Olympic decision time for Calgarians in 2026 plebiscite

CALGARY Calgarians will make important choices on behalf of their province and country when they step into the ballot box Tuesday.

In answering the question whether they want to host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games or not, they are also answering the questions who do you trust, what do you believe in, what are you afraid of and where do you see your city in eight years?

The massive financial and logistical undertakings of holding a Winter Games asks those hard questions of a host city.

Calgary is the beating heart of winter sport in Canada. The 1988 Winter Olympics put it there in a different era.

Tuesday’s plebiscite will reflect at least to some extent whether there is appetite for its renewal, or whether there is contentment for it to keep pumping as it has for as long as it can.

Calgary’s ‘88 legacy is considered among the most successful in Olympic Games history because the majority of venues are still used by both high-performance and recreational athletes three decades later. Canada is a world winter sport power, winning 29 Olympic and 28 Paralympic medals at the most recent Winter Games in South Korea. Many of those medallists train and compete on the sliding track and ski slopes at WinSport, the ice at the speedskating oval and the nordic centre trails in Canmore, Alta.

Under the International Olympic Committee’s new “reduce, reuse and recycle” motto to attract future host cities, Calgary fits the bill in that 80 per cent of the required venues are already built.

But do Calgarians believe they can again deliver an experience that floats all boats and do they even want to?

“It’s a little bit like Calgary wrote an exam in 1988 and there are people suggesting today they’re going to write it again and get a lower mark,” observed John Furlong, who co-led the bid and organizing of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.