November 28, 2001

Toronto to get Olympic Spirit entertainment complex

TORONTO (November 28, 2001 7:36 p.m. EST) - Toronto, which lost out to Beijing as host the 2008 Summer Games in July, will be the first international city to house an Olympic Spirit entertainment complex, an official said Wednesday.

The $20 million Olympic Spirit complex, set to open here in 2003, will be promoting the goals, ideals and spirit of the Olympics, said Bobby Sniderman, general manager of the Olympic Spirit Toronto project.

An international group that owns the rights to develop the Olympic Spirit complexes around the world and the International Olympic Committee chose Toronto because "they see (it) as the most multi-international community in the world," he said.

Their choice had nothing to do with the city losing out to Beijing in July, Sniderman.

The Geneva-based International Olympic Spirit Group, dedicated to keeping the Olympic spirit alive, picked Toronto for its diversity after testing the entertainment complex idea in Munich years ago, he said.

The group plans to open similar complexes in other cities, Sniderman said, but could not provide any further details.

Displays will spotlight past Olympic gold medal winners, an action cinema will take visitors will show past Olympic events while movie seats move in sequence and interactive simulators will allow people to compete in events as if they were Olympic athletes, Sniderman said.

For example, someone can climb into a bobsled simulator and race down a superimposed track with wind and snow blowing in your face, he said.

From the streets of downtown Toronto, the 4,500-square-meter (50,000 square-feet) complex look like a torch with its 54-meter (180-foot) high media decorated with simulated lights, he said.

Sniderman says they expect as many as 500,000 visitors in the first year, given Toronto's highly diverse population and its driving proximity to the United States.

Adult ticket for the complex, which also houses a restaurant and bar, will be sold for 18 dollars ($11).

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