Before they became National Basketball Association stars, Todd MacCulloch and Steve Nash were opponents. But they weren't playing in front of thousands of screaming fans or being paid millions of dollars.
Both competed in the 1993 Canada Summer Games in Kamloops.
"That was like a mini-Olympics in Canada," said MacCulloch, who recalled his Manitoba team defeating Nash's squad from British Columbia. "It was an amazing time."
Nash and MacCulloch have moved on to bigger things. Nash is a star for the Dallas Mavericks and MacCulloch recently agreed to a $36-million (U.S.) deal with the New Jersey Nets. But like many high-profile Canadian athletes, both got their starts at the Canada Games.
"You could see how you compared to other players in the country," Nash said. "Some of the guys I met there are still my friends."
About 4,700 athletes, coaches and officials will attend this year's Games in Southwestern Ontario from Aug. 11 to 25. Ontario will have the largest team, 450 people, while Nunavut, which will compete for the first time at the Games, will have the smallest delegation, 20.
The London Alliance, which includes London, Woodstock, Grand Bend, St. Thomas and the University of Western Ontario, is the host of Ontario's first Games in 20 years.
"We want this to be an experience that athletes never forget, both athletically and culturally," Games co-chairman Phil Bowman said. "We want these to be the best Canada Games ever."
The Games are meant to showcase athletes who have never competed on the international stage in their sport. Ontario has won the overall championship for the past nine Games, which are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter.
This year's Games have been four years in the making. The budget for the event is $27.8-million, with $10.5-million going toward a new stadium at Western. A total of $3.2-million was thrown into an extensive renovation of the aquatic centre in London.
There were also upgrades to Labatt Park, the site of the baseball tournament, and the rowing centre at Lake Fanshawe. A new beach house was built at the beach volleyball venue in Grand Bend, a beach community on Lake Huron.
Operating costs are expected to run about $13.4-million.
If all goes according to Hoyle, the event should leave behind a $2-million cash legacy, which Bowman says will be held in an endowment so amateur sport organizations in the region can apply for annual grants.
While most events will take place in London, Grand Bend will have beach volleyball and sailing, while Woodstock will have wrestling and some early volleyball action. St. Thomas will be home to softball. Rowing, canoeing and kayaking will take place at Lake Fanshawe.
"The idea of alliance partnerships for this kind of event has a lot to be said for it," Bowman said, adding that having Western as a partner, as opposed to a service provider, has made the organization of the event a lot easier.
Western's new, 16,000-seat TD Waterhouse Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies and field hockey and track and field. The student residences are being transformed into an athletes village, and basketball will be split between Western and Fanshawe College.
"They're [Western]a very significant piece of what we're doing," Bowman said. "We've got an Olympic quality athletes village existing already."
The opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday night and will be carried live on TSN at 7 p.m. EDT. As of early this week, there were still about 2,000 tickets remaining for the ceremony.
"Everybody always buys everything late, there's no question on that one," Bowman said. "They're leaving it a little later than I would have hoped."
In an effort to sell more tickets for the opening ceremony, organizers opened the tight lid they'd been keeping on the event last week. At $40 a ticket, the $350,000 show TD Waterhouse Stadium will feature 800 participants, fireworks, pyrotechnics and two Jumbotrons, among other things.
Bowman said that revealing the details helped sell about 400 tickets last weekend.
"I'm optimistic that we'll get there," Bowman said. "I don't think I want to pretend it will just automatically happen. We're going to be working at it this week."
While ticket sales may not be where Bowman had hoped, volunteer interest went far beyond his expectations. The alliance had set out to recruit 6,500 volunteers and ended up with 13,000 applications.
"If you're going to have a problem, I guess the problem of having too many is a better problem than not having enough," he said. "Nonetheless, we were really shocked at the level enthusiasm that those volunteers showed."
Fundraising also exceeded expectations. Organizers had planned for six major sponsors -- meaning a cash contribution of more than $500,000 -- and ended up with 11, plus official broadcaster TSN. TD Waterhouse is the biggest sponsor, shelling out $1.5-million to name the new stadium.
"It's been a major success," Bowman said of the fundraising, "and it's been a major challenge because that's far and away the biggest number that any Canada Games that I'm aware of has ever attempted to raise."