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The 2010 Winter Olympics, formally known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games, will be held in Vancouver in the province of British Columbia in Canada. Several venues will also be featured in the resort community of Whistler. The games, the first in North America since Salt Lake City hosted the games in 2002, is expected to be officially opened by either the Governor General of Canada on behalf of the Monarch of Canada, or the Monarch him or herself, on February 12 and will be declared closed on February 26 by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge.

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada. Previously, it was home to the 1976 Summer OlympicsThe 1976 Summer Olympics officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad were held in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the bid to organise the Olympics, Montreal defeated Moscow and Los Angeles, which would organise the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. Highl in MontrealMontreal (/mVn. tri"Al/ in English, /mO~. re"al/ in French) is the largest city in the province of Quebec, Canada, where it also constitutes an administrative region. It is Canada's second most populous city after Toronto ( Statistics Canada), and the sec and the 1988 Winter OlympicsThe XV Olympic Winter Games were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Olympics were highly successful, financially, as they brought in million-dollar profits. The games have left a lasting impression on the host city and gave it a new identity from a cow in Calgary. The village of Whistler bid for the games before and failed to win.

1 Bidding

Vancouver won the bidding process to host the Olympics by a vote of the International Olympic Committee on July 2, 2003 at a convention in Prague, Czech Republic. Earlier in February, Vancouver's residents were subjected to a referendum accepting the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents accepted the challenge. Vancouver faced two other finalists chosen that same February: Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. There were five other cities vying for the honor that had been dropped by the International Olympic Committee: Andorra la Vella, Andorra; Bern, Switzerland; Harbin, China; Jaca, Spain; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There were two rounds of voting at the convention that decided which city would host the games. On the first round, Pyeongchang received 53 votes while Vancouver received 40 votes. Salzburg was eliminated carrying only 16 votes. On the second round of voting Pyeongchang garnered the same 53 votes but Vancouver carried the votes originally cast for Salzburg and garnered 56 votes, winning the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.