Let’s bring the Olympics to Toronto
Competing at an Olympic Games as an elite athlete on home soil in Canada is better than any script you could write. Trust me.
Canadians are passionate about sport and this passion unites this country like no other. Having been part of two Games in Canada (Calgary, where I won silver in figure skating, and Vancouver, where I was a broadcast analyst), as well as having lived in Toronto for the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, I have seen this proven again and again.
As an athlete, the support and love felt from Canada was the driving force behind my success. It provided the motivation to achieve the most memorable performance of my life.
As a broadcast analyst I observed the interaction between athletes and their fans from another perspective — and saw again how each powerfully inspires the other.
As a spectator, I revelled in the pride that Canadian home crowds in particular experience during such an elite sporting event. The many exciting and poignant moments served as an inspiration in my life well beyond the end of the competition, and I’m sure the same is true for many fellow Canadians. We have all seen what a Games can do; it brings a country alive, and together, with hope.
Toronto has proven it has what it takes to host major international multi-sport events. It is a world-class city with a reputation for business competitiveness, innovation, public safety, livability and diversity. It has become a hub for many international athletes to train here, using our infrastructure and expertise to pursue excellence. Toronto would be great for the Games and the Games in turn would be great for the city. The Olympic infrastructure would serve athletes of today and tomorrow in their own journeys, and would enrich the city in myriad other ways.
Toronto has repeatedly shown its incredible support for sports both at the amateur and professional levels. And we know the power of world-class sport to light up this city — just look at the effect the Blue Jays have had over the last month.
Exposure to an elite sporting event such as an Olympic Games inspires youth to be active; enlarges the national pool of potential athletes; and creates role models for society. It is a showcase of excellence and of the value of hard work that is bound to stir the same values in Canadians, whatever their chosen pursuits. I was once a youth watching a Canadian Olympic Games, being inspired to go after my own dreams.
I fully support the idea of a bid for Toronto 2024. How exciting to think that this great country may once again host a first-class Olympic Games, that we will again embrace the world and show an international audience what makes this city so special. The thought of our youth cheering on and being inspired by their role models fills me with excitement. As does the idea of the business community coming together around and being enriched by this event. But most of all, I think of our Canadian athletes having the opportunity to excel right here, on home soil in the largest, most prestigious sporting event in the world. That’s every athlete’s dream — I hope many more Canadians are lucky enough to make that dream a reality, as I once did.
So let’s unite, as a country, in support of this great opportunity for Toronto. Let’s make this Olympic vision come to life.
We know the power of world-class sport to light up this city — just look at the effect the Blue Jays have had over the last month
Elizabeth Manley won a silver medal in figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.