A Place Of Meeting
October 25, 2000

“Toronto” is a Huron Indian word meaning “a place of meeting”. Toronto’s 2008 Olympic bid motto is appropriately “Expect The World”. Should Toronto win the 2008 Summer Olympic bid it will “expect the world” in Toronto, a “place of meeting”.

After three levels of government, (federal, provincial and municipal) committed $1.5 billion to revitalize the city’s waterfront where many of the Olympic venues will be located, supporters of Toronto’s 2008 bid were able to breathe a little easier. The city’s failed 1996 bid was not fully supported by all three governments. The bid’s President and Chief Executive Officer John Bitove said, “I don’t believe anything of this magnitude has ever been undertaken by a Candidate City”.

The primary focus of Toronto’s bid is “Sport and Athletes: together with the promotion of Olympic ideals and values”. If the city is awarded the Games, all the athletes will be accommodated in a single Olympic Village located on the waterfront within walking distance of the Olympic stadium. Twenty-five sports with competition venues will be within 0.5 to six kilometres of the Olympic Village. There will be an Olympic Village Island that includes private and secure recreation facilities on premier beaches and waterfront parks. A Media Village will be located within one kilometre of the Olympic Stadium, the International Broadcast Centre and the Main Press Centre. And visitors to the Games will be accommodated in more than 72,800 hotel rooms within one hour of the Olympic Village and all of the sport venues.

Toronto’s Olympic bid committee says that Toronto’s 2008 Games would have one of the most advanced telecommunications infrastructures in the world, comprised of state-of-the-art digital, wire-line, wireless and broadcast networks.

The area will be divided into Olympic Rings East, Central and West and the rings will be linked by a continuous Olympic Waterfront Promenade creating an international stage for the Games’ cultural festivities. The Promenade will be reserved for pedestrians, the Olympic family and spectator shuttle-bus transportation.

More than 100 training facilities will be located within 30 minutes of the Olympic Village.

After the Games, the facilities would contribute to a strengthened nation-wide sport and recreation infrastructure at the community level.

National Acclimatization Centres would be established across Canada to host foreign teams and individual competitors for a period of time prior to the commencement of the Games in Toronto.

The bid has a strong environmental policy that includes guiding principles to which the bid is committed. Principles that ensure issues such as transportation, energy and waste were all considered in the planning process. Toronto’s bid committee wants to create the healthiest conditions possible for athletes, visitors and residents by promoting the restoration and maintenance of clean air, land and water; ensuring safe, healthy indoor environments; using non-toxic materials and minimizing pollution.

Toronto’s bid wants to preserve and restore existing greenspace and sensitive habitats, regenerate the waterfront with new green infrastructure and minimize impacts to Toronto’s residents and neighbourhoods. And there are plans to use renewable energy and materials while reducing, reusing and recycling energy, water and materials.

The bid is committed to creating barrier-free accessible conditions for athletes and spectators by ensuring all buildings and sites are barrier-free, including venues and facilities, training sites, the Olympic and Paralympic Village, designated accommodations, food service areas, and media sites.

As for the Paralympics, a Paralympic Working Group and Planning Committee has been established as a sub-committee of the Sports & Venues Committee. Sixteen of the 18 Paralympic sport venues are located within six kilometres of the Paralympic Village and two sports, archery and goalball, will be located within 30 minutes (40 km) of the Paralympic Village.