The annual congress of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS) is taking place May 22-25 in Toronto and some 200 reporters from 86 countries will be attending.
There will be representatives from Agence France Presse, the BBC, as well as reporters from Cuba, Finland, Russia, Africa and Asia, all in Toronto just weeks before the International Olympic Committee votes for the 2008 host city.
Although AIPS met in Toronto in May 1990, just four months before the IOC voted on the 1996 host city, the politicial climate for Toronto’s Olympic bid then was very different from what it is now.
TO-Bid spokesman Mark Arsenault said, “this is a perfect opportunity for us to highlight ourselves as a sporting city, both from a professional and amateur standpoint”.
While all five cities will be manning booths and pitching their respective cities, the city of Toronto, in all its glory, is the background for the congress. The other bid cities, Beijing, Paris, Osaka and Istanbul, will have officials here to meet with the press.
Reports say that several voting International Olympic Committee members are expected to attend the meeting, including executive board member Anita De Frantz of the U.S., one of five IOC presidential candidates, Jean Claude Killy of France and Irene Szewinska of Poland.
Canada’s Dick Pound, another IOC presidential candidate, is to speak at a media lunch on Thursday.
