Call this payback for the International Olympic Committee’s decades of greed and deceit.
Once a prize that cities on every continent fought over, so blinded were they by the promise of civic and infrastructure improvements, the Olympics are now being recognized for the economy-busting boondoggle they are. Calgary on Tuesday joined Sapporo, Japan; Sion, Switzerland; and Graz, Austria, in saying “thanks, but no thanks” for the right to throw the IOC a lavish party in February 2026, and there’s a good possibility bids in Italy and Stockholm could soon follow.
This isn’t a 2026 oddity, either.