That night, in a heated verbal encounter at the hotel lounge, the irate wrestling coach angrily berated a gin soaked, grizzled Guru. The two gentleman with him when rudely interrupted were not wrestling coaches. They were officials from 'Own the Podium'!
- Canada is the only country that did not win a gold medal while hosting an Olympics.
- This happened at not one - but 2 Olympics. The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary were lacking Canadian gold.
- Not only did Canada not win gold at their own Olympics, medals of any color were sparse.
- Vancouver was to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. National pride was at stake.
Own the Podium would change all of that! Sport Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee gathered for a brainstorming session in 2004. A decision was made to have Sport Canada, the C.O.C. and the Canadian Paralympic Committee pool their funding. This funding was to be used to select potential medal winners from the various national sporting organizations and direct.the resources towards them. Future forecast was predicted by:
- Past Performance
- Future potential in the view of coaches and sports coordinators
- Analytics - the analysis of statistics made famous in baseball and the movie 'Moneyball'
- Sports with potential for most medals
- Sports with multiple events like speed skating (long and short track), skiing (alpine and freestyle), swimming and rowing plus track and field can yield more medals
- Team sports like field hockey can yield only one medal per team per gender
- Sports with weight classes such as wrestling can also be fruitful
- A weight class sports such as Olympic Weightlifting is a fringe sports in Canada whereas in Europe, the Balkans, Asia and the Mideast it is almost as popular as soccer. The potential for medals is likely low for Canadian competitors.
- Sports associations such as Wrestling Canada had the foresight to invest heavily in the women's program and reap a future medal harvest.
Canada scored multiple medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics. We earned a spectacular 13 golds, most of all countries at Vancouver 2010 and finished 3rd in the overall medal count. At Socchi 2014 the count was slightly less but still impressive. The offshoot of Own the Podium for summer sports is the Road to Excellence program which came into existence in 2008.Medal counts for Canada in world championships and the summer Olympics has climbed steadily.
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| Due to the success of the women, wrestling receives ample funding. Fortunately this keeps the men's program afloat. |
Canada finished 20th in the nation count with 22 medals which included 4 golds. This was Canada's best showing at a non-boycotted Olympiad. However the optimistic hope was to have finished top 12 in the national medal count.
Some sports were considered to have underachieved. Rowing received the most funding of all sports with 18 million dollars.
Rowing scored only a bronze medal. Swimming and track and field met and even exceeded expectations. Wrestling (the women) and cycling delivered the goods. Trampoline, a low profile niche sport provided us with a repeat Olympic champion!
What's not to like? More medals equals more money! More medals draws more sponsors!
Canadians can now be known for more than the toothless smiles and ZZ Top playoff beards of our hockey players. Our athletes are no longer happy to just show up and try their best! They are there to win, place or show.
Actually there has been some criticism and some issues that create controversy.
- Sports lacking potential medal winners receive little or no funding from Own the Podium. The fear is that certain sports may fall off of the radar and not return.
- The grassroots infrastructure still receives financial support but it has not increased substantially since 2004.
- Some critics argue that federal funding for Own the Podium goes mostly to the cream of the crop. Meanwhile overall youth sports participation is down in a losing battle with electronic toys and phone gadgets.
- Are we creating a sports culture where finishing out of the medals means failure?
- Late bloomers may run the risk of being left out of the program.
- Olympics and world championship teams will become smaller and more elite. Fewer athletes will experience the world championship or Olympic experience.
- Own the Podium dictates how the money is spent. In 2010 Canadian speed skater Denny Morrison claimed that his performance suffered because he could not train with an American world and Olympic champion.
- Own the Podium searched for potential winners who grew up elsewhere but had dual Canadian citizenship. Could this lead to a mercenary approach to winning as opposed to cultivating our own youth?
- Top heavy financing may lead to short term gain but long term pain. If grassroots money is barely increased where will the future Canadian champions come from?
- A journalist even went as far as accusing Own the Podium of limiting training times on the Luge track for non-Canadians in Vancouver 2010. According to him this resulted in the tragic death of a Georgian Luger during a practice run. It seems an extreme accusation for a very dangerous activity.
Do we celebrate Own the Podium and Road to Excellence for making Canada a world athletic force for us to be proud of?
We have an epidemic of sedentary youth and childhood obesity.
Is money better spent on programs to get young people active again?
Will watching Canadian athletes win multiple medals inspire our youth to put away the Nintendo and start moving?
A majority of Canadians polled approve of the Own the Podium concept. It looks to be here to stay.
Now what of unlikely story of the grizzled fitness Guru opening his mouth and risking the future of Canadian amateur wrestling? Supposedly the quick thinking wrestling coach told the Own the Podium executives that this particular individual was an outcast on the fringes of the wrestling community. The coach described him as being knocked on the head many times as a club level wrestling 'Tomato Can'. This explained his embarrassing verbal faux pas. The executives bought the line. The program was saved! Yes, this story reeks more of urban myth than true incident.
Do you really believe such such a grizzled fitness Guru/Blogger could actually exist?
Until Next Time
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| Boxing is currently on the short end of Own the Podium funding. Boom Boom Boulanger may have to wait to get new gloves! |
Keep Fit
Little Bobby Strong
Fitness Guru/Blogger
Links
References
- The Wrong Track -Canada'a Medal Misstep Thomas Hall The Walrus Sept. 2016
- Canada's Lust for Glory is to Blame for this Senseless Tragedy Martin Samuel, The Daily Mail
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