I’m taking a week or two off from the Tip of the Week in order to blog about an exciting event in Toronto – the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Twice in last 25 years Toronto has bid to host the Summer Olympic Games. Toronto lost out to Atlanta to host 1996 and to Beijing to host 2008. I got involved with the 2008 bid and can tell you it would have been a spectacular Olympics if we’d been successful with all the events clustered along Toronto’s downtown waterfront. As former athletes involved with the bid we were excited that Canadian athletes might have the opportunity to compete at home, enjoying the support of everyone in Canada’s largest city. We were also aware that hosting the games would leave a legacy of world-class sports facilities that would provide training and competition venues for future generations. Alas, it wasn’t to be, but then along came the Pan Am Games.
Nobody is under the illusion that the Pan Ams are the Olympics. The Olympic Games involve the entire world while at the Pan Ams only the 40 or so countries from the Western Hemisphere are invited to the party. Powerhouse European nations and sports superpowers like China will be missing, but for Canadian athletes having the opportunity to compete at home in a major games is still a big deal. And just as hosting the Olympics would have left a legacy, the Pan Ams will leave a legacy or world-class sports facilities across southern Ontario. It will make a difference to future generations of Canadian athletes.
There’s been the typical pre-Games predictions of disaster from the cynics (you should have heard the doom and gloom forecast for the Olympics in London and they turned out to be fantastic) and there has been a good deal of grumbling from those inconvenienced by the increased traffic caused largely by the dedicated lanes for Pan Ams traffic that have sprung up on local highways. What those people might forget is that you can’t be a world-class city without hosting mega events like this from time to time. You’ve also got to remember that all of the infrastructure improvements that the city has recently seen have been completed as a direct result of the Pan Am Games. You can’t have it both ways. I’ve always believed the lasting benefits for everyone far outweigh a few weeks of inconvenience. My advice to those complainers would be to watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in hopes that their hearts might also grow a couple of sizes, then sit back and enjoy the party. Go to some events, take your kids, cheer on Canadian athletes and take your turn to play the gracious hosts that people around the world always are to traveling Canadians.
From a coach’s perspective, one of the great things about these games is that they are drawing some media attention and thrusting the spotlight on our athletes a year ahead of the traditional Olympic year burst of interest. It’s like a dress rehearsal for the craziness of the Olympic year, and for younger athletes and those older athletes that haven’t really had the spotlight directed at them before it is a valuable opportunity to gain experience that will help them next year.