A major event in Victoria 30 years ago continues to leave a more than $20 million golden legacy for athletes in Victoria.
The Commonwealth Games, which saw 217 events over 10 days with 65 nations represented in Victoria in 1994, left many lasting impacts on the community including in infrastructure and volunteerism (the event brought out 14,000 volunteers), but perhaps most notably was the legacy fund, which continues to provide resources for high-performance sports training.
"With funds now in excess of $25 million, and at least that amount put to work over the last 30 years, the legacy continues to deliver on its intended purpose which is really to leverage the strengths of the region and provide opportunities for coaches and athletes," said John MacMillan, president of the legacy fund, 94 Forward. The organization grows the legacy fund with Pacific Institute for Sport Education (PISE).
At an Aug. 22 press event at PISE celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Games, the continued impact of the legacy was touched upon.
Stephen Chang, on the board of directors for PISE, highlighted that PISE currently works with over 10,000 kids annually to develop physical literacy skills and will continue to do so with their new Gift of Potential Program, with more to be announced in the following weeks.
"It will enable PISE to build our youth programs, reach more teens, and help them with their performance development pathway in their sport or simply in their lifelong journeys to leading a healthy lifestyle," he said.
MacMillan noted the programs have also trained athletes who will be competing in the Paralympics, which start Wednesday.
"You're going to be hearing about a group of Paralympic athletes who will be shining on the world stage in Paris," MacMillan said "They train 150 feet from here in programs that we've been building together with PISE since Rio of 2016."
The legacy has also helped to produce many Commonwealth, Olympic and world championship medal winners.
Jim Reed was executive vice-president of the Games and helped contribute to the establishment of the legacy. He told Black Press Media that the legacy fund was one that "most organizing committees have not been able to achieve, including the Olympic committees."
Hosting the Commonwealth Games is an honour given to only 20 cities worldwide since the sporting event started in 1930.
"It was a time in my life – in the life of many people – that the community was able to come together with something very positive and celebrate the beauty and charm of Victoria and the Island and take pride," said Reed.
Reed recalls the challenge of getting all of the different municipalities on the same page but said they were very happy with the outcome.
Other challenges included recruiting and training 14,000 volunteers and securing and developing the budget. Just over half was funded by different levels of government and the rest had to be raised through a corporate sponsorship program – which involved outreach to bigger cities – and ticket sales, he said.
Highlights of the Games included it being the first that South Africa participated in after Apartheid. It was also the last time that Hong Kong participated in the Games as an independent Commonwealth nation before they were annexed back to China.
It was also the first Commonwealth Games program where events for athletes with a disability were first included.
More than 100,000 people from around the world came out to the Nightly Harbour Festival each day, said Reed.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," reflected Reed.
The Games also led to substantial infrastructure being built in the city, including student housing at UVic, Saanich Commonwealth Place, and the Velodrome in Colwood.
"What stands out most for me was the energy of the city and a feeling amongst all of us that we were punching above our weight. We were proud of what we were doing, and we all came together and this massive army of volunteers that made it happen," recalls Chang.
