Its now day 6 of the Olympics and Canada hasn't won any medals. I know that Canada performs well at the Winter Olympics, and that most of the events that Team Canada is expected to do well in have not started yet, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have at least a few bronze medals by now - come on, countries like Kyrgyzstan have won medals (no offence to any Kyrgyzstanis).
Calling Canada a "winter nation" is not a legitimate excuse; there are many people, including myself, in this country who take part in summer sports (and by the way, "winter nations" like Sweden and Switzerland have won medals!). I think its safe to say that Canada's performance so far is not something to celebrate, and because of this, I believe that its time for a major overhaul of Team Canada's funding and coaching strategy, something clearly has to be done about our dismal performance at the Summer Olympics.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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9 comments:
Sorry but Canada's medal count is about 874th on my list of things I care about. Just to give you an idea, whether we will ever crack the enigmatic code of bee language is number 873. I would much rather see funding going to literacy or drug treatment programs. I think Canada would benefit more and I personally would be prouder of a country that can boast 100% literacy rather than a bronze in rhythmic gymnastics.
I see a lot of socialism here, but no nationalism, thats the problem with this country.
Roblaw, you made EXCELLENT points, thought I haven't changed my mind completetly, you did make me think a lot with what your wrote.
Good insight.
Gotta agree to an extent with "JBH" - however, I think the failure of our Olympic program is interesting in a broader way, beyond whether or not it really matters if we win a medal or not.
The issue isn't funding by the government, the issue is:
a) Funding by private enterprise; and
b) The great strides to mediocrity that Canada has made in the last couple decades (which relates to the first point).
In the U.S., massive funding comes from private enterprise. Why? Well, in the U.S., it's not a sin to make huge gobs of money - and if you do, you can have your own personal little philanthropic hobbies, like being a financial mentor to people like Michael Phelps. Oh, and by the way, in the U.S.A., citizens are much more impressed (good or bad) by excellence in athletics, such that affiliating your product with an olympic athlete results in much bigger bang for your buck than in, say, Canada. FYI - the American government provides no funding to its athletes. All funding for the USOC comes from private sources. So - next time we hear a Canadian athlete complain about funding from the government - think about that.
(Jack Layton will never acknoweldge just how much money goes to charity and non-profit organizations from business)
Now - the Canadian business community will not step up like the U.S. Why? Because, for one, they aren't as successful. Making money in Canada, is unfortunately somewhat embrassing and gauche, don't you know! Secondly, they get less bang for their buck in Canada.. which brings us to the last point.
The Canadian public doesn't value excellence. We are HUGE fans of mediocrity. We strive for it. We try to make sure that everthing we do addresses the needs of the lowest common denominator. In school sports, we no longer give ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd - we give "participation" awards.. Yay!! You showed up!!
In Canada, we are becoming conditioned to expect less. Be happy - you did your best!! The drive towards excellence is over-rated!!
Now - don't get me wrong. We have athletes in China who are doing everything they can do to succeed..NOW. But they can't help having grown up, for the most part, in atosphere of mediocrity which is Canada.
Do I care that we don't win medals - not really, a million other things impact my life in a much more substative way - but I suggest the performance of our athletes are sort of the "canary in a coal-mine", because, if our athletes aren't competing.. well, probably our doctors and our physicists, and our engineers, etc., etc., aren't really competing at the highest levels either.. or at least our future doctors and engineers and such will likely not be competing.. and when I'm on a table getting my heart opened by a surgeon, well, I for one hope he isn't happy to just be "participating".
Many people regard performance at the Olympics as a measurment of the over all performance of a country. Canada not winning metals shows many people who care, (yes, many people do watch the Olympics, especially the developing world), that there is something not right with Canada. I think roblaw has some good points on what is wrong with Canada and how our dismal Olympic performance is evidence of it.
Mike - got your link from the globeandmail comment section. I would rather respond here than on that crazy board with outright morons commenting on this issue. So good on ya boy!
OK let's not get over-reactive here. I do not think that there is a serious mediocrity problem in this country, but I do agree with roblaw's points about philanthropy and the gauche-ness of making gobs of money in this country. We don't have enough support from private enterprise for our athletes. Simple truth. I don't want to be taxed further and I don't want to sacrifice any other program to fund the athletes. What about giving tax breaks to companies that support our athletes? How about some matching incentives from the gov't like, for every $3 private enterprise puts in, the gov't puts in $1.
Forget the US because it is not a fair comparison because of its sheer size and economic status and the already entrenched advantages of the US collegiate sports programs - far more developed than any other country in the world. Let's use Australia as our comparable because in many respects, that is where we should see our equals (population, resources, economic base, infrastructure, sparsely populated areas, etc.) Australia puts out more winter and summer Olympians than Canada per capita and we should investigate and duplicate how they allocate their spending/training/education dollars. Do they receive more funding from the gov't? What else are they doing that we aren't?
Next, is it something to do with our national psyche about being conservative and not boasting about our athletic prowess? I don't think so - look at our bragging about our hockey programs. That is the only sport that really has any developmental money and sometimes we don't win medals in that sport also (think 2006 Winter games). So what is it? Are we afraid of investing in our air rifle shooters and our archers? What about our table tennis program or badminton? We have a ton of immigrants, why don't we encourage them to play their national sport here and support them?
Also, back to the US for a moment and roblaw's comments: I agree, we do need to be more competitive and get rid of this new age political correctness that pampers the weak. A competitive spirit is what makes capitalism work and supports our entire western culture and belief system. Let's not let our always left of centre, socialist policies for national healthcare and welfare taint our belief in good-natured and fair competition is healthy for the human spirit! (BTW and for the record, I am more left of centre than Mike would be politically but I still believe in winning some damn medals!)
I have to say I totally agree with you anonymous! Tax incentives to businesses who support Olympic athletes is something we should have implemented years ago!
Hi Michael do not feel alone. South Africa's performance in the games too date has been dismal. We also have not yet won a single medal. There is so much political influence on the team that it has blurred their focus. We have this problem since the 94 elections with trying to get SA's representative teams to balance out and to truly reflect the population of the country. Something that is impossible to get right in the short term. Also the all round resources allocated to the team have not been good. Having said all that there are far greater and more important issues in our country. Sporting achievements are fleeting and often times gloss over real issues and problems in a country.
Here in Canada we always compare ourselves to the United States...but we're finally winning medals now though! It seems like our sporting probles our nothing compared to South Africa's...
The World will toon in to South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I can only hope that your country will see an improvement in the political, economic, crime, and sporting situation.
To change the subject a bit, hats off to President Mbeki for containing the political situation in Zimbabwe - but I think he will soon find a political crisis of his own in the ANC...
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