A Chance to Impress

By John Conroy

Called “Invade,” the kinetic 60-second commercial highlights the excitement that organizers of the Toronto Pan American and Parapan American Games expect throughout southern Ontario this summer. In the commercial, a pair of fencers thrust and parry at Oakville Harbour. Soccer players chase balls through the forest near Hamilton. Taekwondo athletes spar at Dundurn Castle. Baseball players pitch and bat on Bay Street as balls rocket through the air of Toronto’s financial center.

The 2015 installment of the quadrennial competition for North, Central and South America will showcase about 7,600 athletes, with 36 sports featured during the Pan Am Games and 15 sports at the Parapan Am event. (Notably, four sports are also debuting at the Pan Am Games: golf, women’s rugby sevens, canoe/kayak slalom and women’s baseball.) The Pan Am Games will run July 10–26 while the Parapan Am Games will be staged August 7–15. It’s a major undertaking for the area, requiring the use of more than 30 venues in 16 municipalities.

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