There will be no international torch relay leading up to the 2010 Games in Vancouver, but organizers have not ruled out the possibility that the Olympic flame will make scheduled stops in cities of importance to Canada's identity.
The global torch relay for this summer's Beijing Olympics, currently underway, has been marred by clashes and protests over China's human rights record.
But Vancouver Olympic Committee CEO John Furlong said VANOC's decision has nothing to do with the chaos currently following the torch, and the committee has "never had an ambition to travel around the world with the flame."
"We had never contemplated running legs of the relay in other parts of the world," Furlong told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday from Beijing.
However, the group hasn't ruled out the possibility that the torch could make appearances in other cities of importance to Canada, said VANOC director of communications Renee Smith-Valade.
Vimy stop
Vimy Ridge, where Canadian troops conducted their first major military offensive of the First World War, is one of the locations proposed as a potential torch-stop.
"We did look at, and have still on the table although with fairly minimal consideration, the possibility of some celebration stops en route from Greece back to Canada,'' Smith-Valade told The Canadian Press.
But she said such a stop would only be an appearance of the torch, not a leg in the relay that will take place when the flame arrives in Canada.
She said no decision has been made yet on whether such a stop will take place.
"That will be determined very shortly as to whether or not those are practically and logistically possible to do, and whether they make sense in light of the fact that we want to maximize the number of days where Canadians can be part of the torch relays," Smith-Valade said.
Last January, VANOC announced that more than 12,000 people will carry the torch into every province and territory of Canada over about 100 days, ending in Vancouver at B.C. Place Stadium on the evening of Feb. 12, 2010.
Focus on Canada
Furlong said VANOC's intention has always been to bring the torch to Canada after it is ignited at the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece.
"We haven't made final decisions about whether we might stop anywhere else but really our effort was always going to be about sharing the torch with Canadians," said Furlong.
CTV's Beijing Bureau Chief Steve Chao, who spoke to Furlong earlier Thursday, said winter Games typically don't have long international relays -- mainly because of the weather.
"But... many other countries in the past have always had a portion," Chao told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
"Canada may still be considering visiting (the Russian city of) Sochi, which is the city that will have the Olympic Games after Vancouver, but even then there will be no running of the torch."
Torch turmoil
On Friday, the International Olympic Committee will meet to discuss cancelling the international torch run at future Games after Vancouver.
The IOC has already decided not to cancel the remainder of the current torch run for the Beijing Games.
On Wednesday, thousands of waiting spectators missed seeing the Olympic torch in San Francisco, as protesters forced officials to drastically change the event's relay route and move the closing ceremony to the city's airport.
The event followed protests in London over the weekend and Paris on Monday where hundreds of chanting and angry demonstrators hounded torch-carriers.
The flame's next stop is Buenos Aires, Argentina.
