(Nov 7, 2009)Hamilton's sports community says the city has netted a legacy for local and Canadian athletes that will go on long after the 2015 Pan Am Games are in the history books.
They point to the new facilities the city is slated to get from the Golden Horseshoe Games -- a new stadium, training pool and a velodrome -- as attractions that will help athletes train for future games, including the Summer Olympics.
Andrew Iler, president of the National Cycling Centre, noted Manchester became home to a velodrome -- a training centre for cyclists -- in 1994 and athletes who have trained there have since won 88 medals at the Summer Olympics and World Championship -- "and that is just out of one facility."
"I would almost guarantee medals at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Hamilton (for Canadian cyclists) and following that at the Summer Olympics in Rio," Iler said at the civic celebration staged last night at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre. "I would guarantee it."
He also said a U.S. athlete, whom he would not name other than to say it's not Lance Armstrong, sent him a letter last week saying he'd move to Hamilton to train at the velodrome if the Golden Horseshoe bid wins.
"This is the kind of thing that will happen," Iler said. "It will almost be like an automatic pull. This is a huge opportunity to put Hamilton on the map."
The velodrome is being looked at for the west harbour area, although the location has yet to be finalized. The stadium, which could replace Ivor Wynne as the home for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, is also being looked at for the area. A new 50-metre pool is proposed for McMaster University.
Hamilton will host the second-largest number of sports during the Games. Track and field, track cycling, court volleyball and soccer will be played here. Preliminary rounds of men's and women's soccer are slated for Burlington.
Greg Maychak, Hamilton's supervisor of sport development who helped kickstart Hamilton's involvement in the bid a few years ago, believed the new sports infrastructure will help turn Hamilton into a training centre for summer Olympic athletes the way Calgary and Vancouver have become for Winter Games athletes.
He also believed it will help Hamiltonians beyond sports and give it a boost after losing two attempts to secure the Commonwealth Games earlier this decade.
"I think it's going to be a huge psychological boost," said Maychak. "We are a winner. We were kicked a few times. We are not a city that gives up."
Roger Trull, McMaster's vice-president of university advancement, called landing the Games "a fantastic day for Hamilton." He said the new pool will replace one that reached the end of its life cycle in 2004.
Even athletes were anticipating the impact the Games will have on training for them in the Golden Horseshoe.
"I feel summer athletes are kind of in the shadows many times when we are being compared to the winter sports," said rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Orlando. "These Games are going to set up the infrastructure we need to develop that potential in our athletes. I believe it is going to change the face of amateur sport in this country."
dnolan@thespec.com
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