Jim Byers CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
The Canadian Olympic Committee quietly has begun kicking Toronto's tires to see if it can roust Canada's biggest city into a third bid for the Summer Olympic Games.
"If we could bring the Summer Games to Canada again it would have a profound impact on sport in Canada and provide a real legacy," COC chief executive Chris Rudge told the Star. "Logically, it would be Toronto and we'd certainly like to know if the city is interested."
If Toronto is willing, Rudge believes the city has a chance at winning the 2020 Summer Games or those in 2024. He admits it's a long way off; a bid for 2020 likely wouldn't be voted on until 2013. And Rudge concedes his thoughts are at a preliminary stage.
"But I'd like to explore the idea and I would hope the mayor would see it as an opportunity to move the city ahead and attract some economic development," he said.
Having seen Toronto fall short in bids for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics, Mayor David Miller told the Star he likes the idea of another Olympic quest. But not just yet.
"It's probably too soon after our last one," he said, referring to Toronto's lost vote to heavily favoured Beijing six years ago, when the 2008 Summer Olympics went to the Chinese capital.
Miller said he thinks Toronto should lay the groundwork for success through high-profile events like the under-20 world soccer championships now on and, perhaps, the 2011 women's World Cup of Soccer.
"But I went to the Olympics in Montreal in 1976. I actually ran in the torch parade and ran up Mount Royal. It was pretty cool, and I know what those Olympics did for Montreal. They put Montreal on the world map in a way nothing else did," he said. "So, from that perspective, I think Toronto someday needs to host a huge international sporting event, and the Olympics are obviously the crown jewel. But what's on my radar for the immediate term is hosting as many other international events as we can."
Rudge, too, isn't sure when the timing will be right. After next year's games in Beijing comes Vancouver's turn for the 2010 Winter Games. The 2012 Summer Olympics will be in London, and the International Olympic Committee just last week awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics to Sochi, Russia.
Several cities are gunning for 2016, notably Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. The Summer Games haven't been in North America – the IOC's richest television market – since Atlanta in 1996 and most observers are pegging Chicago as a solid threat for 2016. If Chicago were to win, Toronto would be right out of it for some time, said veteran IOC member Dick Pound of Montreal.
"Some day Toronto will host the Summer Games," he said yesterday. "The problem has always been timing. The first time the timing was right but we got it wrong. The last time we were up against the Chinese. If Chicago wins the 2016 vote (in the fall of 2009), Toronto would be off the board for some time. But if they lost, then 2020 might be conceivable. It would certainly be time for the Games in North America."
Pound said it's too early to deem Chicago the frontrunner, although he said the city's bid – led by Mayor Richard Daley – looks attractive.
If Toronto were to bid for 2020, the vote wouldn't take place until 2013 and the city wouldn't have to register until perhaps 2010. Rudge said he's not aware of the business world beating Toronto's drum. But he said the city and the province desperately need investment in athletic facilities and the Olympics could be the ideal driving force.
