TORONTO – Despite weeks of complaining about the Pan Am Games, Toronto appears to have embraced the multi-sport event and shown it’s a world-class city.
Leading up to the Games, commuters in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) griped about traffic woes caused by new HOV lane rules. The 905ers, 519ers and 705ers (GTA area codes), complained to the point where the mayor of the 416 and 647 said Toronto would win a gold medal in “moaning and groaning.”
But guess what? The people of Toronto have welcomed the Pan Americas and shown what the city and the Games are all about.
“Toronto is a very clean place, a very neat place,” said Shannon John, a journalist from Dominica. “The people are very warm and friendly, always willing to help…and that’s what really got me smiling.”
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A journalist from Antigua also likes what he sees. “The cleanliness and friendliness of the city and the niceness of the people,” said Andre Henry. “Also the infrastructure of Toronto itself is beautiful.”
Diego Del Real, a 21-year-old track and field competitor from Mexico, said Toronto is clean and the people are caring.
“The way everything is clean, really clean. For me, in my country that’s a problem, a pollution problem. I think everyone here cares a lot,” he said.
He’s right; we are even caring towards dead raccoons.
Visitors are also impressed by the Games themselves.
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You can partly thank the HOV lanes, Del Real.
Stephanie Lovell, a Saint Lucian sailing competitor, was also impressed.
“What most surprised me about the Games and about Toronto is the organization and the people…and another is the weather,” she said. “I mean one day it’s really, really cold and the next is really hot.”
Okay, Toronto has no control over the weather. And for the record, the lowest daytime high since the start of the Games was a balmy 20.7C.
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So where am I going with this? I wanted to know if the Pan Am participants were aware of the “moaning and groaning” and if it has had an effect on the city.
Keith Yonkers, a water polo and sailing announcer from southern California, said he heard rumours about it. “I was completely impressed with the organization and the receptivity within the city,” Yonkers said. “It was great to see people kind of ask how things are going…impressed that people embraced the Games eventually.”
By the sounds of it, we have.
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