Monday, November 12, 2007

Andorra la Vella 2010 bid pin

The Vancouver Sun runs a sidebar in its Road to 2010 weekly feature called Collectors' Corner ... and it seems tailor-made for this blog. Enjoy.


What:
Andorra la Vella 2010 bid pin


Value: $30


Details: For more than seven centuries, tiny Andorra -- nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France -- has been governed under a co-principality.

At one-sixth the size of Metro Vancouver, Andorra's economic prosperity has been tied almost entirely to tourism, its role as a tax haven, and in the past, smuggling. In 1993, the government became a parliamentary democracy.

For the more than 70,000 residents, the Olympics has long been an attraction. It formed its national Olympic Committee in 1971. And briefly, it held dreams of hosting the Winter Games. In the late 1990s it began agitating to hold the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Despite its role as a ski resort, it is such a small country, and plagued by many problems, including traffic jams, that the International Olympic Committee quickly dismissed the possibility. On August 28, 2002, the IOC put an end to Andorra's bid, along with that of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

For its bid, Andorra la Vella produced small quantities of a single paper and plastic bubble tack-back pin, now relatively difficult to find.

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