|
|
 |
 |   |
|
INTERNATIONAL NEWS EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Stunned silence from Toronto crowd
TORONTO (AP) -- A celebratory street party of flag-waving, singing revelers was stunned into silence Friday when the International Olympic Committee chose Beijing instead of Toronto to host the 2008 Games. Most of the crowd of several thousand people that gathered on a downtown street quickly left after the announcement shown live on a giant video screen set up in front of Union Station, the central train station. Former Mayor David Crombie quickly grabbed a microphone on a stage set up on Front Street and started a chant of "One more time," but few were in the mood to join him. Before the vote, the crowd lined up hundreds deep for a free pancake breakfast as musicians entertained from two stages, jugglers performed to cheers and organizers handed out T-shirts proclaiming support for the Toronto bid. Arches of balloons in the Olympic colors crossed over Front Street, the main downtown avenue, where the crowd grew steadily on a crisp, sun-filled morning along the Lake Ontario waterfront. Karen and Steven Cook got their three kids up before dawn to catch the first commuter train from suburban Ajax, an early trip that got them some of the first pancakes served and a prime spot in front of the main entertainment stage. "They'll remember being here, especially if Toronto wins," Steven said of the experience. "They'll tell their kids how their mother and father dragged them out of bed." Actually, it wasn't that hard. Adam, 13, Joshua, 10, and Rebecca, 8, were too excited to go to bed on time the night before, Cook said, with Adam's eyes widening when he realized he would be 20 years old when the 2008 Olympics take place. "He said, `That's so old,'" Cook chuckled. Shirley Godward told how her son, 15, was flipping pancakes as part of the organizing committee and hoped to work at the Games if Toronto wins. Even if the bid fails, she said, "it's been a great experience" for him and the rest of a city staking a claim as Canada's finest. "When people see pictures of this, they'll see what we have," Godward said. The scene reflected a strength of the Toronto bid - cultural diversity -- with African drummers pounding a beat to shaking dancers on one end, just after a bluegrass group sang and picked some traditional standards. Signs protesting the bid of favored Beijing also were present. One showed the Olympic rings serving as handcuffs, with the slogan: "No Olympics for China until Tibet is free." Jamie Macrae, 48, said the IOC would validate China's repressive policies if it chooses Beijing. He was more interested in discussing a Toronto victory, though, saying the Games would bring "an incredible sense of pride and forward movement." "As Canadians, we tend to be viewed as sort of quiet and laid back. Underneath, we have quite a passion and this is our chance to show it," he said. "I think the whole city will come to party." Instead, the party ended earlier than planned.
| |||||||||||||||||||
