Athletes choose Toronto for swim trials: Swimming Canada CEO

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The athletes have decided to move from Montreal in favor of Toronto as a Plan B for the Olympic and Paralympic swimming trials, according to the head of Swimming Canada.

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The Pan Am Sports Center in Toronto was the venue for the 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games and the 2016 and 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Trials.

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The tried-and-tested venue gave the athletes a sense of comfort as they tried to find an alternative venue for the May 13-19 trials that will determine who will travel to Paris this summer.

“The athlete voice has been about performance from the beginning,” Swimming Canada interim executive director Suzanne Paulins said at a media conference Tuesday. “It was about coming to a pool that would give them a performance advantage, and the Pan Am Pool in Toronto was that choice.”

About 800 athletes from across Canada will compete in the trials for the right to wear the Maple Leaf in Paris.

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Montreal's Olympic pool was the original site, but a March 21 fire at the nearby Olympic Stadium, followed by smoke and water damage from the firefight, made the pool's air quality unsafe for people for four to six months, Paulins and the head of the Quebec swimming federation said. Francis Menard.

“They can't provide a safe environment to make sure athletes can train and compete in a quality environment,” Menard said.

When Montreal's Olympic Park made the announcement last week, Canada's swimmers were looking for another available venue for the May time frame, seeking not only a 50-metre competition pool, but another warm-up and cool-down pool with sufficient capacity. accessibility for spectators, para-athletes and broadcast and digital streaming capabilities.

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“The decision comes down to our athletes, our athlete's voice and their performance,” Paulins said. “It was really about these athletes trying to qualify for the Olympics and Paralympics, and a hundredth of a second can make a difference.”

“We really had to find a competitive environment that would allow them to realize their goals.”

Montreal's financial investment, the provincial government and Montreal tourism, however, Swimming Canada tried to hold the trials in Quebec.

Montreal's Claude Robillard Sports Complex has a 50-meter pool, but this distance was not only a second warm-up and cool-down pool, but also a figure swimming event that challenged swimming trials. Relocation to Laval University in Quebec City was also considered and rejected.

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Paulins said it remains to be seen how much money Swimming Canada could lose and what government agencies will pay for.

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Asked if the city of Montreal, the Quebec government and the Montreal Tourism Authority would provide financial support for the trials in Ontario, Paulins said, “It has not been ruled out.

“We don't know the cost yet,” he said. “All of our funding partners are working with us to minimize the impact, so hopefully at the end of the day it will be minimal.”

Swimming Canada offers assistance to athletes, coaches and officials who wish to live in Toronto or face additional expenses due to travel changes. Family members are not yet included in this assistance.

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“Our focus is on the participants, the athletes, the coaches, the officials, so that's where our focus is right now. We have not ruled anything out,” Paulins said.

Swimming's national governing body says Air Canada will waive change fees and fare differences for those booking flights to Montreal.

Toronto was named late last year as the site of the swimming trials for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Those tests cannot be moved to Montreal because the Olympic pool will be undergoing major renovations at that time and will be unavailable, Ménard said.

Montreal ticket refunds and Toronto ticket promotions are other important wrinkles in the transfer.

“A significant coup,” Paulins said. “An event like this, we try to make all the arrangements and do everything we need to do in four weeks.

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