Roundup: Toronto to consider Olympic bid after Pan Am Games

Talks of another Olympic bid surfaced Wednesday as Toronto 2015 Pan American Games have been so far so successful.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city now has sports facilities to host international competitions that could previously only be held in Vancouver, leaving the door open for a possible future Olympic bid.

However Tory said it's premature to talk about the city's potential for a bid with just days left until the Pan Am Games wrap up.

"There's a whole variety of international events and sporting competitions that we're now in a position to host, which I think is good for Toronto, good for Ontario and good for Canada, and the Olympics is one of those, obviously, about which there's a great discussion," Tory said.

Tory said that after the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games end, officials will "sit down and talk about these things together as we will and decide what's best in terms of what we go forward with, whether it's an Olympic bid or a host of other things one could go forward with."

"I guess everything's on the table until you take it off the table," he said.

Earlier this year, a city committee voted to halt the process of pursuing a bid for the 2024 Games. Toronto finished third behind Atlanta and Athens for the 1996 summer games and second to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

But the success of the Pan Am Games has raised the prospect that Toronto might make a play for a future Olympic bid.

The Games have brought about 6,000 athletes from 41 participating countries and regions to Toronto. There were concerns about whether or not certain venues would be ready in time. There were also worries about traffic problems. So far, however, things have gone smoothly for the host city.

After Day 12 competitions, Canada took home 64 gold and 173 overall medals. The United States is leading the medal count with 76 golds and 201 in total. Brazil is third with 32 golds and 114 in total, followed by Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina.

Meanwhile according to John Furlong, former Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee CEO, hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics would finally help Toronto "endear itself to the country," suggesting the city's handling of the Pan Am Games this summer would be a boost for any potential bid.

Furlong said the experience from hosting the multi-sport event is something other bid cities such as Rome, Paris and Boston could not easily match.

"It's highly likely there will be a conversation before the week is out," Furlong said. "On Monday morning, people will wake up in a euphoric state - not just people who believe in sport, generally, and not just people in political life - and be willing to cast a thought for, 'What would it be like for us to put on the Olympics Games?'"

The Pan Am Games will draw to a close on Sunday night, with American rapper Kanye West headlining a group of artists in the closing ceremony. After initial concerns of civic apathy, wrapped around fear of traffic chaos and glacial ticket sales, the event gained momentum through its opening weekend, powered by a run of Canadian medal successes.

Organizers say they have sold one million tickets, out of the 1.2 million that were made available. Some events have unfolded in front of gaping maws of empty seats; many events have been sold out.

"I think the Pan American Games is a pretty good test," Furlong said. "People were kind of watching and wondering just exactly how this would all go."

The 64-year-old was in Toronto for his role as chair of Own the Podium, the organization that helps direct funding to Canada's amateur athletes.

"This is a way for Toronto, in some way, to endear itself to the country - to be the biggest city in the country, to be the leader, to be the example for the country, and do something profoundly positive," he said. "If it chose to do this, this would be a good way to do it."

In a city such as Toronto, though, where needs exist in everyday services such as public transit and infrastructure, why spend money chasing a Games?

"A well-organized bid could deliver for Toronto many of the things Toronto dreams about, that it probably may never be able to find the impetus to deliver," Furlong said. "If you decide to go for it, decide that, 'We're going to do this, let's do as much good as we can, while we can, for as long as we can.'"

There is a precedent for a Pan Am Games host city to move onto the Olympics. Rio de Janeiro is hosting the Olympics next summer after staging the Pan Ams in 2007. Four years ago, officials in Mexico pledged to mount an Olympic bid after hosting the Games in Guadalajara.

The deadline for bidding on the 2024 Olympics is Sept. 15, and the winning bid will be announced in 2017. Several bids have already been launched: Budapest, Boston, Rome, Paris and Hamburg, Germany. Endi