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Toronto awarded 2015 Pan American Games, beating out Bogota and Lima
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico - The 2015 Pan American Games are going to Toronto.
The Pan American Sports Organization awarded the games in a secret vote on Friday with Toronto receiving 33 votes to win on the first ballot. Lima, Peru, received 11 votes and Bogota seven. One vote of the 52 was null.
"This is a day of celebration, a moment of joy. We won this honor and are very thankful," said Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario. "The quality of the competition was very hard. Lima and Bogota were great rivals and I'm sure that they will host the games someday."
Canada has held the event twice — in Winnipeg in 1967 and 1999. Toronto has failed in two bids to host the summer Olympics.
The 2007 Pan American Games were held in Rio de Janeiro, which used that success as a springboard to its winning bid for the 2016 Olympics last month.
The 2011 games are to be held in Guadalajara, which has faced major delays in organizing the event.
In its presentation on Friday, Toronto emphasized that many of the facilities needed for the games were already built. Officials suggested their option was "risk free" and said they were planning to build an athletes' village and an aquatic center, no matter the outcome of the vote.
Toronto officials said the games would be held from July 10-26, with the Parapan American Games set for Aug. 7-14.
The Toronto delegation was headed by McGuinty and Mayor David Miller.
The delegations from Colombia and Peru were both led by heads of government — President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia and President Alan Garcia of Peru.
"We had hoped Bogota would be the venue, but we have to accept the results and move ahead. It was a clean fight," Uribe said.
In his presentation just before the vote, Garcia urged voters to choose the venue on something other than financial concerns. Peru has never hosted the Pan American Games. Colombia held them once, in Cali in 1971.
"This is not a real estate auction, nor is it a competition about who is the richest," Garcia said.
The first Pan American Games were held in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Only 10 of the 42 member nations in the Pan Am Sports Organization have hosted the games.
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