Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics

[rdavies]

but I'd like to see some of the funding also be directed towards some of the sports listed above.

Our funding thankfully, is results driven. Our money goes to those most likely to succeed and who have proven it. Our old attitude of egalitarian funding and being happy with a top ten finish is again, thankfully gone. It may be a Catch 22 but if an athlete is able to persevere on their own and breakthrough, they will be given more funding. With more funding comes more resources put towards more odds of succeeding. And if they are able to succeed, theirs and their sport's profile is increased thus likely increasing popularity and participation.

Check out where Norway's medals are coming from, almost exclusively ski events and there are lots of them. We are getting better performances but if Canada or other countries can break into that dominance, Norway's medal count could be reduced drastically. But still, after all these years, it has yet to happen.

[jerrym]

Canada has made a killing in the newer Olympic sports but continue to struggle in many of the more traditional ones. I would agree with your funding suggestion here, Will.

Our funding thankfully, is results driven. Our money goes to those most likely to succeed and who have proven it. Our old attitude of egalitarian funding and being happy with a top ten finish is again, thankfully gone. It may be a Catch 22 but if an athlete is able to persevere on their own and breakthrough, they will be given more funding. With more funding comes more resources put towards more odds of succeeding. And if they are able to succeed, theirs and their sport's profile is increased thus likely increasing popularity and participation.

Check out where Norway's medals are coming from, almost exclusively ski events and there are lots of them. We are getting better performances but if Canada or other countries can break into that dominance, Norway's medal count could be reduced drastically. But still, after all these years, it has yet to happen.

The source of the problem of some sports straggling well behind others is seen in the title of our Olympic development program, "Own the Podium". With a focus on excellence defined in terms of winning medals so Canada is visible on the podium, this has been successful in increasing our medal count, but this narrow focus has meant that other sports get little money for their development. It also means that a sport in which one was once pre-eminent, but that has hit a dry spell has a funding drop-off that accelerates its decline. After the 2016 Olympics, questions about this approach increased leading to a review.

Own The Podium (OTP) makes funding recommendations directing $70-million – about $6-million of it comes from the Canadian Olympic Committee – to sports federations whose athletes demonstrate medal potential.
The strategy is called "targeted excellence" and is defined as identifying "a subset of athletes and/or teams that have a high probability of attaining stated desired Olympic and Paralympic performance results, and to provide them with focused support and funding to attain those results." ...

In other words, the money and resources are doled out based on the ability to produce medals. ...

Own The Podium has its critics as the organization that holds sway in determining which sport federations get how much targeted-excellence money. Some federations have received a small sliver of that funding pie, or sometimes, none at all.
Under pressure to win medals, coaches and high-performance directors have made controversial decisions at Olympic Games in the makeup of men's bobsleigh teams and rowing crews. ...

The government has decided it's time to look at whether the sports system is getting desired results affordably and if it is adapting to changing needs.
"Fourteen years ago we thought this was a good idea, this was the path and this was a cutting-edge approach to high-performance sport internationally," Minister of Sport Carla Qualtrough told The Canadian Press in 2016. ...

"The government of Canada's decision to deploy a targeted-excellence approach has delivered in spades," Merklinger said. "The data speaks for itself. It's been incredibly successful.
"That said, can we improve? That's the value of this review. Own The Podium has been tasked with delivering the targeted approach, but how does the whole system get better? That's the kind of thoughtful dialogue I would say needs to happen once the report is tabled."
In 2010, as the host country, Canada won 14 gold medals, a record for any country at a single Winter Games. Canada ranked third in the over all medal count with 26 medals.
The stated objective for 2010 was to win more medals than any other country. The goal was the same four years later in Sochi, where Canada ranked fourth with 25 medals, including 10 gold.
Canada has also won more medals to start this 2016-17 World Cup winter season (73) than any other country, OTP said.
Gains in summer sports have taken longer.
Canada's one gold among 19 medals won at the 2012 Summer Games in London was unremarkable when compared with three gold in 19 four years earlier in Beijing.
While Canada remains a top-three country in the Winter Paralympic Games, the country has lost ground in the Summer Games.
Other nations are putting more effort and resources into their summer para-sport athletes than they were a decade ago. Canada dropped from 50 medals to 31 to 29 over the past three Summer Paralympics.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ticle33418531/