Canada had high hopes going into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. We wanted to Run The Podium and finish first overall in the medal standings. While I admire ambition, or gall if you would like to call it that, I think that the dream was very unrealistic to start with. We are a country with a small population that does not spend near enough money on our athletes to allow them to properly train to compete at the highest level.
Don’t get me wrong; as a proud Canadian I would be thrilled if we could dominate the Olympics. Yet – we should be very proud of where we are now for the simple reason that we are there to compete – and compete we did. If an athlete competes in an event and finishes 4th, 10th, or 20th, they should be proud as long as they gave it their best shot. If I was in that situation, I would be pretty happy to know that I was the 20th best in the world in something!
Yet I understand the consternation…Canada has always had the stigma that we are happy being second best. As a proud Canadian I can tell you that is not the case. Most people that I know always strive to finish first. In so saying that, at least with respect to the Olympics, you have to look at population density and training methods.
The United States has a population base of some three hundred and thirty million people. Canada has one tenth of that population. Ergo – using that metric alone – to expect us to finish with the same amount of medals at the United States is technically unrealistic. Russia has 118 million people and Germany has 82 million people. On the other side of the coin – Norway – which has more medals than Canada – has a population around 4 million people. So – and good for them – they’re kicking ass right now!
The other sabermetric is how much support an athlete is given by their country. In Canada, it is paltry. You have to prove yourself as a top tier athlete before you even qualify for government support. Even when you receive said support, it is not enough to supplement you and you still have to have a full time job in order to compete. This is due to the time required to train, hire coaches, and purchase equipment. If you look at the Russian or American teams, these costs are all covered. In the case of Russia (or the previous Soviet Union) – they are training athletes full time from the age of six. They also make sure that the facilities are top notch and the coaches are the absolute best that they can find.
There are a few exceptions to this, however. The Canadian and American women’s hockey team is so dominant because they play together all year. Every other country – this doesn’t happen. This is a major reason why the skill level is so disparate. Teams from Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Finland do not play together all year and play in barely semi-competitive leagues. The Canadian team plays against men to practice, in meaningful games no less. They can afford to do this because they have many corporate sponsors.
Donovan Bailey is another good example. Prior to putting his career on hold to train for the World Championships and the Olympics, he was a self-made man. He was wealthy enough to be able to afford the coaches and equipment necessary to augment his natural ability to world-record breaking skill. He had enough money to be able to train and keep food on the table for his family.
So – without resorting to the “athlete schools” of the former Soviet Union (boy, thoughts of Ivan Drago come to mind here…) and East Germany (boy, thoughts of the Germans turning men into women come to mind here…), how do we increase our medal count at the Olympic Games? The answer is pretty simple to me, but to expect it to happen overnight is foolish. The government, and business in general, has to make sure that the athletes have proper funding, the coaching is top notch, and the facilities are world class.
Now, I know that people will argue (and with a valid point) that there are other, more important things to spend that money on. Yet, the hidden factors are there too that are likely being overlooked with statements contending otherwise. Economically, building training facilities is an infrastructure project that creates jobs and provides communities with a top tier facility. The naysayers usually argue that the building is only for training athletes, yet this is rarely the case.
Thinking it through some more, all three levels of government could participate. The municipal goverment provides the land, the provincial government covers the labour cost, and the federal government pays for the material (or building) cost. From there, the municipal government covers the cost of property management and maintenance, yet offsets that cost by selling advertising (via corporate sponsorships) within the building.
The responsibility of hiring top notch coaches would fall to the federal government. Whether you hire from outside of the country, or develop from within, it doesn’t matter. Top tier athletes at the end of their prime can pass along their experience and knowledge to our up and coming athletes. When you take a look at what Alex Baumann – a top Canadian swimmer – has done with the Australian National Team, it makes you wonder how we let him get away.
Developing our athletes is the most important cog of this equation and the responsibility for support falls to both the federal government and the Canadian corporate community. Now – you don’t have to give an athlete millions of dollars. They are not professionals. They are amateurs, but they need enough money to be able to live comfortably while developing their particular skill.
Now – here’s the kicker. Assuming that this is the plan, do not expect it to bear significant fruit for many years. It has to be a twenty year plan. That’s how long it will take to build the facilities, hire the coaches, and develop the athletes. When the government switches, they must continue what the previous goverment started. Stopping and starting funding will kill the idea dead in its tracks.
Developing top tier athletes is important because it encourages kids to get into sport and be active. Our country is becoming lazy and I think that this would be a great way of reversing that trend. Getting kids out there playing sports, wanting to be the next Donovan Bailey or Hayley Wickenheiser or Clara Hughes is much better than having them watching television or playing video games all day. Physical education is important, and while it starts at a grassroots level in the schools, providing children with a potential hero or idol to look up is an intangible benefit that is often overlooked.