July 9, 2015
A number of City-owned facilities have undergone significant improvements to prepare them as venues and training facilities for the TORONTO 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games. These investments, along with the newly-built Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, will be a lasting legacy for Toronto residents for generations to come.
The City's Games venues are spread across Toronto – from North York to the waterfront, from Etobicoke to Scarborough, and throughout the downtown core. Here are some highlights of the facilities:
Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
Known as the CIBC Pan Am Aquatics Centre during the Games, the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC) represents the single largest investment in amateur sport development in Canada. Co-owned by the City of Toronto and the University of Toronto Scarborough, and developed in partnership with the federal and Ontario governments, the TPASC is located in Scarborough and will serve community members, university students and high-performance athletes for decades to come.
The 34,000-square-metre (365,000-square-foot) facility features two 50-metre pools, a separate dive tank, four gymnasiums, three multi-purpose studios, a fitness centre, a climbing wall, dry-land dive training, community program and meeting spaces, a sports medicine clinic and food concessions. The Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario (CSIO) has relocated its head office to the TPASC, providing world-leading sport science and sport performance services including coaching and training facilities.
During the Games, the TPASC will be used as the competition venue for diving, fencing, modern pentathlon, roller sports speed skating, swimming and para-swimming, synchronized swimming and sitting volleyball.
BMX Centre
Located at Centennial Park in Etobicoke, the BMX Centre is a 350-metre racing and training BMX track that will have both a five- and eight-metre start. Designed and constructed to meet Union Cycliste Internionale (UCI) certification, this track will serve as a legacy for competition-level events as well as the community’s recreational use.
Etobicoke Olympium
The Etobicoke Olympium has undergone various renovations, including improvements to the existing Olympic-sized pool and dive towers, replacement of major mechanical, electrical and life-safety systems as well as redesigned lobby and administrative areas. The Olympium will be used as a training facility during the Games.
West Channel Watercourse at Marilyn Bell Park The channel will host open-water swim, triathlon swim, waterski and wakeboard. A wave-attenuating structure has been added to the north and south sides of the channel to ensure a first-class water venue for these TORONTO 2015 Games events.
Track and field venues
Both the indoor and outdoor track surfaces at the Toronto Track and Field Centre have been replaced so the centre can serve as an athlete training and warmup facility during the Games. The track surface at Birchmount Stadium has been re-graded and replaced, as it will be used as a training venue. The track surface at Centennial Stadium has also been re-graded and replaced, as it will be used as a backup facility, and the stadium's parking areas are also being used and will not be available for public parking.
Other City facilities used during the Games • Donald D. Summerville Pool is being used as a training facility for swimming.
• High Park is being used as a competition venue for marathon and road cycling.
• L'Amoreaux Stadium is being used as a training facility for softball.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit
http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
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