Why on earth do we suck so much at certain sports?

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

I'll give the reason we don't compete at ski jumping. We don't have anyone who ski jumps. CODA, run out of Calgary, was practically begging people to use its facilities. It would have paid for anyone to come and ski jump and to develop. No one did. That's why.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

The Koreans are powerhouses in skating, and we should arguably be ahead of them. The facilities in Calgary are easily the best in the world, and we should be pumping out speed skaters, but we aren't. We should be a powerhouse in a lot of sports but aren't.

This comes down to $ though, and the Americans are willing to pump a TONNE of money into Olympic sports, and we aren't.

If you are a good fast skater in Korea at 9 or 10 you will be groomed for speed skating, in Canada you will play hockey.

[Stanley]

There's all the talk about funding or whatever, but seriously, when you have like 5 athletes in an event and can't even medal, let alone crack the top 10, like c'mon...I'm talking mostly about the downhill skiing and speed skating...

Like with the Hamelin bros. last night, talk about an epic fail in strategy "Let's take the lead and then just run out of gas!" It's the same story with many canadian athletes...I also think canadians by nature don't handle the pressure as much in many olympic sporting events, at least it seems this way...If those were 2 Americans up front, they wouldn't have choked...

[troutman]

Why do we expect so much, when our population is 30 million? US is about 300 million, Russia 140 million, Germany 80 million, France 65 million.

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by troutman

Why do we expect so much, when our population is 30 million? US is about 300 million, Russia 140 million, Germany 80 million, France 65 million.

Because we still end up with multiple athletes in a certain event/sport...that raises expectations. Not to mention the media, I mean every competition is a "potential medal" only to be disappointed

[SOMBRI2]

i don't agree using the population size as argument, man.....india and china would have won all world cups / championships and olympics in the world then?

i was at the ski canada athlete nomination event about 3 weeks ago, i heard ski canada had very high expectations, and the chairman said at the podium "these fine athletes will help us win number one in this olympics". to be quite honest, i doubt if all associations are on the same page to thrive for success, based on the disparity of funding, talents, commitment they had.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

In terms of skiing....find me someone under the age of 35 in this country who isn't a full time snow boarder. I'm surprised we don't do better at that sport given that when I was in high school skiing was dead and everyone had taken to snow boarding instead.

Our best athletes tend to gravitate towards more exciting sports that they enjoy. You can have great facilities, but if you can't get good athletes to take up those sports you'll never have anyone who's any good at them.

I am 35, and could never get into snow boarding. Its kinda fun, but lacks the finesse of skiing. First off its too slow and cumbersome. You get off the lift, have to fiddle fart with your stupid binding, and get in the way of the skiers that are ready to go off right off the lift.

Snowboarders irritate the hell out of me, and they are a safety hazard on the hill. I can't count how many times I have been on a black run and almost collided with some moron sitting in the middle of the hill trying to find a good greenday tune on his Ipod or set up for a siiiiiick trick.

I have a couple friends that snowboard, and they litterally drop 30 IQ points and start talking like Shawn White when they are at the hill, when in reality they are well spoken people. Something about being some try hard "snow surfer dude" wearing camo pants, with a $2000 worth of gear, when you can't even carve on your front edge, screams poser to me. And unfortunately that describes at least half of the snowboarding population.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by pylon

I am 35, and could never get into snow boarding. Its kinda fun, but lacks the finesse of skiing. First off its too slow and cumbersome. You get off the lift, have to fiddle fart with your stupid binding, and get in the way of the skiers that are ready to go off right off the lift.

Snowboarders irritate the hell out of me, and they are a safety hazard on the hill. I can't count how many times I have been on a black run and almost collided with some moron sitting in the middle of the hill trying to find a good greenday tune on his Ipod or set up for a siiiiiick trick.

I have a couple friends that snowboard, and they litterally drop 30 IQ points and start talking like Shawn White when they are at the hill, when in reality they are well spoken people. Something about being some try hard "snow surfer dude" wearing camo pants, with a $2000 worth of gear, when you can't even carve on your front edge, screams poser to me. And unfortunately that describes at least half of the snowboarding population.

Don't be hating grandpa, you just don't have the skillz to pay the billz.

[Hack&Lube]

I think that the nordic countries are better at skiing because it's part of their heritage and culture and kids are all skiing at a certain age instead of playing hockey like they would in Canada.

The USA has caught up though to the traditional european skiing powers but that is a product of large population and comparative wealth.

There is no reason to expect the Canadians to be the best at skiing because while we may have some good ski resorts, they are all in very remote areas comparable to where most of the population of Canada is. This is a country of small population across a large landmass. We're good at hockey because there are rinks in every city. Most Canadian cities don't have ski hills next to them. Imagine a country like Austria which is a very small country but because of that small size, most of the population is very close to the Alps, therefore it's convienient and something you do often from a young age.

For what we are, Canada is incredibly competative with other countries with 10+ times our population and almost facist Olympic development programes (Russia, China) that select athletes from when they are kids and put them through rigors and pressure like you'll never see in this country. Here, most people grow up like normal people and get interested at excelling at a sport they enjoy during their teenage years and end up getting serious as young adults.

[3 Justin 3]

People need to realize too (probably most have), but the Americans dominate (as do China, Germany, etc.) because they have tons of people. Canada has like 34 million, the USA has 10 times as many people as us. Of course they are going to have a ton of good athletes, plus they got a ton more money.

Too be even close to them is pretty damn good IMO.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Most Canadian cities don't have ski hills next to them.

Other than the GTA and Winnipeg which big Canadian cities don't have ski hills in close proximity?

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by T@T

If the answer was obvious then why ask the question?

[burn_baby_burn]

As some have pointed out, all the top athletes play hockey. Canada would probably be better at something like cross country skiing with athletes like Jarome Iginla competing in them. Guys like that play hockey instead.

[yads]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Other than the GTA and Winnipeg which big Canadian cities don't have ski hills in close proximity?

Even those cities have ski hills near them. They're not big, but they still have them.

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

People need to realize too (probably most have), but the Americans dominate (as do China, Germany, etc.) because they have tons of people. Canada has like 34 million, the USA has 10 times as many people as us. Of course they are going to have a ton of good athletes, plus they got a ton more money.

Too be even close to them is pretty damn good IMO.

problem is, we aren't even close...I mean really, if our skiiers, sledders and skaters didn't choke, we'd be at least at 16 medals by now...the sky isn't falling or anything it's just that we've choked hard on at least a couple medal rounds, but whatever....

[socktape]

1)Skiing - True we may have world class hills but as was said before, we don't have the population by those remote locations. That and the cash. For example. I had a co-worker here in Calgary who's 11 year old kid was in a ski racing program. For one season of lessons, races, equipment, travel etc. they had spent over 10 grand. There is no corporate sponsorship (unlike in a lot of European countries) and all fundraising was done by the group. I could be wrong but I doubt the average family in Canada could foot that kind of yearly bill and heaven forbid that family has more than one kid.

2)Ski Jumping - There was a really good news story on the state of Ski Jumping in canada about a year ago in which they profiled the organiztion and atheletes in Canada and Calgary. They have virtually no money to run the organiztion. It is pretty much all volunteer driven. There is little if any funds to even maintain the facilities they have.

3) Long track speed skating - I wouldn't say this was a failure at all nor do we suck at it. As previously mentioned we have earned a lot of our medals from this sport and consistantly place well at the olympics and world cup.

4) Figure skating - Even if we won more I couldn't stoop that low. The only thing that reminded me it was Men's figure skating when I watched Johnny Wier's performance was that he was wearing pants.... even then I wasn't too sure. I really have a hard time with any purely jugded sport. I appreciate the athleticism but it isn't my cup of tea.

5) CCS - I would think this is actually one of the best stories of the program specifically on the men's side. The men haven't won a medal but have consistantly had all time top Canadian finishes. If nothing else it proves that the programs are headed in the right direction.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by T@T

What this country is lacking is a grassroots program where as in where you see a 10 year old youngster good at say "skiing" you pay his way as long as he/she is interested. the true talents start very young but sadly some don't ever develope because of financial reasons from the parents.

Considering the tax burdens that are already in place to support our Health Care and Education systems - not to mention all the other myriad programs the government runs, there isn't much appetite to funnel millions of dollars into athletic development.

I mean, these last six years have seen by far the most funding devoted to "Owning the Podium", and we're not seeing the dramatic increase in medal count that was maybe expected. I highly doubt there will be strong public support for funding of events that people only care about once every four years when those events won't be held in Canada for another 20-30 years or more.

It's nice to do well at the olympics, but if I had the choice, I'd rather see my tax contributions go to arts development and social programs than athletic initiatives.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by fotze

These athletes need to show the same winning attitude I do in my life. I don't half ass anything, I am totally uncanadian, second best is not an option for me. Disregard the fact I spend too much time here because I am ultra successful, surely the top percentile in the world at my profession.

And just so everyone knows, I'm probably one the best Dr. Mario players in the city

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

As some have pointed out, all the top athletes play hockey. Canada would probably be better at something like cross country skiing with athletes like Jarome Iginla competing in them. Guys like that play hockey instead.

And in Europe they play football (soccer); in US, basketball and football, etc, etc, etc.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by troutman

Why do we expect so much, when our population is 30 million? US is about 300 million, Russia 140 million, Germany 80 million, France 65 million.

Care to explain:

Norway (@ 13 medals, 4.8M pop)
Austria (@9 medals, 8.3M pop)
Switzerland (@7 medals, 7.7M pop)
Sweden (@7 medals, 9.3M pop)



Yes, Canada is not a top competitor due to our population

And Russia wants a word with you