Paris, New York, Moscow, London, and Madrid all delivered their documents before midnight on Monday. The International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission will now analyze the candidature files and make site inspections over the coming months.
A British Airways hostess and a schoolgirl basketball player who hopes to represent Britain in 2012 delivered London’s bid book. New York had a submission ceremony on the city’s Brooklyn Bridge last week to send off their 600 page file.
The documents outline every detail of the proposals to host the 2012 Games. Since the five cities were shortlisted last May. Paris and Madrid have emerged as the favourites.
The IOC questionnaire, to which the bid book is the reply, quizzes each city on 17 different themes ranging from the city’s vision for the Games to its transportation network and accommodation.
The winner will be announced at the 117 th IOC Session in Singapore in July 2005.
Canadian television rights
Meanwhile, Canadian television networks have met with the International Olympic Committee to learn more about the bidding process to win the rights to broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The networks, which include CBC, CTV, Global, Rogers Communications and The Score sports channel, will make their bids to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland Feb. 7 and 8. The winner will be announced on Feb. 8.
For the bid CTV will be joining with Rogers Communications.
CBC has held the Canadian rights to broadcast the Olympics since 1996.
Some are speculating that the broadcasters may pay more than $100 million to broadcast the Vancouver 2010 Games.
NBC, the U.S. broadcaster who won the rights for the 2010 and 2012 Games, paid $2.2 billion US. That is 40 per cent more than it paid for the 2006 and 2008 Games.
CBC paid $45 million US to broadcast the Beijing Summer Games in 2008 and $28 million US for the Torino Winter Games in 2006.
Whistler Sliding Centre designer chosen.
Stantec Architecture Ltd. will design the venue that will host the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events at for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Founded in 1954 the company has assembled a team of experts to put the design and site master plan together. Some of those on the team were part of the group, which built the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics sliding track
The company, which will be paid $2.3 million for the contract, will design a track 1,400 metres long with 16 corners. Athletes will reach speeds in excess of 130 km/h in their 52-second races.
The venue will have a spectator capacity of 12,000. Construction of the $55 million track on Blackcomb Mountain is slated to begin next summer and wrap up in the fall of 2007.
Advertising all wrapped up
Whistler is wrapping up arrangements for all of the public advertising space in local buses and in bus shelters to be used by VANOC for the period of the Winter Olympics in 2010.
"We are working with the RMOW and through them Whistler Transit to secure that space so that is still in discussion," said VANOC spokesman Sam Corea.
Most of the billboard and other public space in Vancouver has already been secured for a 10-week period before during and after the Games. The space will be available to official Games sponsors if they want it for advertising.
