Olympic Design: Canada’s Failed Bids

SI.com enlisted the help of the bloggers behind Canadian Design Resource to author a series of posts on the design spirit of their country’s three Olympic Games: Montreal 1976, Calgary 1988, and Vancouver 2010. In the final post, CDR’s John Ryan takes a look at the Canadian Olympiads that never happened: the failed bids.

While the United States holds the record for rejected Olympic bids (44, including seven from Detroit alone), Canada has had its fair share of failures, leaving behind design artifacts that never saw the light of day. Were it not for a legacy of attempted bids extending as far back as 1960, Vancouver-Whistler wouldn’t be the place it is today.

In 1960 a group of Vancouver businessmen formed the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association and began the long process of cultivating the remote mountain range now known as Whistler Blackcomb. With minimal road access, no sewage or hydro, and no lifts or lodges, Whistler was a far cry from a world-class ski resort. This artist’s rendition (from 1960) of what Whistler could someday be was instrumental in inspiring support for development of the area.

Artist’s Rendering of Whistler
1960

(Whistler Museum & Archives Society - museevirtuel.ca)

In 1966, after six years of construction and development, Garibaldi Lifts Limited (a for-profit sister company to GODA) opened a ski lodge with gondolas, T-bars and a double chair lift. But long before any amenities were in place, GODA was already generating support for an official Olympic bid. The postcard below shows a kinetic oil pastel rendering of a skier and a figure skater, as well as an early iteration of Garibaldi’s bid logo, featuring a stylized torch sitting atop a bold slab-serif G. Unfortunately, GODA’s efforts were unsuccessful. They lost the Canadian nomination to Calgary, which in turn lost to Mexico City (a Games that ended up featuring some of the best non-Canadian Olympic designs ever).

Rally’Round Postcard
1961

(Whistler Museum & Archives Society - museevirtuel.ca)

GODA tried again for the ‘76 Winter Olympics, claiming the Canadian nomination in ‘74. But it ultimately lost out when Montreal was nominated — and later won the bid — for the ‘76 Summer Olympics. This black-and-white logo for Vancouver/Garibaldi’s near successful ‘76 bid features a stylized 76 glyph, with sans-serif titling and an italicized serif strapline. The presentation of this logo is much more in line with Montreal’s designs, and is indicative of Canadian design at the time: a mix of international modern styling and classic typography.

Vancouver/Garibaldi Olympic Bid Logo
1970s

1976 bid logo

After additional unsuccessful bids in ‘80 and ‘88, Vancouver-Whistler finally won the bid for 2010. But Vancouver isn’t the only Canadian city to have failed to host an Olympic Games. Montreal had eight failed attempts stretching as far back as 1932. One can only wonder if the outputs of the ‘76 Games would have been of the same caliber were it not for the city’s decades-long dream of hosting an Olympics.

Below we see a rare image of Montreal’s bid book for the XXth Olympiad in 1972. The cover features a photograph depicting Montreal as a bustling metropolis, starkly contrasted by the regal styling of the typography, which says “Montreal Invites and is Ready.” The layout and design of this cover closely resembles the Royal portrait seen at the front entrance of public schools throughout Canada.

XXth Olympiad 1972 Bid Book
c1970s

(OlympianArtifacts.com)

Although Toronto may be Canada’s largest city, and often cites itself as the nation’s cultural hub, it has failed to win Olympic bids on multiple occasions. Seen below are artifacts of Toronto’s failed bid for the 1996 Summer Games. With Gottschalk+Ash International taking the reins on the design of the proposal, the overarching theme of the creative was celebration, energy and vitality.

Official Toronto ‘96 Bid Book
Gottschalk+Ash International, circa 1990

(Gottschalk+Ash International)

The Toronto ‘96 logo features a triad of firework-like bursts framing a knocked out capital T, with the predominant colors of the bid being red, orange, and pink — choices that were completely in-line with the trends of the time, but appear somewhat questionable now.

Toronto ‘96 Bid Logo
Gottschalk+Ash International, circa 1990

(Gottschalk+Ash International)

Later iterations and outputs of Toronto’s bid would feature a toned-down, blue-and-white theme, as seen in the bid poster below, which features the official slogan, “Meeting Place on a Great Lake.” Though the Toronto bid tended more towards the crisp modern aesthetic of Montreal ‘76 (leaving behind the “jazziness” of Calgary’s outputs in ‘88), its logo did commit one cardinal sin of design: a prime mark– a glyph used exclusively for denoting the (non-metric) inches and feet units of measurement — instead of a leading apostrophe in the abbreviated 96.

Toronto Bid Poster
Gottschalk+Ash International, circa 1990s

(OlympianArtifacts.com)

Ultimately, Atlanta won the ‘96 bid, with Greece placing second and Toronto coming in third. However, many felt that Greece was the natural choice to host, and Toronto a better choice in terms of infrastructure and environment, so it’s of little surprise that there were rumblings and allegations that the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) had bribed IOC members with cash, scholarships for their children, and free heart surgery. That discolored a close race, and foreshadowed the IOC Bribery Scandal of 2002.

Though each of these bids failed, their designs had lasting impact. In the cases of Whistler and Montreal, each bid was but one step in a process that ultimately led to hosting the Games. And though Toronto has yet to have a successful bid, the design and creativity that went into its pitches did much to inspire and galvanize the city in the face of both NIMBY-ers and the IOC’s back-room operators — meaning that it could very well be the site of Canada’s next Olympiad.