Head of Canadian Olympic Committee wants Toronto to host 2024 Summer Games

By: Stephen Wade, The Associated Press

The head of the Canadian Olympic Committee says he would back a bid by Toronto to host the 2024 Olympics, potentially joining a crowded field that already includes five cities.

Marcel Aubut, president of the COC, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation the city can use the Pan Am Games _ which end Sunday _ as a springboard.

Aubut told CBC that he will “absolutely lead and advocate with the whole power of my office that Toronto becomes the host city for the 2024 Games.”

So far five cities are bidding: Boston; Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; Paris; Rome. Toronto lost recent bids to Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics, and against Beijing for 2008.

Toronto has built several Olympic-grade venues including a pool and cycling velodrome. Canada has spent 2.5 billion Canadian organizing the Pan Am Games, 10 times what Winnipeg spent 16 years ago, and three times more than Guadalajara, Mexico, for the 2011 edition.

Canada last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1976 in Montreal. Those games ran up debts of $1.5 billion, which took the city 30 years to pay off.

“I think there’s only one spot that (Pan Am Games) could lead us, and to me that’s the Olympic Games,” Aubut said.

Aubut was to meet reporters later Sunday when he could offer more details of what would be a long and complex procedure before a formal decision to bid.

Boston’s bid is floundering with local approval falling below 50 per cent. The United States Olympic Committee was to meet Monday to discuss the Boston bid with Los Angeles a possible alternative.

Toronto could suit some interests in North America, which has not hosted a summer games since Atlanta in 1996. From the American perspective Toronto could be considered like “home-country games” with Canadian governments picking up the bills.

Toronto Mayor John Tory has said officials will weigh the pros and cons as soon as the Pan Am Games wrap up.

“Toronto is in the midst of hosting the largest sporting event in Canadian history. The city has come alive with sport competition and cultural showcase,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “Already the Games’ legacy has reached beyond sport with the development of new projects like Corktown Commons, the Athletes’ Village, the revitalized waterfront and the Union Pearson Express to the airport.”

“Our city and the Mayor are committed to putting on a great Pan Am/Parapan Am Games and any discussion of a possible Olympic bid would take place after the close of these Games,” the statement continued.

The cost of bidding, as well as staging the Olympics, is among the concerns. Several published reports have estimated a bid would cost at least $50 million and a source confirmed that figure to The Canadian Press.

Tory also stressed that he doesn’t want to lead the city into another rejection.

Cities wishing to host the 2024 Games have until Sept. 15 to register their interest with the International Olympic Committee. A short list will be selected next year, with the winner chosen in the summer of 2017.

The man who helped Vancouver land the 2010 Winter Olympics has said the timing might be right for Toronto this time.

John Furlong said the excitement over the Pan Am Games would make it easier to generate public support for an Olympic bid, which is key to winning over the IOC.

Others have pointed to the city’s new sports facilities, as well as new Olympic rules allowing host cities to use existing venues, as another point in Toronto’s favour.

The winner will be named in 2017 in Lima, Peru.

With files from News Staff

This is a corrected story. The original story incorrectly stated that the head of the Canadian Olympic Committee said Toronto would bid for the 2024 Olympics