It’s too bad the Region of York’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games fell short last December.
After all is said and done, landing the Commonwealth Games would have been the best thing ever to happen to amateur athletics in the region.
And it wouldn’t have hurt Canada’s future in athletics either.
Not to say winner Halifax, one of three international contenders in the race, will land the Games, but at least there is a flicker of hope for athletes on Canada’s east coast.
Canadians were once again reminded of the shortcoming of facilities in this part of Canada during the recent Turin Olympics.
Of the 150 or so non-hockey playing Canadian athletes participating, just 10 hailed from the GTA. Ten! That is simply out of whack with the rest of Canada, given that approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s population is located in southern Ontario.
As it is, three York Region residents — Gillian Apps, Gillian Ferrari and Cherie Piper — won gold medals as members of the women’s hockey team.
But nary a bobsled, luge, or skeleton run exists here. Speed skaters hail from Quebec and places located in western Canada because that is where facilities exist.
Former Canadian Olympian and silver medallist Bill Crothers, who was spearheading the York Region bid, played up the legacy card during the process to land the Commonwealth Games.
He is also keen, by the way, to see a high-performance athlete-oriented school established in the region, a project that would surely provide facilities for a wider variety of summer and winter athletic endeavours.
Too many critics of projects such as the Commonwealth Games, and to a larger extent, the Olympics, are quick to dismiss or overlook the positive influence of area athletes training and performing at a superior level.
For evidence, look to what has been the off-shoot of the Calgary Olympics in 1988. A significant portion of Canada’s medal-winning performances in Turin can be credited to training facilities left behind for future generations in the Alberta city.
Often overlooked is the fact youngsters often emulate the heroes they see on TV. So, what’s to think young people in the GTA would not want to emulate a Cindy Klassen or a Clara Hughes or a Duff Gibson ... except that they live in an area in which there is no access to these sports.
As Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Rudge pointed out following his return from Turin, not all athletes with medals are from the places they call currently home. Some were initially from the GTA, but, in order to be near training facilities, were obliged to leave in an athletic form of brain-drain.
That’s not much of a legacy for the GTA.
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