Robert Livingstone is a Canadian journalist. He is the creator and producer of

GamesBids GamesBids.com launched July 27, 1998 as Torontosummergames.com, and was published to follow the bid by the city of Toronto to organize the Games of the XXIXth Olympiad in 2008. After Beijing was eventually elected to host the Olympic Games, the ...

, a news and information website for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

bid process, since 1998. He is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians and "is widely considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the Olympic bidding process."

Covering the Olympic bid process

Livingstone's specialty is the Olympic Games' site selection process and he frequently comments in the media as a notable expert on the issues related to hosting of the

by various cities. Robert Livingstone wrote a weekly op-ed column about New York's 2012 Olympic bid in the

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

newspaper. In 1998 he launched

.com, a reference site for Olympic bids as well as BidIndex, an original Olympic bid rating system. There, he also serves as senior journalist. Since 2000, Livingstone has been said to have been "comprehensively covering all Olympic bids for over two decades". He also covers bids for

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

and more in both journalistic and opinion pieces. Livingstone is an expert on all Olympic bids, but was noteworthy during the failed Calgary 2026 Olympic bid when he published his "Dear Calgary:" series that guided the city through the complexities of an Olympic bid prior to a decisive plebiscite. The series received media acclaim in Calgary along with several Q&A interviews.

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

mayor

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2024. He previously served as the 36th List of mayors of Calgary, mayor of Calgary for Mayoralty o ...

apparently took inspiration from Livingstone's remarks during his 2026 Olympic bid campaign when he said “This has been called the most transparent process in Olympic history.” "The mayor was alluding to a tweet from GamesBids.com journalist Robert Livingstone, who covers Olympic bids worldwide" a journalist from ''The Sprawl'' reported. As a long-time Olympic journalist, in 2014 Livingstone was invited to carry the torch in the Sochi

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

torch relay where he ran a leg in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

, Russia. In 2010, Livingstone became one of the first web-only journalists accredited to cover the Olympic Games. Livingstone serves as a committee member of the Richmond Hill Sports Hall of Fame in Richmond Hill where he currently resides.

Television, video, radio and podcasts

Livingstone appeared as an expert on the television show to discuss the controversial Olympic bid vote-buying scandal involving

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. He also appeared as an Olympic bid expert on show where he discussed issues with siting the Olympic Winter Games. In 2021, Livingstone was featured in an Olympic-themed Off The Podium podcast which discussed his career included becoming one of the first-ever web-only journalists to receive accreditation to cover the Olympic Games and running in the Olympic torch relay at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Livingstone appeared in a CBC Sports Program "The Breakdown" in 2022 that took a critical look at the history behind Beijing being awarded the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, a process that he extensively covered with multiple visits to China, Switzerland, Indonesia and Kazakhstan from 2013 to 2014. Livingstone had also been a guest on several radio programs including in 2021 on the Scott Radley Show in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to discuss the city's Commonwealth Games bid.

Awards

In 2015, Livingstone was nominated for an inaugural International Sports Press Association Sport Media Pearl Award in the category of Journalistic Weblog for his work on GamesBids.com. In 2018 he was ranked first in North and South America. He finished on the podium for the first time on May 13, 2025 placing third for Best Column in the 2024 edition, writing about sports politics surrounding Olympic cricket.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingstone, Robert 1967 births Living people Businesspeople from Toronto York University alumni