Robert Livingstone

Robert Livingstone (born 1967) is a Canadian journalist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of GamesBids, a news and information website for the Olympic Games bid process, since 1998. He "is widely considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the Olympic bidding process."^[1][2]

Livingstone's journalistic focus is the Olympic Games' host site selection process, and he frequently comments in the media as a notable expert on the issues related to hosting the Olympic Games by various cities.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

In 1998, he launched GamesBids.com, a reference site for Olympic bids as well as BidIndex,^[8] an original Olympic bid rating system. There, he also serves as a senior journalist. Since 2000, Livingstone has been said to have been "comprehensively covering all Olympic bids for over two decades".^[9] He also covers bids for Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, FIFA World Cup, Pan American Games, Youth Olympic Games and more^[10] in both journalistic and opinion pieces.

He was noteworthy during the failed Calgary 2026 Olympic bid when he published his "Dear Calgary:" series^[11] that guided the city through the complexities of an Olympic bid before a decisive plebiscite. The series received media acclaim in Calgary along with several Q&A interviews.^[12][13] Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi 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.”^[14] "The mayor was alluding to a tweet from GamesBids.com journalist Robert Livingstone, who covers Olympic bids worldwide" a journalist from The Sprawl reported.

In 2014, Livingstone was invited to carry the torch in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics torch relay where he ran a leg in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.^[15] In 2010, Livingstone became one of the first web-only journalists accredited to cover the Olympic Games.^[15]

Livingstone serves as a committee member of the Richmond Hill Sports Hall of Fame in and is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians.^{[16][17][18][19]} He has appeared on multiple television, radio, and other shows, including on CBC Radio Canada and A&E.^[20]

His wife, Hyla, passed away in December 2024. She lived with muscular dystrophy. The couple had one child.^[21][22]

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.^[23][24] In 2018, he was ranked first in North and South America.^[25] 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. ^[26]