About 80 reporters at the Main Press Centre in Sydney’s Olympic Village heard John Bitove, CEO of Toronto’s Olympic bid, describe Toronto’s future 2008 facilities as a “utopia”.
According to Bitove, athletes would be housed in a single Olympic Village on the shores of Lake Ontario, with its own beach and parks within walking distance of the Olympic Stadium.
To beat traffic problems, Bitove said no competition would be further than six km (3.7 miles) from the village.
The media village would be within one km of the Olympic Stadium, International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre, said Bitove.
Rapter star Vince Carter, a recent booster of Toronto’s bid, called Toronto a clean and a safe city.
Reports say that two “rather unspectacular videos” were shown on a small television screen. One showed highlights of Toronto that didn’t particularly look like Toronto, and one had highlights of Carter, which looked like it was made from someone’s home video recorder.
And presentations from Paris and Osaka (Osaka used a giant video screen) were far more advanced than Toronto’s sales pitch.
But the other bid cities haven’t had the draw that the athletes are having to Toronto’s presentation.
