According to news reports in The Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun, a Toronto bid for the 2012 Summer Games could be in the works – but only if Vancouver fails to win its bid for the 2010 Winter Games.
James Villeneuve, vice-president of Toronto’s failed 2008 Olympic bid, told The Star that Toronto 2008 bid officials got lots of good vibrations from International Olympic Committee members when they were in Salt Lake City on the weekend.
Villeneuve said, “a lot of members made a special point of coming up to talk to John (TO-Bid chief executive John Bitove Jr.) and I, when we were there. It was like a reunion”.
Villeneuve told the Toronto Sun he’d like to see a Toronto 2012 bid if Vancouver fails to win the 2010 Winter Games. “I think we can certainly get a bid going quickly, given that a lot of the work that was done last time won’t have to be replicated”.
He said he’ll support Vancouver’s bid, even though its success would leave another Canadian city little chance of hosting the Games in the near future.
“They (Vancouver) are certainly one of the lead bids. There’s no doubt. I saw it when I was down there that they are a solid contender”, he said.
Villeneuve added, “I think the populous of Toronto viewed the 2008 bid as being a good thing for the city. People felt positive, so I think if it were ever to happen again, people would say, ‘that was a good experience, we should support it’”.
