The Globe and Mail reports the Canadian government wants the first torch carriers for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games to be veterans of Afghanistan’s seven-year conflict. The government is also pushing to have Canada’s French and English “linguistic duality” highlighted by the relay and proposed a list of 83 communities that could be part of the run. The number of torchbearers is estimated at 12,000.
According to the newspaper both proposals were in an undated memo from the “official languages” group of the Olympics planning secretariat obtained by an Ottawa researcher under an access-to-information request.
Last week The Globe and Mail reported the Canadian government provided $20 million for the 2010 Games Opening Ceremony to ensure the event “adequately reflects” its priorities and “to achieve its domestic and international branding goals”.
Canada and Vancouver 2010 reportedly have said that the government will only be a source of ideas for the Opening Ceremony, not a decision maker.
Renee Smith-Valade, vice president of communications for Vancouver 2010 said, “all of the ideas are being gathered right now”.
The memo also reveals that Vancouver 2010 organizers should have two torchbearers – one French and one English – for the final leg of the relay, underscoring Canada’s “diversity and linguistic duality”, and replicating the approach of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Smith-Valade said although no decisions have been made, Vancouver 2010 officials do not see the relay as a platform for political messages. “We have an opportunity to bring the country together”.
Frank King, chairman and chief executive officer of the 1988 Calgary Olympics, said the Calgary committee’s decisions on who became a torch bearer was based on highlighting Olympic athletes at the beginning and end, and the rest were determined by a lottery. He said his organizing committee simply focused on highlighting Olympic excellence for the opening and closing legs of the relay. “We chose athletes; it didn’t matter what language they spoke, what religion they were, what colour they were”.
The Globe and Mail reports Vancouver 2010 organizers are designing its relay as a “powerful and inclusive celebration” for the country with no random lottery. The committee will select each torchbearer based on their articulation of Olympic ideal, and with the goal of representing the 21st century nation through thousands of faces.
