Denver Won the 1976 Winter Olympics Then Rejected Them

In 1970, the International Olympic Committee selected Denver over three other candidates to host the 1976 Winter Olympics. As the projected costs and environmental impacts of the Olympics began to grow, however, so did public opposition. On Election Day in 1972, Colorado voters rejected a $5 million state bond issue to help pay for the Games. A week later, Denver stepped down as host of the Games, which were switched to Innsbruck, Austria.