TORONTO (AP) – Toronto isn’t ready to bid for the Olympics, but the head of the Pan Am Games knows he’ll be judged by that measure.
The Canadian city is spending more than any previous Pan Am host to organize the multi-sport event, which opens Friday with more than 6,000 athletes from Newfoundland in Canada’s far north to Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of the hemisphere.
“There is no question in my mind we’re going to be judged by Olympic standards, so we have to perform to Olympic standards,” Saad Rafi, CEO of the games, said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think we have beautiful facilities. I know we have an Olympic-caliber village.”
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will attend Friday’s opening ceremony and has been in town looking around.
However, there is more important business than Olympic protocol – like pre-game jitters over traffic restrictions, concerns about ticket sales and the absence of many top American Olympians who could provide star power and create a buzz.