After failing twice to land the summer Olympics, Toronto finally made the podium Friday, winning its bid to host the 2015 Pan Am Games.
“This is an exciting day for all Canadians. We are all looking forward to welcoming the Games in 2015,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
“I want to thank and congratulate ... everyone who was involved in bringing these Games to Canada. Canadians love sports and we are known for our hospitality, an unbeatable combination for successful Games.
The Pan American Sports Organization made the announcement Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Toronto won on the first ballot, beating out Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru.
It will be the third time Canada has hosted the event, with games taking place in Winnipeg in 1967 and 1999.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller were part of the team that made the winning pitch.
"Our commitment, our pledge, our
undertaking, our promise is to provide you with the best Pan Am Games ever,"
McGuinty told delegates assembled for the announcement.
"It's an exciting time for so many of
us here."
After the win was announced, McGuinty spoke with CityNews. Watch his reaction to the victory in the video below.
The Pan Am Games are the world’s second-largest multi-sport event, following the Olympics.
"This is a tough international competition but we're feeling good about our chances," bid team member Bob Richardson said before learning the good news. "Premier McGuinty has been doing a great job with the delegates. We're feeling confident but [there's] lots more work to do."
The Toronto team promises state-of-the-art security and monitoring technology to protect the games, about 1,000 highly-trained police and security personnel for peak times and a full daily security contingent of 1,500 private security guards and 2,000 security volunteers.
The winning bid also included the promise a newly-constructed 2015 Pan Am Games Village to go up next to the Don River in the waterfront district, which would be a home for the 8,500 athletes and team officials.
The Pan Am Games would create some 15,000 jobs in the province, primarily in construction, tourism and event support.
The proposal states the total budget for sport venue construction, renovation and venue legacy is about $1 billion. In total, it's estimated the games will cost $2.4 billion to host and the provincial and federal government have already pledged a half-billion each.
The 2011 Pan American Games will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico.