THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor
If Canada did not have enough Games hysteria happening in the form of the upcoming Vancouver Olympics, there’s more — Toronto has landed a successful bid for the 2015 Pan American Games.
Toronto’s bid committee was leaps and bounds ahead of rivals in Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru and clinched the hosting rights on Nov. 6 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The Pan American Sports Organization announced Toronto’s 33 votes on the first ballot was more than enough to topple runner-up Lima’s 11 votes. It was also reported that the vision behind Toronto’s bid was technically complex and impressive, far surpassing any of the other cities’ bid presentations.
The successful Pan Am bid was a long time coming for Toronto; after being denied two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games and a World’s Fair, the city has finally put together a winning bid for a major sports event. Toronto becomes the second Canadian city to host the Pan Ams after Winnipeg held the Games in 1967 and 1999.
So what are the Pan American Games? They’re kind of like the Olympics’ little brother in a way.
Initially supposed to be held in Buenos Aires in 1943, World War II prevented the proceedings of the first Pan Ams and it wasn’t until 1951 that the Games’ tradition finally took flight in Argentina.
Similar to the Olympics, the Pan Am Games are a multi-sport event held every four years the year before the summer Olympics. The approximately two-week long event showcases all the nations in the western hemisphere and includes countries such as the United States, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Brazil and Argentina.
The sports featured in the Pan Ams are diverse and far reaching and include more than 30 sports such as cycling, diving, baseball and basketball. The Pan Ams also showcase underground sports like roller skating, tae kwon do, water polo, team handball, synchronized swimming and table tennis.
Though very popular in Latin American countries, the Pan Ams don’t receive much attention in North America and only include summer sports. Though the idea has been speculated upon, no winter installments of the Pan Ams have ever successfully taken place due to a lack of interest.
Critics and nay-sayers have already begun dubbing the event a momentous waste of government and taxpayers’ money due to a looming deficit and the over-budget Vancouver Olympics. Reported to cost upwards of $2.4 billion, the Pan Ams have a pretty hefty price tag but until a more detailed approach to organizing the Pan Ams in Toronto has been conceived, it may be too soon to begin scrutinizing costs and crunching numbers.
Though the $2.4 billion to be funnelled into the Toronto Pan Ams may be a staggering amount, it is more realistic than the $1.6 billion the Vancouver Olympics were originally predicted to cost — a fee now expected to soar to $2.5 billion by the time the Olympics get underway.
Before the Pan Am Games arrive in Toronto in 2015, the multi-sport competition will first be held on Mexican soil in Guadalajara in 2011.