Gun sounds for another Toronto Olympic bid
Oct 04, 2009 04:30 AM
Jim Byers
Staff Reporter
Now that Chicago has lost the race for the 2016 Summer Games, seasoned Olympic watchers are debating whether Toronto should take another shot.
Supporters say two failed bids just hones our competitive edge. Critics counter: It’s time to admit defeat.
The International Olympic Committee knocked Chicago out in the first round of voting on Friday, eventually opting to hold the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Afterward, both Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, and John Bitove Jr., 2008 Toronto bid leader, were sounding the gun for a future Toronto bid. Bitove Jr. is itching for 2020. Rudge thinks 2024 is more likely.
“Absolutely,” Bitove Jr. said when asked about a Toronto 2020 contest. “It’s North America’s turn. Everyone knows we had a technically fantastic bid for 2008. The bulk of the money that government committed to us for the waterfront is still there and almost nothing has happened since the last bid.”
North America’s last Summer Games were held in 1996 in Atlanta, which defeated Toronto and several other cities. Canada has already hosted the Olympics twice – summer 1976 in Montreal, and Calgary’s '88 Winter Games – and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are only four months away.
Bitove Jr. doesn’t believe the IOC will consider that too much Canadian content.
“The Olympic family and athletes love Canada and know we put on great Games,” he says.
Rudge was less assured. “I don’t think 2020 is realistic,” he said. “I think we’d want to establish a track record with the 2015 Pan Ams. I think 2024 makes more sense” for Toronto.
Before considering an Olympic bid, Rudge has to get through this weekend in Copenhagen, where he, other COC officials, and politicians including Premier Dalton McGuinty are pressing the flesh in hopes of securing the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Also in Denmark is Bob Richardson, chief operating officer of the 2008 bid. Now a senior adviser for the Pan Am team, Richardson says he’d rather focus on the task at hand than think about the Olympics.
“I suspect we have zero chance of competing for the 2020 Games,” he said by phone Saturday. “Z-E-R-O.”