Having already bid five times — all of which were met with varying degrees of support, yet all were unsuccessful — it appears that a new Toronto Olympics bid is being readied for a sixth time. Countries wishing to host the Olympics in 2024 must make their intent known to the IOC by September 15. Most recently, Toronto failed to land the Games in 96 (Atlanta) and 2008 (Beijing).
What’s different this time around is that the Canadian Olympics Committee might just have the public support it needs on the heels of a very successful time on the podium at the on-going 2015 Pan-American Games. With a day of competition left, Canada has already claimed its best multi-sport competition, with more medals a certainty.
Canadian Olympics Committee President Marcel Aubut told CBC that he would “absolutely lead and advocate with the whole power of my office that Toronto becomes the host city for 2024 Olympic Games.”
One of two men responsible for bringing the Olympics to Vancouver, John Furlong, agrees that now might just be the optimal time to make a strong push. Furlong spoke with the Canadian Press:
“I do think that the timing may be right. If the community decided this was the time to go for it, I think they’d have a pretty good shot. Because of the timing of the bids for 2024, if the city has this feeling, then it will probably have to move along fairly quickly and decide.”
Five cities have already said they will bid: Boston; Budapest, Hungary; Hamburg, Germany; Paris; Rome
When asked about the prospects of hosting the game, Toronto mayor John Tory said to the Canadian Press: “We have to sit down right after these games and prepare every bit of analysis — on the finances, on the benefits to the city, on the amount of publicity it will give us from the point of tourism.”
It is important to note there is already interest in hosting EXPO 2025, which will leave Toronto leadership with a very important decision to make. The winning Olympics bid will be announced in the summer of 2017. It is estimated that a bid will cost in the neighbourhood of $50million.
Of course not all citizens are in favour of a bid. Here are a few tweets collected that are anything but supportive:
Dear #Toronto, hosting Olympics is bad. It's painfully expensive, brings corruption and debt. Signed: Greece, China, Russia, #Montreal
— b4one (@b4one) July 25, 2015
Toronto bidding for any Olympics would be a huge waste of money. Let the Pan Am afterglow wear off before spending millions we don't have.
— Dan Bilicki (@danbilicki) July 25, 2015
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