2010 Winter Olympics for the 2000 Summer Olympics by two votes. Vancouver's victory came almost two years after Toronto's 2008 Summer Olympic bid was defeated by Beijing in a landslide vote. The Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) spent C$16.6 million on upgrading facilities at Cypress Mountain, which hosted the freestyle (aerials, moguls, ski cross) and snowboarding events. With the opening in February 2009 of the C$40 million Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre at Hillcrest Park, which hosted curling, every sports venue for the 2010 Games was completed on time and at least one year prior to the Games. In 2004, the operational cost of the 2010
Summer Paralympic Games France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. The United States have been the top-ranking nation for eight of the Paralympic Summer Games: 1964, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. China have been the top-ranking nation for the four most recent Games, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Italy (1960), West Germany (1972) and Australia (2000) have been the top-ranking nation one time each. Qualification rules for each of the Paralympic sports are set by the International Federation (IF) that governs that sport's international competition. The first official Paralympic Games, was held in Rome, Italy, in 1960.