Bidding for the Games - - 2015 Pan Am Games Bids Approach Finale

(ATR) Bogota, Lima and Toronto enter the final days of bidding for the 2015 Pan American Games.

The cities will make their final presentations Nov. 6 to delegates at the Pan American Sports Organization general assembly in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Bogota Says Pan Ams Needed for City, Nation

After drug violence ravaged Columbia in the 1990s, Bogota 2015 bid leaders hope the Pan American Games could send the city and the county into a new era.

In the 1990s, the Columbia government battled the drug trade and rebel forces, including FARC, in a civil war but the violence has subsided in the past few years. Between 2002 and 2007, homicides decreased by 44 percent, kidnappings by 85 percent and terrorist attacks by 79 percent, according to the U.S. State Department.

"Now we are on the other side," said Catalina Ramirez, president of the Bogota 2015 Organizing Committee, said in an interview with Around the Rings.

"We are now in a very good position. Things have changed and we have a new face to show. The message that we like to give people is that things are possible. We can change things and give a better future to the next generation and we think these games are a magnificent opportunity for that."

The Bogota bid centers around a mostly existing infrastructure with the venues within three kilometers of each other. The bid committee highlighted the proximity of the venues to the PASO evaluation when it visited in August.

"One of the strongest aspects of the bid is the distance between the existing venues and the distance to the Pan American Village," Ramirez said.

Although Ramirez thinks about the future, she focuses on winning the Pan American Games and not about any ramifications that it could have on the country hosting major international events such as the Olympics.

"I wish someday that Bogota will host the Olympics but right now we have to think about is the Pan American Games," Ramirez said.

Bogota will try to put its best face forward when it presents first to the PASO general assembly.

Besides representatives from the government, the Colombian delegation includes sports figures Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama, Edgar Renteria, Cecilia Baena and Moises Fuentes. Baena won the 2009 World Inline Skating Cup Marathon, Fuentes took bronze at the 2008 Paralympics, Renteria was the first Colombian to play in Major League Baseball's World Series and Valderrama is one of the most celebrated football players in Columbian history.

"We are very enthusiastic. We think we have done all things that we had to do and now we have to be prepared for the presentation," Ramirez said. "We hope that the Games leave a lasting legacy not only in Columbia but for all the countries involved."

Bogota hopes to become the second Columbian city to host the games. Cali hosted the 1971 Pan American Games.

More information:

Web site: http://www.bogotapanamericanos2015.gov.co/ (Spanish, English)

Bid Book: http://issuu.com/idrd/docs/bogota2015_ciudad_candidata?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

Bid Video:

http://www.bogotapanamericanos2015.gov.co/sccs/interna.php?id=18

Lima Would Gain Sports Infrastructure

Senior IOC member and Lima 2015 advisor Ivan Dibos views the Pan American games as an opportunity to improve the sports infrastructure of Peru.

"We need those venues to improve the quality of our sports. The games are a legacy," Dibos said.

"Our sports infrastructure is not good because no one has won anything in sports for the last 20 years and this would be a good, good excuse to improve our infrastructure and pull us up to date with other countries."

Lima vies to become the first city in Peru to host the Pan American Games. The bid uses the geographic history of the Pan American Games to make the case for Peru. Rio de Janeiro used a similar strategy on its successful bid for the 2016 Olympics.

"No Peruvian city or any other city on the South American Pacific Coast has had the honor of hosting the Pan-American Gamesfor which reason we respectfully expect Lima will be the first such city to do so. Rest assured the entire nation stands behind Lima’s request," Peruvian Olympic Committee Jose Quinones Gonzalez writes in the bid book.

Lima plans to invest $259.6 million for the Pan American Games, with the largest part going to modernize the sports infrastructure and construction of the Pan American Village. Lima offers 34 sports venues located in three different zones near the Pacific coast.

While Lima waits to find out if it will host the games, remodeling of the National Stadium, the centerpiece of the bid, is underway. The Stadium was built in 1952 and seats 45,000. The renovations include the addition of 350 boxes, a restaurant and more parking spaces. Renovations are expected to cost $9 million.

Arturo Woodman, head of the Peruvian Sports Institute and the bid president, told the Adina news agency last week that the renovations will finish by August 2010.

The 2015 dates for the Lima Games are from July 3-19.

Dibos, who served as minister of sports from 2003 to 2006, praised the cooperation between the bid committee, the National Olympic Committee, and local and national governments. He added that 85 percent of the residents are in favor of the Games.

"We have never been so close together. I have never seen such response by the central government of a proposal made by the Olympic committee," Dibos said. "Everybody wants the games— the President, the public, the sportsman, the businessmen—so I think we have a good possibility and that depends on the vote."

More information:

Web site: http://www.lima2015.org/ (Spanish)

Bid Book: http://aroundtherings.com/bidbooks/Peru_bid_book.pdf

Bid Video: http://www.lima2015.org/videos_prensa.php

Confident Toronto Begins Pan Am Village Construction

After witnessing Toronto fail in bids for the 1996 and 2008 Olympics, 2015 Bid President David Peterson is not making any public predictions heading into the assembly.

"I just know these things are hard work and we got a very good technical bid and worked very, very hard at this," Peterson said. "But I just know some of these things have been lost at the last second so working very hard to earn the trust. There are 42 voters and they are the masters."

The Toronto budget totals $1.4 billion for capital and operating funds not including the Pan American Village.

Construction of the Village is underway. The projected is funded with $1 billion in private funds. If Toronto does not receive the Games then the village will become housing, Peterson said.

"Villages have bedeviled previous Games," Peterson said. "This village complex will go ahead with or without the Games. It will obviously be different with the Games."

The Village is one of six new projects for the games. The new projects include the Canadian Sport Institute, the Pan American Aquatics Centre, Pan American Velodrome; two 10-lane, 50-metre pools and a 15,000 seat Pan American Stadium.

Toronto will also make use of its existing sporting venues. The Rogers Centre, formally Sky Dome, would host the opening and closing ceremonies and baseball. The Air Canada Centre, home of the NBA's Raptors, would host basketball.

As the only bid city in a developed country, the bid emphasizes the cleanliness, safety and stable infrastructure of Toronto.

Toronto will present last to the General Assembly. Who will attend for the bid is still uncertain. Toronto bid leaders are awaiting word on whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make the trip. Peterson said last week that Harper's plans are "not absolutely clear." Toronto 2015 will make pubic its delegation for the PASO general assembly on Friday.

Peterson said his bid has solid government backing regardless of whether Harper makes the trip.

"We got very strong representation. We got the premier, various ministers and the mayor coming," Peterson told Around the Rings. "We got a high-degree of political support and guarantees that are worth something."

Peterson made the trip to Copenhagen earlier the month for the IOC Congress and witnessed Rio de Janeiro winning the 2016 Olympics. Peterson downplayed the effect of Rio's victory on the Pan American race.

"It a totally different voter base," Peterson said. "The people do not vote as a bloc. Everyone looks at these bids individually."

More information:

Web site: http://www.toronto2015.org (English, French, Spanish)

Bid Book: http://www.toronto2015.org/wp-content/themes/default/documents Toronto%202015%20Bid%20Book%20EN.pdf

Bid Video: http://www.toronto2015.org/lang/en/gallery/videos

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Written by Sam Steinberg.