Competing at home adds a new dimension to the Pan Am Games for Canadian athletes
The Pan Am Games offer a lot for spectators, for fans across the country, and for long-term infrastructure, but they also carry significant benefits for the athletes involved. Some have the opportunity to directly qualify for next summer's Rio Olympics, while others, such as members of Canada's women's soccer team, will use these Games to try and build towards a place where they can earn inclusion in Canada's Olympic teams. Some will be competing in sports that aren't currently in the Olympics, including baseball. softball, wakeboarding and water-skiing; for them, these Games represent one of the highest-profile international competitions out there.
All the athletes have one thing in common here, though; they get to compete at a high-level multi-sport international event in their own country, in front of Canadian fans and sometimes friends and family. That's a rare opportunity, and that's a big part of why these Games matter for many of the athletes involved. Olympic decathlon star Damian Warner, who produced an impressive fifth-place finish at the 2012 London Games, told Yahoo in April he decided to do the full decathlon in Toronto to experience what it's like to compete in front of a hometown crowd, despite its proximity to the world championships:
"Being a Canadian athlete, you don't get many opportunities to compete in front of a home crowd," he said. "Most of my family are from London or the Toronto area, so it's perfect for them."
For those like Warner with particular ties to the Toronto area, these Games are special on several levels. They're a rare chance for friends and family to come out and watch him, but they're also a chance for him to be fully embraced by the crowd. There can be a strong home-field advantage in the Olympics, as Canada's 2010 performance in the Winter Games showed, but there hasn't been a Summer Olympics in Canada since 1976, and there may never be one again. Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut said in June he wants Toronto to bid for the Summer Olympics, and the infrastructure built for the Pan Am Games will certainly help if a serious bid is made, but that bid is very pie-in-the-sky at the moment, and it may never come to fruition. The Pan Ams are a chance for elite Canadian athletes to compete at home in front of Canadian fans against strong international competition, and that's something that doesn't come around often. It can be a big boost for athletes, too; consider what Curt Harnett, Canada's chef de mission for these Games, recently told Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press about how a home-soil tournament turned a season around for him:
Curt Harnett was having a horrible season in 1994. The three-time Olympic medalist in track cycling was struggling with his form and tinkering with his pedalling mechanics.
The Commonwealth Games in Victoria that summer salvaged his season.
It was the one chance in his illustrious career to compete in front of a Canadian crowd, and it was where he made some of his fondest sports memories – the type Canada’s top athletes will be compiling at the Pan American Games.
“Victoria was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” said Harnett, Canada’s chef de mission for the 2015 Pan Am Games. “When the majority of the stands are actually cheering you on versus some other competitor, that energy is really quite fantastic.”
“It was an amazing adventure, and for me it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s what it’s going to be like for these athletes,” added Harnett, who won silver in Victoria and went on to earn bronze at the ’96 Olympics. “This could very well be the only chance they get to race in front of a home crowd.”
Racing in front of a home crowd means a lot to many of these athletes. Here's what canoe slalom competitor Ben Heyward said about that this week:
“I’ve never raced in front of a home crowd before of this size so I’m really excited for that. It’s going to be so cool to get a crowd of five hundred cheering for me and Team Canada. Pan Ams will be our continental qualifier for Rio so it is a good confidence builder to be able to race well here on home water.
Hosting international sports tournaments on Canadian soil does come with plenty of challenges. There's always a lot of money spent, and substantial inconvenience for locals. The complaints about Pan Am traffic, construction and so on aren't unjustified, and they've been heard before. The recent Women's World Cup was a success for Canada on a number of levels, but it created plenty of problems for many people, including the CFL teams that had to vacate their stadiums for over a month. However, there are big benefits from these tournaments too, as the comments from athletes like Warner, Harnett and Heyward show. It's a rare chance for Canada's athletes to compete in front of a supportive home crowd, and for some, that can mean a lot.
