Vancouver's anti-Olympic forces plan protests

A decisive "Yes" vote isn't going to dissuade the "No" side from continuing to voice its opposition to Vancouver's Olympic bid.

Chris Shaw, the head of the No Games 2010 Coalition, said his group will stage anti-Olympic protests during the International Olympic Committee's upcoming visit to Vancouver.

"I think there will probably be some picketing. There will probably be some placards," said Shaw.

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"I don't know all the details, but the IOC will be seeing that we have a vigorous democratic tradition in this country of people expressing their views."

An 18-member IOC evaluation team is scheduled to begin its four-day tour of Vancouver beginning Mar. 2. The team will visit facilities, watch presentations and meet with bid organizers and politicians.

IOC evaluators have already toured Pyeongchang, South Korea and will visit Salzburg, Austria beginning on Mar. 13. The information gathered during these trips will be put into a report which will be presented to the IOC's executive board in May.

IOC delegates will choose the host city for the 2010 Winter Games during a July meeting in Prague.

The Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation hopes that numbers showing strong local, and national support for the Games, will carry more weight with the IOC and its evaluators than any protests.

On Saturday, results in plebiscite showed that 64 per cent of voters in Vancouver were in favour of bringing the Games to their city.

A separate nation-wide public opinion survey conducted by the Vancouver-based marketexplorers showed that 91 per cent of Canadians supported Vancouver's bid.

Jack Poole, head of the bid group, wrote a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge outlining those numbers.

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Earlier this month, Rogge said anything but a soild "Yes" vote may undermine Vancouver's chances.

On Monday, Gerhard Heiberg, head of the IOC's evaluation commission, said Rogge was "very happy" with the plebiscite results.

"I think this is very, very positive. It shapes up very well for Vancouver and your candidacy," said Heiberg.

Meanwhile, former Olympic gold medallist Nancy Greene Raine says the "no" side should give up the fight. Raine says the voters have spoken, and it's disgusting that some people will still try to spoil the bid.