At first he claimed Vancouver was legally bound to accept the 2010 Winter Olympic Games if chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Now The Province reports that Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell told a high school audience that if Vancouver residents vote No in the Feb. 22 plebiscite and the IOC still awards the city the Games, “then we have to sit and talk about what we’re going to do and take a look at what our obligations are”.
In 1970 the IOC awarded the 1976 Winter Games to Denver, but the city held a plebiscite two years later and rejected the Games by a 3-2 ratio. Denver’s Olympic committee withdrew and Innsbruck, Austria hosted the 1976 Games.
When asked about the legal obligations of a host city Campbell said, “Denver was committed to signing on too, so it’s not that there isn’t a precedent”.
Campbell said that if the IOC awarded Vancouver the Games after a No vote, “that’s something we’re going to have to address as we go along”.
When asked about the effects of the plebiscite on the bid, Campbell told the students” “if the plebiscite is No, the huge likelihood is the IOC will not give us the Games. It it’s Yes, it sends a message to the IOC that not only do we want the Games but we aren’t afraid of going out and asking people their opinions and we live in a democracy”.
And when asked if he was saying a No vote would kill the bid Campbell said “do you actually think that if we have a No vote that the IOC will give it to us? But at the end of the day, if we say No, it’s going to send a message to the IOC that we don’t want it”.
Chris Shaw, spokesman for the No Games 2010 Coalition, said Campbell’s comments should help his side in the vote. “if there’s going to be a new Olympic event, flip-flops are going to be it”.
Sam Corea, Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp. spokesman said the bid is “committed to working on a positive result” in the plebiscite.
Meanwhile, Shayne Letain, the artist who designed the 33 pictograms that illustrate 2010 Winter Games sports says recognition for his work was wrongly given to Xwa-lack-tun, a native artist whose work he had to redesign.
Letain said he owns the distinctly native designs, which he developed after being hired by an ad agency when Xwa-lack-tun wasn’t able to finish them all before leaving for a totem-carving mission in Scotland. Those Xwa-lack-tun finished were so detailed and busy they wouldn’t reproduce well when reduced to the half-centimetre sizes needed for the bid book map.
Letain said he owns the new images and only sold the bid corporation the right to unlimited use.
Many of the images are being used in a Vancouver street banner program.
