Officials with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) Organizing Committee congratulated the City of Toronto on Friday (Nov. 6) for earning the honour of hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games — marking the third time Canada will host the Games.

“We want to congratulate the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games Bid team and all Torontonians on their successful bid to host the 2015 Games — the first time the games will ever be held in Ontario,” said John Furlong, VANOC’s chief executive officer.

“Given the enormously positive culture for sport that is growing in Canada and being supported by the 2010 Winter Games, this success is hugely encouraging for the country and for the City of Toronto. We know in 2015 Toronto will win top marks as a superb host to thousands of athletes, officials and media from the Americas and the resulting sport and infrastructure legacies will last for generations.

“The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee have members on VANOC’s board of directors and we hope their experience and valuable contributions gained in the planning for the 2010 Winter Games will help the 2015 Pan American team build and create a successful organizing committee. We also expect that many of the key Toronto 2015 organizers will attend the 2010 Winter Games to learn and observe and we will give them a warm welcome.”

Toronto was selected by the Pan American Sport Organization in Guadalajara, Mexico, on the first ballot out of a pool of three cities that also included Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru.