February 11, 2005
Bill Beacon
MONTREAL (CP) - There was new-found energy Thursday in the Claude Robillard Centre pool where many of Canada's top swimmers and divers train.
The 2005 world aquatic championships are headed back to Montreal. "It is incredible to have such a big event at home - it gives me goosebumps," said a giddy Alexandre Despatie, a world champion in 10-metre platform diving and honorary spokesman for the organizing committee.
"It's great news for us," added his coach Michel Larouche. "We knew other cities were bidding and that there would be world championships no matter what, so it didn't affect the morale of the athletes that much when they were taken away.
"But in the pool this morning, there was positive energy. Everybody was really happy."
The event had been stripped from the city by FINA, the world governing body for aquatic sports, on Jan. 19 due to financial troubles.
FINA had been considering bids from Athens, Moscow and Berlin, but a last-gasp rally led by Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay promoted FINA to hand the July 17-31 event back to the city it was first awarded to in 2001.
Tremblay gave the 22-member FINA board in Frankfurt, Germany, a guarantee to cover all costs, although he may be stuck with bills totalling more than $10 million if he cannot attract private sponsors to the championships, which include swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming.
It is perhaps the biggest sporting event in Montreal since the 1976 Olympics and Tremblay had called it a blow to the city's reputation when it was taken away.
Upon returning to Montreal, Tremblay said he was very proud that the championships will take place in the city.
Although he provided financial guarantees, Tremblay said he's confident the event will achieve a balanced budget with the help of sponsors and the purchase of tickets by fans.
"I do no plan to ask Montreal taxpayers to pay the bill for this important event," he told reporters at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport.
"I have confidence in the sponsors and also in the population who will turn up in large numbers to this big event."
He said administrative changes in the organizing committee will be announced in the coming days.
It was mainly the tepid response from sponsors that left the organizing committee with a financial shortfall and concern that it would not be able to host the event.
An encouraging note came from Montreal Board of Trade interim president Isabelle Hudon, who issued a statement calling on both the private and public sectors to "get behind Mayor Tremblay to make sure the world aquatic championships are a real success."
Richard Pound, co-president of the organizing committee, said the Media attention the event received after it ran into trouble may awaken interest from sponsors.
"Now, everyone is aware of the event and perhaps they weren't before," said Pound, also president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "And seeing the mayor lead the charge, I think it will happen."
Pound said the committee needs only a line of credit to continue operating and that with new sponsorships and ticket sales, the city may not be stuck with a huge bill.
Roger Legare, the other co-president, said employees continued working even after the event was pulled, so no time was lost in preparations.
Three permanent pools and most of the other infrastructure have already been built at the site on St. Helen's Island near downtown Montreal.
"We're going full steam ahead and it will be delivered on time and with pride and quality," said Legare.
Last week, harrowing news came when Yvon DesRochers, who led the organizing committee, was found dead in his car, with police investigating it as a suicide.
"We expressed our condolences to the family," Cornel Marculescu, executive director of FINA, said from FINA headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. "It was an unfortunate situation but we don't know if it was connected to the championships."
He said Montreal won the event back by providing the guarantees from government that were lacking when they met with the committee in January. At that time, he felt the championships were not taken seriously by the committee or the various levels of government.
When they pulled the event from Montreal, he said it "gave us a chance to show that this is an important event and that lots of cities want to have it."
It was key that the three bidding cities agreed to step aside and support the event's return to Montreal.
FINA acknowledged in a statement that it was easier to keep the championships in Montreal than to move them. Many countries have already booked flights and hotel rooms for Montreal. Swimming giant Australia has a pre-championship training camp booked in Florida.
Pound said it was in FINA's interest to hand the event back, even though the decision to pull the championships was real.
"They were giving up two years of work to leave it to chance that another city can put it together in five months," he said. "But if Montreal has just said 'oh, that's too bad, maybe another time,' it would have been difficult for FINA to come back.
"I don't think it was a bluff, but they did it with regret."
While the swimming team has struggled in recent years, Canada is a world power in diving, synchro and women's water polo.
Linda Cuthbert, president of the Canadian aquatic federation, said she was relieved and happy.
"It gives us a chance to live up to our promises and our reputation," she said.
FINA said it also considered "the numerous appeals received from citizens and organizations of Montreal supporting the organizing of the championships."
The event is expected to attract about 2,000 athletes, coaches and officials and thousands more Media and spectators.
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