2010: A fund odyssey
By GEORGE GROSS -- Toronto Sun
It's going to take at least $120 million a year of government contributions to Canada's Excellence Program for our Winter Olympic athletes to reach the top of the standings in 2010.
Now, this may seem like an outrageous amount to those who view sport as a frivolous pastime instead of the integral part of Canadian culture that it is. But, to put the amount into prospective, it is about the same total the government paid for the two new jets Prime Minister Jean Chretien ordered to fly him around the world.
"At the end of the day, we would be talking about that kind of an amount in order to have a Best Ever Program that would support national sports federations to carry us to the top," said Chris Rudge, CEO and secretary-general of the Canadian Olympic Committee. "This, of course, doesn't mean that we can forget about our Summer Games programs."
Rudge, a former top business executive with Quebecor and husband of former Canadian international diver Janet Nutter, is well-versed in both business and sports.
He spends about 50% of his time working on and discussing a new system for Canadian amateur sports. He says that it includes the creation of three principal developments.
"First, we need a new leadership at the top," Rudge said yesterday. "Perhaps create something like an institute for sports, which can recognize the needs of Canadian athletes.
"Secondly, I would like to see the creation of sports institutes across the country which would concentrate not only on sports events, but also on medical and scientific research programs and services to athletes, particularly when they end their careers. Calgary has a similar setup, but we need that across the country.
"Thirdly, as I mentioned, we need to develop the Best Ever Program for 2010."
The awarding of the 2010 Winter Games to Vancouver/Whistler gives Canadian amateur sports officials a chance to capitalize on the public awareness of the lack of funding for amateur sport and move forward with the expectation that they can generate increased investment in coach and athlete funding, better facilities, better equipment and technology, travel for international competition and training.
However, money alone won't cure the ills of Canadian amateur sports. True, sufficient money is needed to improve the comfort level of Canadian athletes, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, before they can achieve their dreams.
"We do a lot of fundraising ourselves," Rudge said. "More and more of our funds will be directed to our excellence fund. We realize that we at the COC cannot be all things to all people.
"Moreover, the people of the COC provide leadership to our athletes, which is very important, particularly for young athletes. Our staff is working on a new design and studying programs in other countries.
"We are looking at sports systems in Australia, Norway and Cuba, three countries that finished 1-2-3 per capita in Olympic medals.
"Lately, England has been coming on strong with its program. These countries put the emphasis on excellence. We in Canada like to give everybody a chance and we will continue to do so."
Rudge figures that completely adopting the styles of other countries would not be our way to success. However, it would be important to get the 51 national sport federations to learn from those other systems and than adapt them to create a made-for-Canada system.
It's high time that Canadian sports officials took the bull by the proverbial horns, because we're still the only Olympic host country in history never to win an Olympic gold medal at home.
