.7 billion.

The host Canadian team won 26 medals including 14 gold, which at that time was a record by any country at a single Winter Olympics.

Calgary contemplated a bid for the 2026 Winter Games with the estimated cost of hosting $5.1 billion, but 56 per cent of those who voted in a 2018 plebiscite said ‘no’ to pursuing a bid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2020.

The Canadian Press