Multiple sports withdraw from 2024 Ontario Winter Games in Thunder Bay

High costs and travel issues are forcing some of Ontario's provincial sports organizations to pull out of the upcoming 2024 Ontario Winter Games in Thunder Bay. 

CBC News reached out to all of the provincial sport organizations that were set to attend the games and has confirmed that alpine skiing, para Nordic skiing and weightlifting will not be going ahead as planned. 

The games will be held over the weekends of Feb. 16-19 and 23-26, 2024. Local media outlet TBNewswatch first reported that some sports were withdrawing last month. 

Two weekends were chosen for the events to ensure the city has enough capacity for hotels, transportation, venues and volunteers, the city's sport and community development supervisor told council in an update last February. 

At that time, the total cost of hosting the games was slated at $2.7 million– with most of the expenses anticipated in 2024. 

The City of Thunder Bay received a $1 million hosting grant plus an additional $500,000 hosting grant to help offset the expense of traveling to northwestern Ontario. 

But many of the provincial sports organizations can't afford the high price and financial liabilities that came with committing to the games, said Mike Miller, president of the Ontario Weightlifting Association. 

"A lot of athletes are really upset."

He said it was hard to break the news to his 13-year-old son, who had been training for six months in hopes of competing at the provincial level. 

Miller said the Games committee came to the Ontario Weightlifting Association in December with an estimate of what travel, registration and accommodations would cost athletes. That estimate later rose to over $700, he said. These costs were to be paid by the athletes and would only cover a