SHARING THE OLYMPICS?
Not likely, says Postmedia’s Vicki Hall
So Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume has initiated talks with Calgary, Vancouver and Lake Placid over the bold idea of co-hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics.
We hate to break it to you, Mayor Labeaume, but the chances of that happening are about the same as the U.S. changing the constitution to allow Barack Obama to serve another four-year term.
The notion is intriguing, but the logistics are simply unworkable. Remember: people groused over the distance between Vancouver and Whistler during the 2010 Games.
Not that we blame Labeaume for trying. Marcel Aubut, the scandal-plagued former president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, had it right in saying an Olympics in old Quebec City would invoke memories of the charming 1994 Games in Lillehammer.
But the parallels stop there. For Quebec City, on its own, has no chance of hosting the Olympics due to the lack of a mountain tall enough for the men’s downhill race. To many European countries, the men’s downhill is the marquee event of the Games. None of them would vote for a host city without a suitable venue.
So that leaves Quebec City looking for a dance partner. And Labeaume’s would-be Canadian partners would be a disaster, due to distance. Vancouver is a fivehour flight away, plus a two-hour drive to Whistler. Calgary is only marginally better, with a flying time of roughly four hours plus at least an hour’s drive to the Rockies.
Not that any of those challenges will stop Labeaume from pursuing an alliance. In fact, he’s heading to Lausanne, Switzerland, to meet with Thomas Bach on April 11 — apparently at the invitation of the IOC president.
Labeaume has said in the past an Olympics in Quebec City would be too expensive. But with co-hosts, the infrastructure costs could be drastically reduced.
“People in Quebec City know my views on Olympic Games and, until further notice, they haven’t changed,” he said at a news conference on Thursday. “Three cities that have infrastructure that Quebec doesn’t — such as bobsled tracks and springboards for ski jumping — could eventually be associated with Quebec’s bid.”
But what’s in it for those other cities? Vancouver? The appetite for hosting another Olympics on the west coast is tepid at best only six years after the 2010 Games. In Calgary, community leaders have been meeting behind the scenes for at least two years on a bid for 2026 that would see the entire event take place in Calgary and the mountains to the west — with an eye to breaking even or making a modest profit. The idea of sharing the event with Quebec City makes no sense.
The Canadian Olympic Committee is scheduled to meet next month in Regina. There, members will decide whether Canada should pursue the possibility of hosting the 2026 Games — and the answer will no doubt be a resounding yes.
Should the committee choose to proceed, letters will go out to several Canadian mayors, including Labeaume and Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi, asking if they have interest in bidding.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee is currently considering a process for determining if, when and how a future Olympic bid from Canada — summer or winter — is launched,” CEO Chris Overholt wrote in an email to Postmedia. “It’s imperative that any bidding process is fair, open and transparent, and that the bid city selection process is aligned with our Olympic aspirations and considers all of our many part- ners and stakeholders.”
On the other side of the border, a group in Lake Placid has already announced its intention to bid for the 2026 Games, possibly in conjunction with New York City. And the United States Olympic Committee is a going all-in on a Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Summer Games. The chances of the Americans diluting that bid by simultaneously chasing after a winter event — as a co-host with a Canadian city! — are slim indeed.
Plus, Quebec City is four-anda-half hours by car from Lake Placid, and the border crossing would be tricky even if presidential candidate Donald Trump doesn’t build a wall between the two countries between now and 2026.
All this leads back to Calgary, a city that has kept many of the 1988 Olympic facilities up and running for the last 28 years. Yes, they would need significant renovation and repair. The Olympic Oval, for example, lacks the proper seating and lighting. The bobsled track is aging, slow and in need of an upgrade.
“There have absolutely been discussions that likely started in about March or April of 1988 in this city,” says Marco De Iaco, executive director of the Calgary Sport Tourism Authority. “People have been talking about the Olympic Games and when Calgary should bid again. But as of today, there’s no Olympic bid.”
“Today” is the operative word in that sentence. As of next month, the process is set to officially start. Let the regional politicking begin.
There have absolutely been (Olympic bid) discussions that likely started in about March or April of 1988 in this city.