Calgary reflects on rejecting 2026 Olympic bid, as legacy of 1988 Games fades

Calgarians waking up Friday morning may feel a nagging suspicion in the back of their minds that there was somewhere they were supposed to be.

Some might remember being sold on a grand spectacle that would have started this week, directing the world's attention squarely at Calgary and inviting the globe's greatest athletes to town.

But if Calgarians go looking for that spectacle, they’ll find it about 8,000 kilometres away in Milan, Italy.

In 2018, Calgary looked like the favourite on a short list of potential hosts for the 2026 Winter Olympics, boasting the pedigree of previously hosting the 1988 Games. The city's bid resulted in months of debate over whether Calgary could afford the Olympics, all leading to a plebiscite in November in which 56 per cent of voters called for the bid to be abandoned.

The 1988 Olympic legacy looms large in Calgary’s history, putting the city on a large global sports stage.

It's also one of three times the world’s biggest sports event was held in Canada in less than 35 years, along with Montreal in 1976 and Vancouver in 2010. 

But it's looking increasingly likely Canada could go just as many years without hosting the Olympics.

And as many of the last remnants of the 1988 Games fade, it’s unclear whether Calgary is still an Olympics city, and if the public would support its return.

Mary Moran calls not pushing the date back for Calgary's Olympic plebiscite the greatest regret of her life.

The vote arrived when Alberta's economy was still recovering from the oil industry's recent downturn, amid discussion of unemployment and empty downtown office towers.

Moran, who was the Calgary Olympic Bid Corporation's CEO, says it was hard for voters to wrap their heads around how Calgary could invest