If Toronto wants to bid for the 2008 Games, it will have to sign the same Agreement Vancouver-Whister 2010 did, barring it from international lobbying until after the 2010 Olympic host city is picked two years from now.
Interim chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Association, Lou Ragagnin noted that Vancouver-Whister 2010 lived by its pledge not to lobby IOC officials while Toronto’s bid was alive.
Ragagnin said, “my sense is we’d let Vancouver-Whistler work on its bid, and once that was decided, then let Toronto make a decision as to whether to bid for 2012”. The COA executive board will likely draft rules and timelines for 2012 bids when it next meets in September, he added.
It doesn’t rule out Toronto city council putting its bid machine into low gear and working behind the scenes, much as Vancouver-Whister did leading up to Friday’s 2008 vote.
But there’s still room for conflict. How will the Vancouver-Whistler bid feel if Toronto attends international sporting events, ostensibly to promote the city rather than a bid, as the many 2012 potential host cities are expected to do over the next two years?
Meanwhile Ron King, public affairs director for Utah’s Department of Natural Resources, says if Toronto decides to bid for the 2012 Games, the third time might be a charm for Toronto as it was for Salt Lake City. He says familiarity with the IOC is a definite advantage in the bidding process.
King said, “just keep throwing the darts and eventually you’ll hit the board. Keep trying, the big thing is you learn from what your mistakes were the first time”.
