Canadian Olympic Committee Doubles Financial Support For Olympic Sports

[Nehkara]

Canadian Olympic Committee to offer $100M boost

The Canadian Olympic Committee will be almost doubling its financial support for Olympic sports over the next four years with an injection of about $100 million, president Marcel Aubut said Wednesday.

Ottawa has also promised to keep its funding for Olympic sport intact, he said.

"This money ... coming from the (federal) government, . . . plus the $100 million, will guarantee a bright and golden future for Canadian Olympic athletes," he said on a conference call that included presidents of some of the national sports federations.

The increase in money has come from improved support from corporate sponsors.

I think this is awesome, the athletes train incredibly hard, and usually have to work as well, to represent Canada on the international stage. Any help they get is great!

[peter12]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...st-London.html

[Muta]

Totally on board with this. Love it.

[polak]

Yes!!!

No complaints here. 1 gold was a bloody joke.

[Hatter]

London must have been a wake-up call for the nation. We need to support our athletes if we want to remain competitive. 35 million plus is a large enough population to field lots of winners, especially combined with the good infrastructure for sport compared to most of the world.

The added $100 million should help us stay near the top of the heap in Sochi. Looking forward to it!

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by polak

Yes!!!

No complaints here. 1 gold was a bloody joke.

:insert snarky comment about America winning so many gold medals here:

and the obligatory

[Flame Of Liberty]

sit on your sofa with mustard stains on your tshirt munching nachos

picture

be convinced you contributed to the gold medal

money spent to stroke ego of a nation is money well spent

[Cowperson]

The money is a rounding error in the totality of the federal budget and well worth the expenditure considering the impact on the psyche of the country and the inspiration it can provide to health and wellness.

Long overdue.

Cowperson

[Flames in 07]

I'm not against the funding but I find it interesting that this is wildly popular yet public funds to dig us out of one of the worst rinks in the league is the worst idea ever. They seem similar to me.

[OffsideSpecialist]

I have to assume because the average Olympian isn't owned by groups of billionaires making a profit.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Flames in 07

I'm not against the funding but I find it interesting that this is wildly popular yet public funds to dig us out of one of the worst rinks in the league is the worst idea ever. They seem similar to me.

It should be noted that this funding is from corporate sources. However, there is federal funding as well which is being maintained. I would also note that using public funds to build arenas for teams owned by billionaires and paying their players millions is somewhat different than using public funds to help poor athletes train so they can represent our country on the international stage. Just my $0.02.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

I have to assume because the average Olympian isn't owned by groups of billionaires making a profit.

Yet.

[Azure]

I fully support this as well. In fact I would fully support more opportunities for athletes to succeed this way.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

I have to assume because the average Olympian isn't owned by groups of billionaires making a profit.

I won't hijack the thread with a drawn out comparison, but I'll just say that I think that's totally irrelevant. If that is a good reason not to publicly fund a new rink then that just proves that miserly loves company. People get utility (in this case entertainment, sense of pride and sense of achievement) from watching Canadians win gold medals. I suspect Calgarians similar utility from having a successful NHL program.

Anyway I'm glad the olympic programs get more funding and its cool that corporate sponsorship is up.

[Rutuu]

Now I'm not sure I'm comparing apples to apples here, but the aussies spent $588million on Olympic funding last year.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/07/26/...ympic-success/

Increasing funding to Canadian sport so I can point my finger and laugh at other nations for ~4weeks every 4yrs is WELL worth the extra $20/person.

The fact we don't have a Men's Field Hockey team is brutal...it's basically street hockey with funny rules. We also haven't won a gold in the pool since Tewksbury...there are 34golds up for grabs in the timed pool events alone!

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by Rutuu

The fact we don't have a Men's Field Hockey team is brutal...it's basically street hockey with funny rules.

Field hockey is a step below Ringette.

[Rutuu]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

Field hockey is a step below Ringette.

Agreed. I'd rather dominate everyone at the sport, win gold, then tell them they're worse than ringette.