THE ROAD TO RIO - FROM GLASGOW 2014 TO TORONTO 2015!

71% of 2014 Commonwealth Games Team on 2015 Canadian Pan Am Games Team

OTTAWA, July 9, 2015 – Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) congratulates the 719 athletes named today by the Canadian Olympic Committee to represent Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games.  Of the 265 athletes who were members of Canada’s Commonwealth Games Team last summer at the 2014 Glasgow Games, seventy one percent of these are on the Canadian Pan Am Team in Toronto this summer.

This is a rich quadrennial of high performance sport for Canada’s summer athletes, offering the perfect continuum of major Games - Glasgow 2014 - Toronto 2015 and Rio 2016. The road to Rio ran through Glasgow last year and passes through Toronto this July 10th.

“Competing in high-profile multi sport events like the Commonwealth Games and the Pan American Games in the two years prior to the Olympic Games is perfect preparation for Canada’s high performance athletes as they head into Rio”, said Richard Powers, President of Commonwealth Games Canada. “Living in an Athletes’ Village, walking into an Opening Ceremony, cheering on athletes from other sports - all of these experiences are essential to normalizing the “bigness” that is the Olympic Games.”

2014 Commonwealth gold medalists named to today’s 2015 Pan American Games Team include Damian Warner and Brianne Theisen-Eaton in athletics, swimmer Ryan Cochrane, rhythmic gymnast Patricia Bezzoubenko and gymnast Ellie Black. They will certainly be among the athletes to watch this summer in Toronto.

“Last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were perfect preparation for these Pan Am Games on home soil,” said “Damian Warner, gold medalist in decathlon. “The city of Glasgow did a superb job in hosting the nations from the Commonwealth and it will always be an important part of my athlete journey.”

With 71 participating countries and over 4000 athletes taking part in the Commonwealth Games, these Games offer a valuable opportunity for all Canadian athletes. The next Games will take place April 4th to 15th, 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.

Canada is the birthplace of the Commonwealth Games, with the British Empire Games held in Hamilton in 1930. The Toronto 2015 Pan American Games are the first major multi-sport event to take place in the Golden Horseshoe since those Games. Commonwealth Games Canada expresses its congratulations to the Canadian Olympic Committee on the Team named today. CGC also congratulates the Games Organizing Committee, TORONTO 2015 on its excellent work so far in preparing to host the Americas, and extends its best wishes for excellent and successful Games.

ABOUT COMMONWEALTH GAMES CANADA

Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) is the franchise holder for the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth movement in Canada, and an active, contributing member of the Canadian sport community. The mission of CGC is to strengthen sport within Canada and throughout the Commonwealth by participating in the Commonwealth Games and by using sport as a development tool. Visit www.commonwealthgames.ca for information.

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For further information:

Commonwealth Games Canada
Brian MacPherson
Chief Executive Officer
613.244.6868 x226
brian@commonwealthgames.ca