No 2010 International Relay

[Sir Rols]

OTTAWA, April 10 AFP - An international torch relay will not be held ahead of Canada's 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, organisers said today, insisting it was not in response to protests of this year's Beijing Games.

Vancouver Olympic Committee chief executive John Furlong told broadcaster CTV that organisers had never planned to hold a global relay.

Instead, the flame was expected to arrive in Canada directly from the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece, and then be carried across the country by some 12,000 torch bearers over 100 days prior to the start of the 2010 Games.

``We had never contemplated running legs of the relay in other parts of the world,'' Furlong said from Beijing.

``Our effort was always going to be about sharing the torch with Canadians,'' he said.

On Friday, the International Olympic Committee is to discuss canceling the international torch run at all future Games beyond 2010.

The IOC has already said it would not cancel the last leg of the current torch run for the Beijing Games, despite recent protests that followed the flame in London, Paris and San Francisco.

The Olympic flame is now headed for Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Quite sensible.

[Hobart]

Good move think the torch relay is getting to big. Each city trying to be bigger and better than the last. Think Sydney got it right small legs in area that will never host a games like Pacific nations. If it keeps going with International relay most country will have the torch every 4 years rather than only when there county hosts a games. Will make the relay less special as its there every 4 years.

[Ruling Czar]

Actually, not. Maybe they are using it as an excuse to cut the costs of staging the games. The international component of the torch relay is too important to the Olympic Image. It sets the stage of excitement. Vancouver, very "bummer" as it is now, needs that.

[Sir Rols]

How can it be too important to the Olympic image when it's only been done twice (2004 and now), and this year's has proven an unmittigated disaster? I don't count previous regional ones when the torch passed through other countries on the way to their main destination _ the Athens and the Beijing relays have been the only ones to deliberately set out to be international and follow a route that was deliberately global.

The main value of the relay, before 2004, was on raising anticipation and excitement in the host country. For Athens, as a small country and as the Olympic's ancestral "home", the relay of previous hosts was entirely appropriate. For China, to repeat such a one was misconceived, as events have now proven.

[mr.x]

Though this article says that we "nixed" the torch relay, I'm not sure how that's possible as an international relay for 2010 was never ever proposed or planned.

However, it has been mentioned before that the 2010 flame could make stops at European cities, like London and Paris, and New York City when it crosses the Atlantic. Interesting how the article below mentioned that the 2010 flame might make a stop at Vimy Ridge in France.

Vancouver nixes international torch relay

Vanoc CEO Furlong says 2010 torch relay may stop in some international cities but won't follow Beijing example

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun

Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

BEIJING - Vancouver's Olympic organizers won't conduct an international torch relay but may still make stops at some locations, including London and Vimy Ridge, Vanoc CEO John Furlong said Thursday. But a final decision to take the torch outside of Canada will have to await a review by the International Olympic Committee in the wake of violent protests that have beset the 2008 Beijing torch relay.

Furlong said he hadn't ruled out the possibility that the torch for the 2010 Winter Games could make stops at places of significance to Canadians on its transit from Olympia, Greece to Vancouver in late 2009.

But he said Vanoc had never really considered a full-fledged international torch relay like Beijing's, simply because it will have a big enough job covering Canada.

"You exhaust a lot of time that you have by going internationally," Furlong said. "In Canada alone we're talking 1,000 cities, 35,000 kilometres, 200 celebrations over 100 days. So we have our hands full.

"The most-asked question I get from people is, 'Are you going to bring the torch to my town?'" he said. "With our plan to take this to so many cities and towns in Canada, I don't think it's really possible to consider a full-on international relay."

When asked to confirm information that Vanoc has considered possible stops in London and Vimy Ridge in France, he said the organization had talked about it.

"We talked about options like anybody would, but we've made absolutely zero determinations about this," he said. "We haven't finalized our plans yet and we haven't determined what we will do. Is it out the question? No. But our focus has largely been on dealing with our own country and having a torch relay that is consistent with our own vision."

Vimy Ridge is where Canadian soldiers in the First World War won their stripes as a fighting force. Chris Brumwell, a Vanoc spokesman, said the idea of stopping in Europe came out of necessity because of the long flight to Canada from Greece.

"There were musings, brainstorming, about what could be done," he said. Brumwell also confirmed that Vanoc has no intention of making an international tour or relay with the torch and it will not stop in Sochi, Russia, home of the 2014 Winter Games.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board discussed the status of the Beijing torch relay route on Thursday and agreed not to change its international destinations. But IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the relay organizers and host cities may make changes to the local routes.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the organization will consider in September, after the Beijing Games, whether to allow future international relays. He said Athens in 2004 held the first international relay and it was a success. The Beijing relay, on the other hand, is not.

Earlier in the day, Rogge said the constant protests against the torch relay and questions over freedom of expression had created a crisis for athletes, who he said were "in disarray."

He told a news conference that the last few days have been "a period that I would describe as not being so easy for the Olympic movement." He described it as a crisis that the IOC will overcome, but one not as bad as the terrorist attack on the 1972 Munich Games or the boycotts of 1976, 1980 and 1984.

Rogge also said he had pressed Chinese authorities live up to a "moral" promise they made in 2001 to improve human rights.

"This is what I would call a moral engagement, not a juridical one. I would definitely ask China to respect its moral intentions."

Rogge said he was also concerned that China has not fully implemented a new media law that allows reporters to go where they want and interview who they choose, unimpeded.

[mr.x]

Actually, not. Maybe they are using it as an excuse to cut the costs of staging the games. The international component of the torch relay is too important to the Olympic Image. It sets the stage of excitement. Vancouver, very "bummer" as it is now, needs that.

An international relay for 2010 would be inappropriate, and with what is going on with Beijing 2008 it's only more of a reason not to have a international relay.

With that said, the 2010 relay will still be one of the largest relays ever conceived.

2010 Relay

- 100 days

- 35,000 km

- 1,000 cities

- 12,000 torchbearers

- $30-million

That makes the 2010 relay the longest Winter Games relay (in both days and kms) and with the most torchbearers. It also stacks up quite well in size against the Summer Games relays.

Winter Games:

- Salt Lake - 85 days - 21,000 kms - 12,000 torchbearers

- Lilehammer - 82 days - 12,000 kms - n/a

- Torino - 75 days - 11,300 kms - 10,000 torchbearers

- Nagano - 51 days - 3,500 kms - 7,000 torchbearers

- Albertville - 58 days - 5,500 kms - 5,500 torchbearers

- Calgary - 95 days - 18,000 kms - 6,000 torchbearers

- Vancouver - 100 days - 35,000 kms - 12,000 torchbearers

Summer Games:

- Beijing - 130 days - 137,000 kms - 22,000 torchbearers

- Athens - 142 days - 86,000 kms - 3,600 torchbearers

- Sydney - 127 days - 27,000 kms - 13,300 torchbearers

- Atlanta - 112 days - 29,000 kms - 13,000 torchbearers

- Barcelona - 51 days - 6,300 kms - 10,500 torchbearers

- Los Angeles - 83 days - 15,000 kms - 3,600 torchbearers

- Seoul - 26 days - 15,000 kms - 1,500 torchbearers

Torino Route: Olympia – Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Rome – Florence – Genoa – Cagliari – Palermo – Naples – Bari – Ancona (Italy) – San Marino (San Marino) – Bologna – Venice – Trieste (Italy) Ljubljana (Slovenia) Klagenfurt (Austria) Trento – Cortina d'Ampezzo – Milan (Italy) Lugano (Switzerland) Bardonecchia (Italy) Grenoble – Albertville (France) Turin (Italy)

SLC: Olympia – Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Atlanta- St. Augustine, FL – Miami – Houston – Dallas - Memphis – Pittsburgh - Cumberland, Maryland – Washington – Baltimore – Philadelphia – New York – Boston – Lake Placid – Cleveland – Chicago – Detroit – Indianapolis –Lexington - St. Louis – Omaha - Oklahoma City - Amarillo - Albuquerque - Phoenix - Los Angeles – San Francisco – Squaw Valley – Reno - Portland - Seattle – Juneau - Boise - Bozeman - Cheyenne - Denver – Salt Lake City (USA)

Nagano: Olympia – Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Tokyo (route nr. 1) Hokkaidō – Chiba – Tokyo – Nagano (route nr. 2) Okinawa – Hiroshima – Kyoto – Nagano (route nr. 3) Kagoshima – Osaka – Shizuoka – Nagano (Japan)

[bLillehammer][/b]: Olympia – Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Morgedal – Bergen – Trondheim – Tromsø – Svalbard – Oslo - Lillehammer (Norway)

Albertville : Olympia – Athens (Greece) (on Concorde) Paris – Nantes – Le Havre – Lille – Strasbourg – Limoges – Bordeaux – Toulouse – Ajaccio – Nice – Marseille – Lyon – Grenoble – Albertville (France)

Calgary: Olympia – Athens (Greece) (by airplane) St. John’s, Newfoundland – Québec City – Montreal – Ottawa – Toronto – Winnipeg – Inuvik – Vancouver – Edmonton – Calgary (Canada)

Sydney: Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Guam - Palau - Federated States of Micronesia - Nauru - Solomon Islands -Papua New Guinea - Vanuatu - Samoa - American Samoa - Cook Islands - Tonga - Fiji - Christchurch - Wellington - Auckland (New Zealand) - Uluru - Brisbane - Darwin - Perth - Adelaide - Melbourne - Canberra - Sydney (Australia)

Atlanta: Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by airplane) Los Angeles – Las Vegas – San Francisco – Seattle – Salt Lake City – Denver – Dallas – St. Louis – Minneapolis – Chicago – Detroit - Boston – New York – Philadelphia – Washington – Miami – Atlanta (USA)

Barcelona: Olympia - Athens (Greece) (by ship) Empuries - Bilbao - La Coruña - Madrid - Sevilla - Las Palmas - Málaga - Valencia - Palma de Mallorca – Barcelona (Spain)

[LA84]

Bravo!

Athens was totally appropriate, done very well and had a meaning to it, stopping at the homes of previous Olympics.

Bejing hoped to use it as a political tool.

Vancouver should only go through Canada - I've always thought that. The only exception is that it might be cool if they did as Athens did and stop at the former sites of the Winter Games in North America. But that is selfish reasoning on my part.

I remember the Calgary torch relay and it was wonderful, traveling throughout Canada. I hope the same for Vancouver.

P.S. - Barbara Ann Scott has to be in there somewhere significant.

[Kenadian]

It was never the intention to take the torch to other countries.

Athens 2004 did it for likely two reasons. First being to promote the return of the Games to Greece. The second...well, the torch relay always runs Olympia to Athens. Every time. What would be so special in 2004 if they did that again? The only difference would be it ending in Athens.

So, 2010 was never a question. Nothing changed. No cop out. No story.

[Lord David]

It was never the intention to take the torch to other countries.

Athens 2004 did it for likely two reasons. First being to promote the return of the Games to Greece. The second...well, the torch relay always runs Olympia to Athens. Every time. What would be so special in 2004 if they did that again? The only difference would be it ending in Athens.

So, 2010 was never a question. Nothing changed. No cop out. No story.

Athens 2004 also did it to bring the flame to all cities that have hosted the Summer Olympics, major cities, and past and future bidders.

As for 2010, Wasn't the idea to bring it from Olympia to Athens, then to North America, where it would travel around say the US and some parts of Canada, then go to the North Pole, then travel around the rest of Canada on it's way to Vancouver?

Well something like that, not necessarily an international torch relay.

[Faster]

I wish I could find it but its not true that there was no intention of an international part. Vimy Ridge was definitely talked about, as was a trip to the Netherlands and Britain and France. Also into the US.

[mr.x]

^ there was always talk of an international component for the relay, but not a true international relay like Athens or Beijing.

[Kenadian]

Well, check the bid book. But I recall it being taken from Athens to the Pole. The rest is just blabber. Until an OCOG hires a torch relay coordination team, there is nothing officially planned. And VANOC is still hiring theirs.

[mr.x]

Just for comparisons sake, Athens spent $45-million on their global torch relay. Vancouver will be spending $31-million....not bad for the Winter Games, and overall it must be one of the most expensive for the Olympics.

[Faster]

Just for comparisons sake, Athens spent $45-million on their global torch relay. Vancouver will be spending $31-million....not bad for the Winter Games, and overall it must be one of the most expensive for the Olympics.

I had always had the impression that there would be a few minor international stops, like I said to Netherlands, France, Great Britain and the United States as a 5 or 6 day thing because of our strong connections to those countries

[taichi]

I fully understand that we won't be having an international relay for the Vancouver Games.

[baron-pierreIV]

But nothing beats our Intergalactic Torch Relay for Ulan Bator 2028, sanctioned by the IOC - the Intergalactic Olympic Committee!

Puppy and I planned that record-breaking relay. Now there was a Torch Relay to remember!!

Edited April 12, 2008 by baron-pierreIV

[olympian]

i would support the minor stops but won't call it an international relay.

[Lord David]

Well my idea for a 2010 Torch Relay would be:

Olympia to Athens (obviously), heading through Eastern Europe to Scandinavia (passing through the origins of winter sport), from say Denmark through Germany to France (representing the original colonists of Canada), through to the United Kingdom (representing the crown), through the Atlantic (possibly done in an ingenious way, like traveling via a Viking Longboat (representing the legend of the Vikings being the first Europeans to visit the Americas)) to the US or directly, to the eastern part of Canada, heading to the North Pole, traveling through the Territories, then the western part of Canada on the way to Vancouver.

Interesting concept eh?

[SJD88]

I don't know i think Athens to Canada is good. With some stops on border towns such as International Falls, Niagara Falls, etc.

[Faster]

Well my idea for a 2010 Torch Relay would be:

Olympia to Athens (obviously), heading through Eastern Europe to Scandinavia (passing through the origins of winter sport), from say Denmark through Germany to France (representing the original colonists of Canada), through to the United Kingdom (representing the crown), through the Atlantic (possibly done in an ingenious way, like traveling via a Viking Longboat (representing the legend of the Vikings being the first Europeans to visit the Americas)) to the US or directly, to the eastern part of Canada, heading to the North Pole, traveling through the Territories, then the western part of Canada on the way to Vancouver.

Interesting concept eh?

Legend?

[Lord David]

Legend?

Alright, Alright, the voyage which is considered non official, ok?

[Torchbearer AA]

I have a book about the 1988 Torch Relay Calgary 1988, beautiful relay. Canada is a beautiful country.

I think it will be a great Relay, a lot of nature, snow, ice, forests. First a few days in Greece, but that's tradition. Only Lillehammer had more countries in winter games relay I think?

[jim jones]

How can it be too important to the Olympic image when it's only been done twice (2004 and now), and this year's has proven an unmittigated disaster? I don't count previous regional ones when the torch passed through other countries on the way to their main destination _ the Athens and the Beijing relays have been the only ones to deliberately set out to be international and follow a route that was deliberately global.

The main value of the relay, before 2004, was on raising anticipation and excitement in the host country. For Athens, as a small country and as the Olympic's ancestral "home", the relay of previous hosts was entirely appropriate. For China, to repeat such a one was misconceived, as events have now proven.

The funny thing with the torch relay disaster is that it mainly in America and Europe. Considering Tanzania and Argentina has been incident free it seems Africa and South America get the Olympic Ideals to separate sports from Politics. Could this bode well for Bids South America has for 2016 and Africa to a future bid probably being South Africa ? Sure. The clam should remain in Muscat and the other Asian cities the relay passes through except Mumbai, India . Camberra might have a large protest. Bangkok and Jakarta might have problems. Ironic that the torch passes through Taipei. If Main Land China and Taiwan can put aside their differences then hey.

The Chinese IOC member I am sure would think about that but also the protests in America in San Francisco. Other IOC members might also thing in similar terms for the very positive in both Africa and South America and the very Negative in America and to a lesser extent Europe.

The Vancouver 2010 relay is the longest for actual run mileage a 35000 km I am sure. It will probably pass by my town in Northern, Nova Scotia from Newfoundland.

It is certainly a task to get it from Newfoundland to Vancouver by runner only let alone touring it to major cities in the world.

jim jones

[jim jones]

I have a book about the 1988 Torch Relay Calgary 1988, beautiful relay. Canada is a beautiful country.

I think it will be a great Relay, a lot of nature, snow, ice, forests. First a few days in Greece, but that's tradition. Only Lillehammer had more countries in winter games relay I think?

with 35000 kms that would probably cover about every single major town in Canada. everything with 2000 people or above would have to be involved to cover 35000 kms of road in Canada.

jim jones

[Faster]

If I am not mistaken, Taiwan has refused the torch.

Their were protests in Argentina as well, just more controlled and peaceful. Human rights is a big issue in Argentina