A group of high profile athletes are banding together to encourage Calgary’s city council to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics and say it will have a positive impact on the community.
A number of Olympic athletes were at WinSport on Friday to talk about pursuing a potential Olympic and Paralympic bid.
“As athletes we’re not saying a definite yes to the bid, we’re saying that Calgary’s a great city. Canada has hosted three great games, two incredible Winter Olympics that have left a substantial, positive impact on the community and we hope that the city moves forward on Monday and takes a good look at whether or not hosting an Olympics makes sense but the big picture is more than just the money and it’s more than just 16 days of sporting competitions, it’s everything that’s left behind and 30 years later you can see what’s left behind, all of us benefit from the incredible legacy,” said Helen Upperton, bobsleigh athlete.
“It’s about sport for life and being active and having a healthy community and I’ve witnessed that and I choose to keep my kids here in this city because I believe in that and I just want the opportunity for Calgarians to be able to explore it, to say, what do you want as a future and a legacy for this city?” said speed skater, Catriona Le May Doan.
“What we’re asking city council today is to continue the dialogue and the process that they’ve gone through so far. We simply do not know enough information yet to say yes or no, one way or the other. We’re not here today asking for a bid, we’re asking here today to get enough information to know whether we should bid or not,” said Jeff Christie, Luger. ”We don’t know if the city can afford this and we don’t know the true number on what it’s going to cost in the break down between that. We’ve already got Alberta and federal funding to continue this process and we can’t give into fear yet that it could be bad without knowing.”
“The news that city council was going back to a vote on Monday to decide whether or not to continue the process caught us really off guard and I think today is a chance for Olympians and people who care about sport, lots of allies to step up and say let’s continue exploring this process,” said Olympian, Mark Tewksbury. “I think there’s steps in this process and right now we’re at a juncture, we’re about to become a bid corporation and the city money will be matched by federal and provincial funding and I think it’s really shortsighted at this juncture to stop this process.”
City administration is recommending that there be at least six months before a plebiscite is held and council is expected to vote on Monday on whether or not it will move forward with a bid.
“I’m interested to hear from my fellow councillors. I think it’s the first time we’ll have a full discussion about the pros and cons, as a council together, instead of assumptions that we’re going to be moving forward based on this reason or that reason. I'm looking forward to actually engaging in proper conversation, discussion and debate. I don’t know which way the vote is going to go. I’m very excited to make sure that we do consider this as carefully as we can,” said Jyoti Gondek, Ward 3 Councillor.
Ward 7 Councillor Druh Farrell says she has some concerns about the costs and that council needs more answers before making a decision.
“It’s cost certainly. We already know that the estimate that was given to council previously will be going up. For example, the cost estimate did not include inflation so for a bid a games eight years ahead in the future, I would think you would include inflation in that. I’m also very concerned about the ethics of the IOC and I know they had talked about the need to change and they were addressing corruption head-on and then the Russian doping scandal came up and they reinstated Russia and I’m not seeing evidence that they truly have changed,” she said. “One of the big concerns that I have had for a long time is the impact on our debt and so council has been made aware of some of those potential impacts but those have been discussed in-camera, those have been discussed in confidence so Calgarians aren’t aware of those potential debt impacts and we know, as presented today, it takes us over our debt limit, that doesn’t work for me.”
Tewksbury says the city has already invested in the process and that the other levels of government need to get involved to make sure another games is right for the city and Canada.
“The big vision for the actual games themselves, that will come from the leadership that will form the bid corporation, but for now, I think it’s really important given the legacy of Calgary, all these facilities, what we’re going to do with the future to keep exploring this process,” he said. “Because of our great facilities we have all kinds of athletes from across the country and even around the world that contribute to the economy here, that care about the Olympics very much in this city.”
Cities will be invited to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics by the IOC in October and candidates must then submit a formal bid proposal by January.
A Calgary bid would cost $30 million, which would be shared by all three levels of government, and It is estimated that it would cost about $4.6 billion to host the games here.
A host city will be selected by the IOC Session in September 2019.
For more on the city’s potential Olympic bid click HERE.
