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Originally Posted by OFKU0
I said this during the last Olympics and I'll say it again. Perhaps our athletes could use more funding, but all the funding in the world isn't going to win a medal.
During the last Olympics one of the mountain bikers I think placed around 126th out of 130. He said he was very happy and that was a personal best. Personal best? Excuse me but if that is the best he could do, what is he doing at the Olympics, and how much funding did he get for his personal best?
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The following article is something I wholeheartly agree with. I don't have a problem increasing monies, but let's get that money to our top prospects. Sure some can argue that this is elitizing the elite, but by my own admission, given the example of the mountain biker, it is a better road to take than being embarrassed, especially for those who attach performance results with national pride.
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Putting peddle to medals
Feds, COC to dangle cash in front of Canuck athletes
By MARIA McCLINTOCK, Parliamentary Bureau
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Ottawa...19/589984.html
A NEW plan by Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee will see funding targeted to athletes with the best chances of winning medals in future Olympics, the Sun has learned. The new Sports Review Panel, which is currently being assembled, comes as Canada's performance in Athens continues to disappoint, prompting renewed criticism about the level of funding for the country's elite athletes.
"Their job will eventually be ... to make recommendations to the government, and to the COC and other funding partners, as to where we should be making investments to see the best results," said Alastair Mullin, spokesman for Sports Minister Stephen Owen.
"We're not going to delay on this ... but we're also going ... to ensure we've got something that works. As any Olympic athlete will tell you, false starts are no good. We need to get this right."
AUSSIE TEMPLATE
Mullin said the overall goal of the new panel is "to look at not just 2006, not just 2008, not just 2010 but to grow a sports system, as the Australians have or many other countries have, which will do Canada proud at Olympics after Olympics."
In May, the federal government announced a $30-million, one-time funding boost to Sport Canada's $90-million budget. It won't be known until after the Athens Olympics how that cash will be divided, but it's expected a portion will go to increasing the current $1,100 per month stipend elite athletes receive.
The debate about how Canada can improve its Olympic medal count has been raging for years, in a country where the norm is to spread funding out "equitably" rather than target key sports, as is the case in countries such as Australia.
Now many within Canada's sporting community say the status quo is unacceptable.
"We get what we pay for in Canada," said Robert Bettauer, president of Ontario's Canadian Sports Centre, which offers training support to athletes and gets most of its funding from the federal government.
Bettauer, a former Davis Cup tennis player and two-time Olympic coach, predicted the new approach will also attract more corporate funding.
"What they're looking for is professional management and organization from sport, and if they see that's happening, that will entice more of them to want to get involved."
maria.mcclintock@ott.sunpub.com