THUNDER BAY – Organizers are putting the finishing touches on a scaled-back Ontario Winter Games that will see 14 fewer sports and 1,500 fewer athletes, coaches and officials than initially planned.
Citing the reduced air travel capacity to and from Thunder Bay, and the increased costs for those seats that do remain, Games organizers on Wednesday said while it’s disappointing for athletes and fans alike, they’d prefer to focus on the events that will take place, rather than dwelling on those that won’t.
“I am feeling positive about who we do have coming to these Games, and that’s the important thing,” said Games co-chair Barry Streib.
"The athletes are 12 to 18-years old. They’re young individuals. This is their future career in sports that they’re looking forward to and this is one event they can accomplish that next level to get to. There’s 1,350 in total coming with coaches and officials. That’s what were focused on.
“We’re going to make sure that these athletes, coaches, officials, guests, family and friends that are coming here, are going to have the best time they’ve every had, here in Thunder Bay.”
A total of 13 different sports, at 11 different venues, will be included in the Games, which kick off on Feb. 16 and run for two consecutive weekends.
Sports that will take place include badminton, cross-country skiing, diving, futsal, ringette and wrestling, on the first weekend, and five-pin bowling, archery, artistic swimming, biathlon, curling, hockey and fencing.
Events that pulled out include downhill skiing, karate, squash, weightlifting and wheelchair curling. The decision not to come to Thunder Bay was made by each sport’s provincial governing body.
“I think it’s always disappointing. For a community like Thunder Bay, we travel so often down to southern Ontario to compete, so it’s a big deal for us when sports come up here and let us compete on our home turf,” said Games coordinator Matthew Lawrence.
“It’s great for the kids and it really helps build sports in the community. I think it’s really disappointing we won’t get the opportunity to share those pieces with the kids who might be interested in seeing what’s that next level in my sport and can I get out and participate locally without having to travel and put forth those expenses to go down to southern Ontario.”
Lawrence said putting on 13 sports, with more than 1,350 athletes coming to the city, is still a pretty big deal.
“(It’s) the largest multi-sport Games that we’ve been able to host since 1981 with the Canada Games. So, it’s still an extremely large event for us. We’re excited and we think it’s going to have a very positive impact on the community.”
The Ontario Winter Games were last held in Thunder Bay in 1974, and have faced plenty of issues in recent years. The 2022 Games, originally scheduled for 2020, were cancelled because of the pandemic.
No community stepped forward to host the 2016 Games and they were subsequently cancelled, with a new bidding process introduced to make it easier for communities to host. They were also cancelled in 2020 and 2022 because of the pandemic.
Since the Games were first awarded to Thunder Bay, WestJet cancelled its Thunder Bay to Toronto route, and another airline, Flare, is only running seasonally to and from the Ontario capital during summer months.
The province has kicked in an extra $500,000 to help alleviate some of the travel concerns, which will help, Lawrence said.
Curler Lily Ariganello isn’t too concerned about the financial side of things. As the lead on Team Dubinsky’s provincial champion foursome, she’s focused on one thing – winning a gold medal in curling.
“Just playing in our hometown means a lot to us, because oftentimes our team is travelling many hours to get to these high-performance events. So it’s going to be very nice, for a change, to have all these southern Ontario teams and other Northern Ontario teams to actually come to our community and see what our community is like,” she said.
The Ontario Winter Games run from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19 and from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26.
