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2010 bid book an Etch-A-Sketch

A funny thing happened on the way to the Games: the plans changed.

Six years ago today, Vancouver edged PyeongChang, South Korea 56-53 in an International Olympic Committee vote at Prague. Crowds at GM Place and Whistler Village Square erupted in celebration.

A deluxe, 460-page proposal was the foundation for Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics that open in just 225 days. Frank King, a Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation director and chief of the 1988 Games, told CBC that changes were inevitable. Calgary, he said, "promised a lot of things that didn't come true."

Vancouver's bid book said the Games would run Feb. 5-21, 2010 and the speedskating oval would be on Burnaby Mountain and Richmond would host the international broadcast centre.

Blackcomb and Whistler Creekside would split alpine skiing, while figure skaters would train at the Agrodome and short-track speedskaters on a nearby temporary rink.

Passenger ferries to Squamish would depart Bridgeport, Lonsdale Quay and downtown Vancouver. Trains would connect Creekside and Callaghan Valley, where an athletes' village was to go. The Vancouver Olympic Village was to cost $167 million.

John Furlong told the IOC July 2, 2003 the domestic torch relay would begin in the Arctic and the Feb. 12-28, 2010 Games would climax with gold medal hockey at B.C. Place Stadium.

The relay actually begins in Victoria. Hockey finals are at GM Place, speedskating in Richmond and the IBC at the expanded Vancouver Convention Centre. Buses, not ferries, will go to Squamish and beyond. The $1.1 billion, seaside Vancouver Olympic Village is just one of the costs that went sky-high.

BID VS. REALITY:

Operations budget:

BID: $1.354 billion REALITY: $1.76 billion

Pre-Games B.C. Place Stadium renovations:

BID: zero REALITY: $77.1 million (Includes VANOC $12.1 million and B.C. PavCo $65 million.)

Security budget:

BID: $175 million REALITY: $900 million

Biggest domestic sponsor:

BID: Telus REALITY: Bell

Not forecast in bid: Save Eagleridge Bluffs protests, retailers suing over Canada Line losses, increased homelessness and global recession.

Bob Mackin reports for Vancouver 24 hours


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