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/

[jerrym]

The report reviewing the "Targeted Excellence" by "Owning the Podium" approach to funding Olympic sports was released in the summer of 2017 and recommended significant tweaks to the way funding works. It also recommended more coordination between funding groups. Even if these changes are implemented it will take time to see to what extent they affect results in the Olympics.

The Department of Canadian Heritage, with Sport Canada under its umbrella, released a report Thursday from its review of “targeted excellence,” a system established over a decade ago that doles out money based on the ability to win medals. ...
While the report concluded that approach produces medals, half the Olympic athletes surveyed said how it is administered “needs a major re-think and revisions.” ...

An athlete whose sport was defunded said in the report losing the funds was like getting “bombed back to the stone age.” Athletes who didn’t receive targeted funding felt left behind.
The most extreme example is the national skeleton team, which got $3.5 million in the quadrennial prior to 2014, but has received $386,000 in the first three years of this cycle. ...
The report suggests a funding commitment of more than one year would allow sport federations to create a more stable environment for their athletes.
“One of the things we heard loud and clear from athletes is they feel responsible for the financial sustainability of their organization,” Qualtrough said. So ‘I’m going into worlds next week and my performance will have an impact on whether my coach has a job in six months. That deters from performance. It’s just not fair and it’s not healthy. I’m hoping to relieve some of that pressure off athletes by giving the kind of multi-year approach to funding that they can know if they have an off-day, or regardless of their effort someone is better, their coaches still have a job in six months.” ...
“In Canada, it’s not clear who is the high-performance leader,” it said.

Canada has many decision-makers compared to the United States where the U.S. Olympic Committee oversees the entire high performance sports system.
Sport Canada administers a $130-million envelope of money that includes athletes’ carding money and funds to host international events. The Canadian Olympic Committee brings millions of dollars of corporate sponsorship into the system and bills itself as the largest private-sector funder of sport in this country. The Canadian Paralympic Committee and the network of sport institutes across the country are also big players.
“We could benefit very much from everyone knowing clearly where the buck stops,” Qualtrough said. Imagine if we all knew very clearly what our roles and responsibilities were and if we could all focus on those things exceptionally, we would have a world-class sport system in this country.”

http://nationalpost.com/sports/olymp...d-paralympians

[Will]

Neither the men or women's curling team won a medal and the Canadian men's hockey team might not win a medal. In spite of this, Canada has won 27 medals which is a record for them at the Winter Olympics.

[jerrym]

The women's hockey final was a superlative effort on both sides. However, towards the end of the third period America's speed could be seen to wear down the Canadian women's while our goalie, Shannon Szabacos, saved the team from defeat in regulation overtime.
Letting the Germans play a very conservative trap-orientated game for the first two periods in the men's semi-finals, enabled them to take a three goal lead twice and ultimately the game, despite a strong effort that reduced the margin to one goal.

[jerrym]

A salute to Kim Boutin for her resilience, composure and skill in overcoming death threats after winning a bronze medal after a South Korean was disqualified for interference to another bronze and then wrap things up by winning a silver medal.

[Will]

I enjoyed the snowboarding big air final which was was won by Sebastien Toutant. I know there is more skill to it than that, but what it seems to boil down to is whether you can stay upright upon landing. Mark McMorris failed to do that on his first two jumps and was thus out of medal contention by the 3rd jump.

[rdavies]

In spite of this, Canada has won 27 medals which is a record for them at the Winter Olympics.

Kinda tells me if the funding model ain't broke don't fix it.

[jerrym]

Good to see Canada come back to beat the Czech Republic 6-4. But the question remains whether the offensive approach that gave them a 6-2 lead would have led to a victory instead of a 4-3 loss to Germany in their semi-final game.

[jerrym]

Kinda tells me if the funding model ain't broke don't fix it.

IMO it needs tweaking so that sports who go through a down period, such as bobsledding, whose funding dropped from $3.5 million over 4 years to $386,000 over 3 years due to a drop in performance, instead have such precipitous rises and falls replaced by a more gradual rate of change.

[Wobbler]

Neither the men or women's curling team won a medal and the Canadian men's hockey team might not win a medal. In spite of this, Canada has won 27 medals which is a record for them at the Winter Olympics.

I think that the absence of a lot of Russians - and some new events - had a lot to do with that, but it was impressive anyway. Fun to watch, too!

[ArgoGabe22]

I watched male figure skating live once for about 10 minutes. That's all I really took in this time around. I seem to be watching less and less Olympics as the years go by, but that also applies to every other sport other than the CFL.

[Argo57]

I watched male figure skating live once for about 10 minutes. That's all I really took in this time around. I seem to be watching less and less Olympics as the years go by, but that also applies to every other sport other than the CFL.

Didn’t watch any of these games, simply had no interest.
When I was younger couldn’t get enough Argos, Blue Jays and Leafs, only follow the Argos now.

[Wobbler]

I seem to be watching less and less Olympics as the years go by, but that also applies to every other sport other than the CFL.

It's hard to find time, but for me the Olympics (and to a lesser extent the World Cup) remain special if I can see it live. I can only catch bits and pieces, of course, but that's still lots of fun. People do amazing stuff and strange things happen.

[ArgoRavi]

I watched male figure skating live once for about 10 minutes. That's all I really took in this time around. I seem to be watching less and less Olympics as the years go by, but that also applies to every other sport other than the CFL.

I watched a fair bit of the hockey but can't say that I watched much of anything else, other than a few rocks being thrown in curling. The Olympics don't turn my crank as they did when I was a kid but I could say that about the NHL, NFL, and MLB also.

[rdavies]

I watched a fair bit of the hockey but can't say that I watched much of anything else, other than a few rocks being thrown in curling. The Olympics don't turn my crank as they did when I was a kid but I could say that about the NHL, NFL, and MLB also.

I'm the same, a big sports fan as a kid who has watched less and less as I get older.

I watched the Olympics from the CBC website instead of TV, I am a cord cutter and am one of the rare folk who doesn't have a CBC transmitter to watch OTA. TTTT, I don't know how anyone can still watch the Olympics on regular TV, the Internet experience is so much better. The CBC does a very good job with this. Instead of scrolling to find an athlete's performance they have indicators that tell you where they are and all commercial free.

[macspectrum]

bell hates the word "free" - still hard for me 2 find 'haellelujah' from opening ceremonies in vancouver ...... i do not have a tv sub. just an ota hd antenna and a computer w/ internet

[rdavies]

bell hates the word "free" - still hard for me 2 find 'haellelujah' from opening ceremonies in vancouver ...... i do not have a tv sub. just an ota hd antenna and a computer w/ internet

That's all you need.