A 2010 Vancouver win could benefit Canadians in both ends of the country. James Christie of the Globe and Mail writes that Hamilton, Ontario is rooting for Vancouver to win the bid for the 2010 Winter Games for a number of reasons. Hamilton is bidding for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and will deliver its bid book to the Commonwealth Games Federation in London on May 20. It’s only competitor is New Delhi, India.
If Vancouver loses, Toronto will quickly bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and according to The Globe and Mail it would divert attention and financial resources away from Hamilton, located less than an hour’s drive from Toronto.
Hamilton has a much better chance of winning the 2010 Commonwealth bid than New Delhi because the Indian Olympic Committee has recently had some public relations problems, including four postponements of the Afro-Asian Games planned for New Delhi and a massive doping scandal at India’s national Games.
David Adames, a general manager of Hamilton’s bid corporation and executive director of Tourisim Hamilton told the Globe and Mail, “we haven’t had a major multi-sport event in Ontario since the Empire Games were in Hamilton in 1930”.
He added, “we feel good about where we are with this bid. We’re taking nothing for granted. India has never hosted the Commonwealth Games and it’s the largest national in the Commonwealth and a formidable opponent”.
The decision on the 2010 Commonwealth Games host will be made November 13 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Should Vancouver and Hamilton win there respective bids it would serve both summer and winter sport communities, provide new facilities and showcase large events in both ends of the country.
Brian Coburn, Ontario Minister of Tourism and Recreation told the Globe and Mail, “everybody’s concentrating on the art of the possible. Vancouver and Hamilton would be a nice set of bookends”.
A win for Hamilton would not only benefit the city but all of Southern Ontario and Canada.
Meanwhile, another city is probably rooting for Vancouver to win the 2010 bid. If Vancouver becomes the 2010 host city, Toronto will automatically drop out of 2012 leaving New York with one less formidable competitor and up until now, the only city in North America bidding for the 2012 Games. Toronto was second to Beijing during the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. New York’s strongest competitors would then include London and possibly Paris.
