Canada's First Medal

[calf]

What sport do you think it will be in, and what colour?

Me: Random rowing event, and it will be silver.

[octothorp]

It will be gold, and it will be in...






...women's trampoline. Man, we're lame.

[Mango]

Women's platform syncro diving - bronze.

[troutman]

Australia now has 13 medals (20 million people). Canada (30 million people) has none. Mongolia and Zimbabwe are ahead of Canada with one each.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/...kerByTotal.html (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2004/medaltracker/medalTrackerByTotal.html)

[calculoso]

Australia also has summer weather most of the year.

Canada doesn't.

When Australia can compete with Canada in the Winter Olympics, then it'd be a valid comparison with Canada and Australia for the Summer Olympics. Until then, there really isn't much to compare - Canada just isn't a summer nation.

[calgaryred]

well the medal has come in bronze form! Now I hope we can add to it in rowing!!!!!!

[calf]

Originally posted by calculoso@Aug 16 2004, 01:00 PM
Australia also has summer weather most of the year.

Canada doesn't.

When Australia can compete with Canada in the Winter Olympics, then it'd be a valid comparison with Canada and Australia for the Summer Olympics. Until then, there really isn't much to compare - Canada just isn't a summer nation.
Yea, but Canada has the facilities for Summer sports. Seriously, most Summer sports are indoors except for ones like triathalon, rowing, cycling, etc. and we seem to do alright in those events. Heck, our baseball team is doing pretty well. the indoor events like swimming and gymnastics etc are where we struggle.

It's lack of quality training in these events, which can probably be traced back to lack of funding.

[octothorp]

Good to see it come in an event where Canadians weren't really one of the top favorites. We need these sorts of medals to get any respectable totals.

[Jiggy_12]

Originally posted by calgaryred@Aug 16 2004, 01:05 PM
well the medal has come in bronze form! Now I hope we can add to it in rowing!!!!!!
What event did we get a bronze in?

[peter12]

Women's synchronized diving

[calf]

Women's 10m Platform Syncro Diving - mango was right (possibly psychic, but probably cheated :lol: )

[Maritime Q-Scout]

it also just started, wait a few days and the medals will come faster, I mean there's no talk about the Canadians winning anything early on. The platform diving medal was possible but not expected.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally posted by troutman@Aug 16 2004, 06:58 PM
Australia now has 13 medals (20 million people). Canada (30 million people) has none. Mongolia and Zimbabwe are ahead of Canada with one each.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/...kerByTotal.html (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2004/medaltracker/medalTrackerByTotal.html)
Well Australian athletes receive way better government funding, and the private sector in Australia also gives these athletes a lot of support. The Australian government really started spending heavily on Amatuer sport in prepartation for the Sydney Olympics so that they would fair well at their own show. The fact is Canadian summer athletes get jack squat for help in most cases and as a result don't fair as well as they could. In a sport like baseball where semi-pro athletes can be used it appears Canada will fair quite well. The reason is likely because major league baseball teams are paying to "train" the athletes in this sport so they don't have the worries that most of their Olympic team mates do. With Canada hosting the 2010 Winter games I expect we'll see the government start pumping more money into the Winter sports once a majority government is established.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally posted by calf+Aug 16 2004, 01:11 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (calf @ Aug 16 2004, 01:11 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-calculoso@Aug 16 2004, 01:00 PM
Australia also has summer weather most of the year.

Canada doesn't.

When Australia can compete with Canada in the Winter Olympics, then it'd be a valid comparison with Canada and Australia for the Summer Olympics. Until then, there really isn't much to compare - Canada just isn't a summer nation.
Yea, but Canada has the facilities for Summer sports. Seriously, most Summer sports are indoors except for ones like triathalon, rowing, cycling, etc. and we seem to do alright in those events. Heck, our baseball team is doing pretty well. the indoor events like swimming and gymnastics etc are where we struggle.

It's lack of quality training in these events, which can probably be traced back to lack of funding. [/b][/quote]
Yeah, but the australians don't have to compete for funding with the winter events. In Canada, the vast majority of the population play the winter sports and the summer ones are somewhat of an add on. We've got a lot of athletes tied up in hockey that would be very good at other sports. When you don't have half of your athletes specializing in a winter sport, you can get a lot of good summer athletes.

[Mango]

Originally posted by calf@Aug 16 2004, 07:19 PM
Women's 10m Platform Syncro Diving - mango was right (possibly psychic, but probably cheated :lol: )
No, didn't cheat...I just figured they were good. The girls had a rough try at it on the springboard on Saturday.

I have a friend in diving and follow the sport fairly closely.

[nieuwy-89]

Originally posted by Sylvanfan@Aug 16 2004, 07:28 PM
Well Australian athletes receive way better government funding, and the private sector in Australia also gives these athletes a lot of support. The Australian government really started spending heavily on Amatuer sport in prepartation for the Sydney Olympics so that they would fair well at their own show. The fact is Canadian summer athletes get jack squat for help in most cases and as a result don't fair as well as they could. In a sport like baseball where semi-pro athletes can be used it appears Canada will fair quite well. The reason is likely because major league baseball teams are paying to "train" the athletes in this sport so they don't have the worries that most of their Olympic team mates do. With Canada hosting the 2010 Winter games I expect we'll see the government start pumping more money into the Winter sports once a majority government is established.
I think you're right about 2010. Canada is a winter country, and winter sports should be our strength. I like the idea of using the Winter Olympics as a showcase for Canadian talent and the way we meld our climate with our national identity.

The Summer Olympics will always take a back seat in Canada, and rightly so.