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Vancouver 2010 presents project update to International Olympic Committee
06/07/2007 |
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Highlights include balanced budget, early venue completion and lasting legacies
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) presented a project update to the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) session. The update, delivered by VANOC Chief Executive Officer John Furlong, highlighted VANOC’s balanced budget, early venue completion schedule and progress on creating lasting legacies. The full project update, in report format, is available at vancouver2010.com.
“With only 953 days until the Opening Ceremony in 2010 we are optimistic about our progress to date,” said Furlong. “We encourage Games enthusiasts around the world to take an active interest in the work we are undertaking on their behalf and the legacies that will remain for the benefit of future generations.”
"Since Vancouver 2010's election at the IOC Session in Prague in 2003, a little over four years ago now, the VANOC team has worked tirelessly to create Olympic Winter Games of the highest quality,” said René Fasel, Chairman of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the XXI Olympic Winter Games. “I am always impressed by the dedication and team spirit which they, and all the partners involved in the Games, apply day after day. As they go into the final three years of preparations, they are in good shape.”
VANOC’s update to the IOC included details on its balanced budget, outlined in full in the Organizing Committee’s Business Plan and Games Budget, which was publicly released on May 8, 2007. The Business Plan details current estimates and assumptions based on VANOC’s best assessment of Games requirements, risks and opportunities.
“Its seems like only yesterday that I was Chairman of the IOC’s Evaluation Commission for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and we were in Vancouver studying the Canadian proposal,” said Gerhard Heiberg, Chairman of the IOC’s Marketing Commission. “Four years on, things are still looking good. In my role as IOC Marketing Commission Chairman, I am also pleased to see that VANOC is making great strides in its marketing program, which is a key element to the success of these Canadian Games.”
Since the Torino 2006 Winter Games, VANOC has welcomed 17 new Canadian sponsors to the team, bringing the total to 23 and generating more than 80 per cent of its domestic sponsorship target, with $615 million of a total target of $760 million now committed. VANOC’s licensing and merchandising program has also been active over the past year. To date, VANOC has announced licensing agreements with 23 Canadian companies.
Today’s project update also underscored VANOC’s plans to complete 2010 competition sites as early as possible to reduce complexity and risk and to maximize athlete training and testing opportunities.
“All but three competition venues will be finished this year, with the rest completed in late 2008, providing ample training time for athletes,” said Furlong. “This is one of the earliest venue completion schedules in modern Games history.”
In addition, the VANOC update highlighted the Organizing Committee’s plans to leverage the Games to create sustainable legacies for Vancouver, Whistler, British Columbia and Canada – legacies that will last long after the final medal is awarded. These legacies are detailed in the Vancouver 2010 Business Plan and Games Budget and include facilities for summer and winter high performance sport, recreational legacies for communities in both the Greater Vancouver Regional District and Whistler, mixed-use housing and a commitment to providing 250 non-market (supportive) housing units.
Additional information on VANOC’s legacy initiatives, particularly in the areas of environmental stewardship and impact reduction, social inclusion and responsibility, Aboriginal participation and collaboration, economic benefits and sport for sustainable living, can be found in the 2005-06 edition of the Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Report, released on June 5, 2007, the first of five annual sustainability reports VANOC will produce. Both the Vancouver 2010 Business Plan and Games Budget and the Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Report 2005-06 are available at vancouver2010.com.
(Source: VANOC)
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