Edmonton Unveils Vision for 2022 Commonwealth Games

(ATR) Edmonton bid leader tells Around the Rings the city will "elevate the Commonwealth Games movement" if it wins hosting rights.

Canada's fifth-largest city successfully hosted the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

The committee behind another Games bid is confident it can build on the efforts of Glasgow 2014 and what the Gold Coast has to offer in four years' time.

The bid held a briefing in London Tuesday. Its vision revolves around developing partnerships with all 71 Commonwealth Games Associations to empower them and enable everyone to achieve sporting excellence.

Bid chairman Reg Milley tells Around the Rings that sharing expertise and establishing a new high performance facility are both integral to the Canadian bid.

"We are looking at developing a series of commitments within our vision and we are talking about two commitments today," he said.

"One is a high performance Commonwealth Games Centre in Edmonton and the other is expanding partnerships so that we really have the ability to transfer skills and knowledge."

"The physical facility would combine everything from sports medicine to nutrition to techniques and that is something we are already doing at the University of Edmonton," he added.

Interns from nations across the Commonwealth would be invited to Edmonton, for example, to both work and learn from organizers in the hope they will take some knowledge and skills back home with them and put those other countries in a better position to host major events.

Edmonton is one of the fastest growing cities and economies in North America and has hosted more than 50 international sporting events in the past 10 years.

Praise for Glasgow 2014

Milley is convinced it can improve on what Glasgow achieved this summer and ensure the Commonwealth Games survives and prospers.

"It was said that Glasgow was the best Games ever and I think that's right," he told ATR.

"I went out of my way to talk to people in Glasgow and ask what they thought of the city hosting the Games and, from people working in hotels to taxi drivers, everyone was extremely positive about it.

He believes Australia’s Gold Coast will "raise the bar even higher."

"They are not going to be content with just matching the Glasgow Games, they want them to be bigger and better," he said.

"So, we have got our work cut out for us and that is why we are looking at these commitments to see how we can make the 2022 Games the best Games ever, move the Commonwealth Games movement further ahead and make it better so that it is more relevant in the future."

Edmonton Promises Exceptional Games

Milley thinks Edmonton's creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to advancing training methods with innovative technology and systems mean it can be a catalyst for the Commonwealth Games movement.

The city has the advantage of having most of the stadiums and facilities already in place and a host of other commitments are to be revealed before the final decision is made in the hope of convincing the voters that Edmonton is the perfect destination for the 2022 Games.

"We have got great facilities and we won't have to build a whole bunch of new ones. We have got some really good facilities that we can adapt and that will be ready before the Games in 2022," Milley added.

"I think the Centre of Excellence is different and I think the transfer of skills and knowledge is different. It is all about moving the Commonwealth forward."

"We will put on an exceptional Games because that is what we are all about," he vowed. "We are all about exceeding expectations and doing better than anybody else."

"Those are two commitments but there will be a series of commitments coming out over the next 12 months and there will be more of those that are different and they will take the Games to another level."

In the months ahead, he said that developing relationships with voting delegates from other countries was crucial "because in the end we need 37 of those people voting in favor of Edmonton."

"We want all 71 to vote for Edmonton but I think there will be one or two that won't," he joked.

Durban is the only other bidder vying to stage the 2022Games.

The Commonwealth Games Federation will vote on the host city at its general assembly in September 2015.

Reported by Tim Groves in London.

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