No Competition for Calgary

(ATR) Calgary was the only city to respond positively to a Canadian Olympic Committee call for cities interested in bidding for either the 2026 Winter Games or 2028 Summer Games.

COC said it sent letters to seven cities over 750,000 population in March, inviting expressions of interest by June 30.

The city council in the 1988 winter host city voted June 20 to fund a $5 million bid exploration committee.

"Calgary 1988 showed us how to host the world and the Games provided the infrastructure and spirit to become a powerhouse in winter sport," said COC president Tricia Smith. "Vancouver 2010 built on that experience and like never before united the country around the tremendous success of our athletes."

COC spokesperson Cherry Ye said Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City and Montreal were the other cities approached. It is notable that Toronto, the 2015 Pan Am Games host, Vancouver, the winter 2010 host, and Montreal, the 1976 summer host, did not show interest.

To that end, COC struck a special committee, chaired by former Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong, to educate and encourage cities to bid. No later than September 2017, the COC board and session "will decide if and when a bid is launched in Canada and by which city," said the COC statement. The IOC will decide in 2019 on the 2026 host.

Furlong is joined on the Home Games special committee by COC CEO Chris Overholt, Sport Canada Director General Martin Boileau, former COC president Michael Chambers and Katie Green, a fashion industry public relations agent who worked as a manager in the Vancouver 2010 communications department.

Furlong, who chairs the COC-affiliated Own the Podium, is facing a letter-writing campaign by aboriginal Canadians seeking his removal.

Several of his former aboriginal students in northern British Columbia maintain they were victims of abuse while he was a physical education teacher in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Furlong was not charged but dropped defamation lawsuits against a reporter and newspaper that published the allegations.

The former students want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to force Furlong to resign or cut federal funding to Own the Podium, an organization dedicated to improving Canadian podium performances at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Trudeau has made reconciliation with aboriginal people a priority of his government, which was elected last October.

Written by Bob Mackin

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