Olympic Cheating? Not us, mate.

Now that the dust has settled, we get a glimpse (courtesy of CP's Paola Loriggio) of what was going on in Mayor Dad's office over the limp musings on an Olympic bid after the Pan-Am track-meet.

Toronto officials saw public resistance as the main threat to a possible Olympic bid and worried holding a referendum on the issue would “allow critics to overstate and inflate opposition” to hosting the 2024 Games, documents reveal.

Emails and briefing materials written by Toronto Mayor John Tory’s staff, obtained by The Canadian Press through access-to-information laws, suggest a lack of public and government support were seen as the “greatest risks” to a Toronto pitch.

No opposition groups are mentioned in that story but I am proud to have been part of NoTO2024 and it's gratifying to think we may have had a small effect on Tory's long-drawn-out but finally sane answer.

I was prepared to be quietly pleased until someone posted a link to GamesBids's spin on the story.

The author and website owner, Robert Livingstone (more about that in a minute), did mention us by name.

As the bid decision loomed, vocal opposition with social-media savvy emerged including the loosely organized NoTO2024 group that mimicked the strategies of No Boston Olympics.  The latter successfully cast enough doubt about a Boston 2024 Olympic bid during the previous months that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) eventually parted ways with the Massachusetts group and moved forward with Los Angeles instead.

But the Toronto opposition often relied on erroneous and unsupported outdated “facts”, and in some cases inflammatory Website comments that bordered on libel, to try to get their opinions heard.

Ooooh. "Bordered on libel"?????

He quotes from the NoTO2024 website:

“Myth 7: The IOC is reformed
Nope – it’s still the same old cabal of unelected and often corrupt failed politicians, super-wealthy princes and the odd despot. They still demand five-star service, right from fruit in their hotel suites to private lanes on the highway. Millions of our tax dollars are poised to go directly (or rather, extremely indirectly) into their pockets.”

I personally sourced and documented every -- yes, somewhat snarkily presented -- fact in that quote.

Where, exactly, is the libel-bordering there, Mr. Livingstone?

I would have let that go too. Some kind of sour grapes or something at work there, poor guy, but here's the last paragraph.

It seems the citizens of Toronto and Canada were cheated out of a fair Olympics debate. It’s up to the IOC to continue to work on improving its messaging and the Olympic brand so that more informed discussions can happen in the future.

"Cheated out of a fair Olympics debate."

When the standard line from Olympics boosters and officials to ordinary residents is "don't worry your purty little heads about details," NoTO2024 was the ONLY citizen group trying to put some real facts in front of Torontonians and Canadians.

But hey, it's not like GamesBids had anything to gain from a Toronto bid (the author is based in Toronto, by the way). Have a look at its About page.

Our membership includes the world media, members of bid city committees around the world, IOC officials and key stakeholders in the process as well as Olympic fans, businesses and athletes. You can join too!

Please explore GamesBids.com and send us a note to tell us what you want to see.

Ya gotta love it. The Olympic Spirit consists of telling people what they want to see/know.

And "cheating" consists of telling some uncomfortable truths.

And let's not forget that spot of bother Canadian Olympic Committee macho-honcho, Marcel Aubut, found himself in shortly afterwards.



Previous DAMMIT JANET! coverage of NoTO2024.

Round-up: Toronto's Punditocracy Gives Thumbs Down to Olympic Bid

What does Toronto's punditocracy think of an Olympic bid for Toronto?

Not much.

All of them, from all beats (politics, sports, urban affairs, business), say a bid for the 2024 Summer Games would range on a scale from "stupid" to "colosally stupid."

One, Royson James, initially a fervent booster, has now changed his mind.

Here they are in chronological order.

Cathal Kelly, July 27: Hosting the Olympics is a roller coaster of despair.

Chris Selley (1), July 28: Everyone take a deep breath -- Olympic fever is fertile soil for nonsense.

Globe and Mail, Report on Business, no byline, July 28: Dear Toronto: Hosting the Olympics is really really expensive.

Royson James (1) August 7: Bring on the Olympics.

Lorrie Goldstein, August 22: Olympic bid survival guide.

Edward Keenan, August 12: How to keep the T.O. mojo going -- with or without the Olympics.

John Barber, August 25: The case against the Olympics.

Christopher Hume, September 1: Let the Games begin -- Somewhere else.

Royson James (2), September 4: An Olympian effort is beyond us for now.

Chris Selley (2), September 4: Not screwing up the Pan Am Games is no reason to dive headfirst into the mother of all money pits.

The only people in favour of a bid are former elite athletes and people who stand to make money from it.

Here Councillor Shelley Carroll hits the nail on the head.

Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) says there is no way city officials have the time to gear up for a 2024 bid. But she understands the enthusiasm in some circles.

“Whether you win or lose, preparing a bid is a business and you make money being the guy who gets to prepare the bid,” she said. “A whole bunch of consultants make money and a whole bunch of retired dignitaries, and retired CEOs, get to have fun with this project and play around with big amounts of public money.”

Gee, I wonder who those people would be?

Here's a hint. Former co-chair of John Tory's campaign, former leader of a Toronto bid, and non-yet-declared member of the non-existent (if you believe them) Bid Committee, Bob Richardson howled over this admittedly mistitled Star article, This time, Bay St. joins Toronto's anti-Olympics team.

Will John Tory go ahead with a bid that will please only elite athletes and just plain elites?

We hope he'll soon give us an answer.


ADDED: It occurred to me that people might want to copy and paste just the links.

Cathal Kelly: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/kelly-the-emotional-rollercoaster-of-hosting-the-olympics/article25728670/
Hosting the Olympics is a roller coaster of despair

Chris Selley (1): http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/toronto/chris-selley-everyone-take-a-deep-breath-olympic-fever-is-fertile-soil-for-nonsense&pubdate=2015-07-29
Everyone take a deep breath -- Olympic fever is fertile soil for nonsense

Globe and Mail, Report on Business, no byline: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/dear-toronto-hosting-the-olympics-is-really-really-expensive/article25731774/
Dear Toronto: Hosting the Olympics is really really expensive

Royson James: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/08/07/bring-on-the-olympics.html
Bring on the Olympics

Lorrie Goldstein: http://www.torontosun.com/2015/08/22/olympic-bid-survival-guide
Olympic bid survival guide

Edward Keenan: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/12/how-to-keep-the-to-mojo-going-with-or-without-the-olympics-keenan.html
How to keep the T.O. mojo going -- with or without the Olympics

John Barber: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/08/25/the-case-against-an-olympic-bid.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The case against the Olympics

Christopher Hume: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/09/01/hume-let-the-games-begin-somewhere-else.html
Let the Games begin -- Somewhere else

Royson James (2): http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/09/04/an-olympian-efforts-beyond-us-for-now-james.html
An Olympian effort is beyond us for now

Chris Selley (2): http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-not-screwing-up-the-pan-am-games-is-no-reason-to-dive-headfirst-into-the-mother-of-all-money-pits
Not screwing up the Pan Am Games is no reason to dive headfirst into the mother of all money pits


UPDATED September 9/15: Two more.
Richard Florida, Why Toronto Should Say No to the Olympics
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-toronto-should-say-no-to-the-olympics/article26263925/

Martin Regg Cohn, Why the Pan Am Games Don't Qualify Us for Olympics
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/09/09/why-pan-am-games-dont-qualify-us-for-olympics-cohn.html

UDATE, September 11/15: Globe and Mail editorial

Toronto Olympics: Insult, Injury, and AmuseRage

The successful NoBoston2024 campaign can teach us much about how to stop this madness.

Here is a 14-minute video featuring sports economist Andrew Zimbalist that I found rivetting and damning. (I normally can sit still for video for about 2-3 minutes max, but this kept me watching.)





He talks about the costs that boosters will talk about, the ones they won't, and how these costs get inevitably overrun.

He also blasts with more facts and figures the mythical benefits boosters tout.

If you're video-averse, here's an interview of him by Richard Florida that covers much of the same ground.

Intro to interview:

Zimbalist, who has studied the economics of stadiums and sports events for the past couple of decades, takes a clear-eyed look at the effects of much-hyped mega-events like the Olympics and the World Cup on the cities that host them. His book [Circus Maximus], subtitled The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, shows in precise detail how these events have become such bad deals.

The pull-quote:
"Attempting to shoehorn a city plan into a scheme subordinated to the demands of the IOC is bound for economic failure."

An almost throw-away point from the video about billboards got me looking further and I found this amazing document: What the IOC demands.

From rather (by comparison) picayune requirements like "Olympic lanes" on streets and highways, guaranteed hotel rooms for Olympic poohbahs, and exemption from customs duties, to rather more stunning demands for the abrogation of democracy, the document reads like a royal edict from some medieval century.

The IOC demands that cities give up control over their civic calendar.

Provide a declaration from the relevant authorities confirming that no other important national or international meeting or event will be taking place in the Host City itself or in its vicinity or in the other competition sites, during the Olympic Winter Games, or for one week immediately before or after the Games.

The IOC demands that the local organizing committee can sign contracts on behalf of the city.

Provide a declaration from your city authorities confirming that the Bid Committee is empowered to represent the Candidate City and indicate the names of the persons and/or their titles who have the authority to sign contracts and other documents (such as the Undertaking and the Host City Contract), on behalf of the city.

And the infamous "Guarantee," aka Blank Cheque, about (inevitable) cost overruns.

Guarantee to cover any potential economic shortfall of the (Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games), including refunds to the IOC of advances in payment or other contributions made by the IOC to the OCOG, which the IOC may have to reimburse to third parties in the event of any contingency such as full or partial cancellation of the Olympic Games.

And the commandeering of all advertising and vending control.

Provide (a) written guarantee(s) from the relevant government authorities confirming that legislation will be passed as soon as possible but no later than 1 January 2020 as necessary to effectively reduce and sanction ambush marketing (e.g. preventing unauthorised third parties from associating directly and/or indirectly with the Games or the Olympic Movement for commercial and/or advertising purposes), and, during the period beginning two weeks before the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games and to eliminate street vending within the vicinity of Games venues, prevent un-authorised ticket resale, prevent un-authorised live sites or similar concepts, and control advertising space (e.g. billboards, advertising on public transport, etc.) as well as air space (to ensure no publicity is allowed in such airspace).

Got that? Not only does the city give over all control and revenue from its own advertising sites, it must "secure binding options from third parties," i.e. owners of private advertising spaces, to acquire -- buy -- their spaces too.

For the Vancouver Winter Games, the city was so cowed by all this folderol that it issued an order to public libraries to eschew any taint of non-official brands.

IOC documents are rife with these indignities -- big and small.

In Norway:

Norwegian citizens were particularly amused/outraged (amuseraged) by the IOC’s diva-like demands for luxury treatment during the hypothetical Games. Here’s a piece in the Norwegian media about the controversy, with translation provided by a generous Norwegian reader named Mats Silberg:
• They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception.
• Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
• Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
• A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members’ rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge…)
• The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products.
...
• IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
• Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
• The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC
members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.
• “All furniture should be OL-shaped and have Olympic Appearance.“

Those are just a few of the demands listed in a 7,000-plus page document listing the IOC’s requirements for the Games.

(I love the "Olympic furniture" and "seasonal cakes." WTF is a seasonal cake?)

To return to Andrew Zimbalist: the main take-away is that we will effectively lose all control, oversight, and citizen-centred planning of our own damned city over a three-week party for millionaire hucksters and elite professional-turned-temporarily-amateur athletes. NINE YEARS FROM NOW.

And be insulted at every turn.

Say no.

Get involved.
NoTO2024 website.

Download briefing note provided to Toronto City Council on September 1, 2015.

Petition to Toronto City Council and Government of Ontario.

Council scorecard with contact info.


Previous posts:
Owe-lympic Myth: Olympics Are a Good Investment.

Owe-lympics Myths: Reuse Pan Am Venues.

Owe-lympics Myth 5: Health and Fitness Legacy.

Toronto Star and Olympics: Something Stinks

Toronto Councillors' Twitter Accounts

10 People on Twitter

Owe-lympic Myths: Olympics Are a Good Investment for Host City

Today's Owe-lympic Myth:

Myth 1: The Olympics are a good investment for Toronto

Economists that have looked at the Games see no long-term economic benefit.  In a recent NYTimes story, Philip Porter, an economist at the University of South Florida who has studied the impact of sporting events was quoted saying: “The bottom line is, every time we’ve looked — dozens of scholars, dozens of times — we find no real change in economic activity.”

Another specialist in sports economics, Andrew Zimbalist, in his recent book, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup concludes that there are "no net economic gains." The wealthy, aka Millionaire Hucksters, profit; the rest of us pay. (In fact, Zimbalist wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Boston would be "lucky" to lose the Games. May Toronto be so lucky.)

Zimbalist cites the London 2012 Games.

They spent over $18 billion (all figures in USD). They took in $5 billion in Olympic revenues, leaving a deficit of $13 billion.

In a preliminary analysis of the just-ended Toronto Pan Am Games (in so far as it's possible without final numbers yet), The Globe and Mail pointed out that while there were winners among local businesses, there were losers as well.

It was a wash.

John Barber, in his column "The case against an Olympic bid," discusses cases, then cites yet another sports economist.

“Public opinion is catching up with the economic evidence,” Stefan Szymanski, professor of sports management and economics at the University of Michigan, noted recently with respect to Boston's abandoned bid.

Yes, the public does seem to be twigging to it: Taxpayers pay. Elites profit.

There is no argument about this.

Seriously. Try to find a reputable economist who will argue against it.



*Third in an ongoing and irregular series.

Previous posts:

Owe-lympics Myths: Reuse Pan Am Venues.

Owe-lympics Myth 5: Health and Fitness Legacy.

Toronto Star and Olympics: Something Stinks

Toronto Councillors' Twitter Accounts

10 People on Twitter

Owe-lympics Myths: Reuse Pan Am Venues*

One of the biggest porky pies hyped by Toronto's millionaire hucksters is that we're good to go for the Olympics because of all the dandy new Pan Am venues.

Or, Myth 5 at NoTO2024.

Myth 5: We can re-use most of the Pan Am venues
Some sites can be re-used, but even under the relaxed Agenda 2020 guidelines there will be major holes. The ACC and Rexall Centre should be ok, but the velodrome and aquatic centre are too small and too inconveniently located. The Rogers Centre is exactly the wrong size for everything.  The athlete's village will have been converted to housing and we need to find somewhere to stick a $1B+ 80,000 seat track and field stadium. The Olympics are much larger than the Pan Am Games and that level of infrastructure just wasn't built.

Mayor John Tory seems to have been sold this bill of goods.

The mayor added that he’s asked for a report from city staff on the usability of Pan Am venues for a potential Olympic Games.

“It would disappoint me if all that investment we made in very excellent facilities was not to be, under these new rules, something to be taken into account, if one wanted to bid.”

Prepare to be disappointed, Mr Mayor.

Chris Selley of the National Post pointed out that "the Pan Am organizers have always been frank: their facilities are not designed for the Olympics." He also says of the 80K+ seat stadium: "Toronto has no earthly need of such a facility."

John Barber weighs in:

Meanwhile in Ontario, taxpayers just spent $450 million on the four most expensive venues for the Pan Am Games, none of which will be good enough for the Olympics, all of which will have to be replaced by larger facilities if Toronto hopes to host in 2024. There is a long list of new stadiums and every variety of gold-plated facility to be built.

Not only are these venues too small -- and will be too old by 2024 -- some are too too far apart.

. . . many of the venues built for Pan Am are so far from Toronto that they may not meet Olympic committee standards. Some events were in Minden Hills (more than two hours from the city), Welland (90 minutes) and Hamilton (one hour).

New ginormous 80-100K seat stadium, new athletes' village, new/upgraded/relocated velodrome, ditto aquatics centre. . . the list goes on.

In short, existing Pan Am venues are just not viable for Olympics. They will need to be upgraded, expanded or replaced.

All costing mega-bucks.

In other words, a successful Olympic bid would create white elephants like the totally ridiculous baseball stadium in Greece (pictured above).




*Second in an irregular and ongoing series.

Previous posts:

Owe-lympics Myth 5: Health and Fitness Legacy.

Toronto Star and Olympics: Something Stinks

Toronto Councillors' Twitter Accounts

10 People on Twitter

Owe-lympic Myths: Health and Fitness Legacy

There are many myths about Olympics among the millionaire hucksters' talking points. On the NoTO2024 website, the Top Ten are listed.

I'm going to take a few of these on, not necessarily in order.

Myth 8: The Olympics will make us healthier
Studies have shown that hosting the Olympics has no measurable impact on fitness and sports participation levels following the Games. There is, however, evidence that funding gets pulled from other regions in the country, causing cutbacks to sports funding that hurt participation.

The claim that Olympics would bolster a healthier, more active population figured large for the London Olympics (with, note, state-funded healthcare like Canada). But a comparison of activity levels pre- and post-Olympics concluded: "no Olympic legacy yet apparent."

I know. You're shocked that two weeks lying around on their couches watching professional-turned-amateur-probably-doped-up athletes doing odd things didn't turn the UK into a nation of svelte, kale-gnawing overachievers.

Furthermore, from London again -- where, unlike Beijing, the media closely monitored claims and outcomes -- money meant for "good causes" was pulled from other areas of the country.

In the UK, they have Camelot, similar to Ontario's Trillium Fund, that distributes lottery dough to good causes. For the Olympics £425 million was diverted to the Olympics.

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative shadow culture spokesman, said the diversion of lottery money to the Olympics and the public bodies administrative spending meant that 1.1 billion Lottery tickets will be sold this year before the good causes receive a penny.

That's a lot of lottery tickets.

Where does that dough go? The Good Causes award categories are arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport and voluntary.

Here's sports.

From building new sports venues, to inspiring future generations to participate in sport, lottery funding is helping to grow grassroots sport across the UK with new facilities and coaching that are helping communities to stay healthy, fit and active.

So, the London Games literally sucked money out of grassroots sport for elite sport.

But the London Games were so profitable they paid it all back, right?

Nope.

Three years on from the end of London 2012 and £425 million in raided lottery cash owed to charities and communities across the UK has not been repaid, and the new Government has gone silent on the issue.

Now, this bit should sound familiar to students of Canadian sports history.

However government ministers have continued to drag their feet on the issue – repeatedly suggesting that repayment may take until 2030 or beyond. Despite repeated requests the new Conservative Government has refused to make a statement on this issue. The Directory of Social Change (DSC) has led the Big Lottery Refund campaign, supported by over 3800 charities, which aims for an immediate return of the lottery cash.

Well, heck, that would be only 18 years to repay Olympic debt. We've come a long way from Montreal, eh? They took 30 years to pay off $1.5B even with new taxes.

Toronto Council Twitter Accounts (and Some NoTO2024 Links)

I just did this for the opposition to Toronto Olympics campaign, but it will be handy for other purposes and people.

Feel free to bookmark, copy, whatever.

Mayor, John Tory: @JohnTory
1 Etobicoke North, Vincent Crisanti: @VCrisanti

2 Etobicoke North, Rob Ford @TorontoRobFord

3 Etobicoke Centre, Stephen Holyday @stephenholyday

4 Etobicoke-Centre, John Campbell @Campbell4Ward4

5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Justin Di Ciano @JustinDiCiano

6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Mark Grimes: @Mark_Grimes

7 York West, Giorgio Mammoliti: not found on Twitter.
8 York West, Anthony Perruzza: @PerruzzaTO

9 York Centre, Maria Augimeri: @MariaAugimeri

10 York Centre, James Pasternak: @JamesPasternak

11 York South-Weston, Frances Nunziata: @Nunziata2010

12 York South-Weston, Frank Di Giorgio: @FDiGiorgio12
13 Parkdale-High Park, Sarah Doucette: @Doucetteward13
14 Parkdale-High Park, Gord Perks: @GordPerks

15 Eglinton-Lawrence, Josh Colle: @JoshColle

16 Eglinton-Lawrence, Christin Carmichael Greb @CarmichaelGreb

17 Davenport, Cesar Palacio: @CllrPalacio
18 Davenport, Ana Bailão: @Ward18AnaBailao

19 Trinity-Spadina, Mike Layton: @M_Layton

20 Trinity-Spadina, Joe Cressy @joe_cressy
21 St. Paul’s, Joe Mihevc: @JoeMihevc

22 St. Paul’s, Josh Matlow: @JoshMatlow

23 Willowdale, John Filion: @JohnFilion23

24 Willowdale, David Shiner: not found on Twitter.
25 Don Valley West, Jaye Robinson: @JayeRobinson

26 Don Valley West, Jon Burnside @jon_burnside

27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale, Kristyn Wong-Tam: @KristynWongTam

28 Toronto Centre-Rosedale, Pam McConnell: @PamMcConnell28

29 Toronto-Danforth, Mary Fragedakis: @MFragedakis

30 Toronto-Danforth, Paula Fletcher: @Paulafletcher30
31 Beaches-East York, Janet Davis: @Janet_Davis

32 Beaches-East York, Mary-Margaret McMahon: @mary_margaret32
33 Don Valley East, Shelley Carroll: @ShelleyCarroll

34 Don Valley East, Denzil Minnan-Wong: @DenzilMW
35 Scarborough Southwest, Michelle Berardinetti: @CouncillorMB

36 Scarborough Southwest, Gary Crawford: @CllrCrawford

37 Scarborough Centre, Michael Thompson: @ward37
38 Scarborough Centre, Glenn de Baeremaeker: not found on Twitter.

39 Scarborough-Agincourt, Jim Karygiannis @jimkarygiannis

40 Scarborough Agincourt, Norm Kelly: @norm
41 Scarborough-Rouge River, Chin Lee: @CncllrChinLee

42 Scarborough-Rouge River, Raymond Cho: @rcho42
43 Scarborough East, Paul Ainslie: @CllrAinslie

44 Scarborough East, Ron Moeser: ron_moeser



Previous post on NoTO2024

Website for NoTO2024.

Petition for NoTO2024.

There are a ton of resources to counter any bullshit claims of benefits coming to host cities. I'll post some after I've gone through them, but a good place to start is here.

Another is from the fabulous and inspiring effort in NoBoston2024.

And a ton more from Boston's Claire Blechman.