Olympic Superpowers That Have More Medals Than Canada...

[Hemmer]

What really amazes me is all the new world records that are being set in all the swimming events, and not only by Phelps. Through the first three days of the 2008 Olympics, there have been 10 world records broken in nine swimming events.

How do you explain that?

[red sky]

Originally Posted by Hemmer

What really amazes me is all the new world records that are being set in all the swimming events, and not only by Phelps. Through the first three days of the 2008 Olympics, there have been 10 world records broken in nine swimming events.

How do you explain that?

The new swim suits used and the pool apparently is built as a "fast" pool according to CBC

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by red sky

The new swim suits used and the pool apparently is built as a "fast" pool according to CBC

The suits are designed to be a smooth as shark skin, and it takes 30 minutes for a swimmer to get into it. Also, I heard that suits actually help with buoyancy of the swimmer, keeping them higher up in the water.


And you can design a "fast" pool.
The pool in Beijing has 10 lanes, but only use 8. This keeps the wake caused by the swimmers in the outsides to to dissipate more before rebounding back into the swimming lane.
The pool is also deeper than most other pools. This has the same effect. The ripples that move downwards towards the bottom of the pool, and bounce back up towards the swimmers again dissipates more, causing less disturbance that the swimmer has to swim through.

[flylock shox]

^^ Don't forget the drugs!

I think a big part of Canada's problem is that we simply don't have the population base, infrastructure, and cultural support necessary to succeed in a broad variety of athletic pursuits. Look at soccer for example. Biggest sport in the world, highest enrolment among both boys and girls of any sport in Canada, and a craptastic international team (well, the men anyway). Why is that? Well, a big part of it is a lack of proper scouting and development at home, largely owing to a lack of professional leagues and teams taking an interest in young Canadian players. Whereas a phenom like Crosby gets national attention at the age of 9, a similar phenom in soccer simply wouldn't hit the radar until much later, if at all. If that's the case with the biggest sport in the world, and the biggest (enrolment-wise) in Canada, what chance do the "fringe" sports have?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

^^ Don't forget the drugs!

I think a big part of Canada's problem is that we simply don't have the population base, infrastructure, and cultural support necessary to succeed in a broad variety of athletic pursuits. Look at soccer for example. Biggest sport in the world, highest enrolment among both boys and girls of any sport in Canada, and a craptastic international team (well, the men anyway). Why is that? Well, a big part of it is a lack of proper scouting and development at home, largely owing to a lack of professional leagues and teams taking an interest in young Canadian players. Whereas a phenom like Crosby gets national attention at the age of 9, a similar phenom in soccer simply wouldn't hit the radar until much later, if at all. If that's the case with the biggest sport in the world, and the biggest (enrolment-wise) in Canada, what chance do the "fringe" sports have?

Obviously we need to throw more money at soccer and give the athletes grants so that life doesn't have to get in the way of their dream.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Obviously we need to throw more money at soccer and give the athletes grants so that life doesn't have to get in the way of their dream.

I don't think he's saying we should or shouldn't be throwing money at trying to grow soccer. I think he's just trying to give a reason why Canada sucks internationally at everything besides hockey. Because most Canadians simply don't really care, and would rather spend their money somewhere else than to promote their global sporting image. Its not right or wrong, its just how Canadians think.

[flylock shox]

[quote=FlamesAddiction;1403733]Obviously we need to throw more money at soccer and give the athletes grants so that life doesn't have to get in the way of their dream.[/quote]

Fixed.

Money is not necessarily (or entirely) the problem. Systems for the development of athletes develop naturally in a market-like manner. If there was a large professional league based in Canada for, say, water polo, professional water polo teams would scout Canada's water polo youth leagues aggressively, identify potential stars at young ages, recruit them, fund them, and develop them. This would all be done in the spirit of competitive business and attraction of revenue from the team's fan base. It would merely be incidental that Canada would also reap the benefits of this development process.

I suppose it's an open question whether, in the absence of private market systems like the above the development of athletes is worth spending taxpayer funds on.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I don't think he's saying we should or shouldn't be throwing money at trying to grow soccer. I think he's just trying to give a reason why Canada sucks internationally at everything besides hockey. Because most Canadians simply don't really care, and would rather spend their money somewhere else than to promote their global sporting image. Its not right or wrong, its just how Canadians think.

Oh, I agree. I was just being tongue-in-cheek. Some people think we suck at particular sports because we don't throw enough money at them and I was sarcastically disagreeing.

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by fotze

Th olympics are just a big dick contest, except its for sports that no one plays, except it isn't your dick its someone else's dick you have never met. "My strangers dick is bigger than your strangers!" $40 million dollars so that we can be "proud" of some dude who trained a lot in something I don't follow 34 months out of 36. I'd rather raise future superstar doctors.

Just like Christmas, the media has turned something cool and pure into a big who can spend the most money contest. Of all the things in the world that need more directed at it, the olympics is at the bottom of the list.

I have to agree with alot of this. In theory it's great...but it becomes a big celebrity circus. if there was such a thing as "spectator brain surgery" would we start seeing brain surgeons on the cover of People? Would that make more kids want to scarifice for something like that? If you LOVE doing something more than anything else in the world...what are you sacrificing exactly ? Yeah I know it's kinda cynical ...Anyway, Canada's an awesome place. It doesn't matter what your Olympians do. Where else would all the disgruntled Americans go??? It's often crossed my mind...

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by troutman

When judging Olympic performance I think it is useful to look at medals won per capita. Historically, Canada and the US have done about the same.


http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/sp...ime-per-capita

Finland is #1.

Canada and US are doing about the same at #29 and #28.

Interesting stat from past Olympics.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

I wish I had Olympic Superpowers!

Flying would be awesome!

For some reason, your comment made a lot of sense to me.

[Devils'Advocate]

I would personally like to thank our athletes for saving our government money. I just read an article saying that we are giving $20,000 to anyone that wins gold, $10,000 for silver and $5,000 for bronze. So far they have been doing right by the poor Canadian taxpayer.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Personally, I think I could spare $2 to see a better showing at the Olympics if only for the entertainment value. The last week it has seemed like the world is having a party and we've decided to be the typical Canadian wallflowers.

[Super-Rye]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

It obviously doesn't mean anything to you but sometimes I feel in a country like Canada where very few people seem to have national pride; as in I see way more people claiming they are whatever heritage their parents or grandparents were it would be nice to see everyone come together.

OK that's a bit much. Canadian's have a lot of pride. I'm very proud to be Canadian just as I'm very proud of my Scottish and Irish heritage. Nothing wrong with being proud of who you are. It's got nothing to do with "I'm Canadian" or "I'm Irish", in the end it's "I'm a person just like you, this is where I come from and this is my heritage." which I'm very happy a lot of Canadians hold onto.

While other professions get enough money to survive on we turn around and let our professional athletes, the people who go over seas and represent us, work jobs to survive and train, and I'm not talking about hockey players. It's all well and good and they love the sport to do it, obviously, but if you want to contend with the WORLD you're going to have to treat your best athletes better.

I work 2 jobs and go to school, it's harsh but it's survival and I know when I'm done school I won't have to work 2 jobs. These athletes HAVE to work AND train ALL THE TIME. If you want better athletes then have better funding for the Olympic staff and it's that simple. Say it's excuses but these athlete's obviously don't get enough funding if they're sitting at home from world championships. Could you imagine the bloody outrage if Hockey Canada lost funding and couldn't fly it's players out for any of the hockey tournaments?

Now I know some people are going to blah about not wanting to pay more taxes but I just have to ask, where's all that surplus that we keep hearing about going? Because it's most certainly not going to roads...or hospitals...our athletes...or trying to lure doctors and the like over. Why have a surplus if we're going to piss it away or even better yet, "Save it for a rainy day"(whatever that means) when we could be improving the quality of life for not just athletes, but everyone in this country! I mean it's why we pay freaking taxes.

[RougeUnderoos]

Just watching a bit of the coverage... before a break Ron Maclean was talking about some summer Olympian and a challenge he has before him and decided that a quote from Ray Emery ("Anger is a blessing") would fit the situation. Then the commercial was about the new Hockey Night in Canada theme.

Seemed kinda funny after reading this discussion about how we only care about hockey, and that the CBC sucks.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Totally agree. Didn't read past this post so I'm sorry if what I'm about to say has already been said...

Whoever cares about the medal count at the Olympics should be contributing toward it's funding or encouraging the company they work for to sponsor an athlete or maybe even donating some of their own time or perhaps a room in their house for an athlete.

Maybe that sounds a bit much for one person, but with the national coverage the lack of medals is getting, it sure sounds like alot of people care about this. At least for the two weeks that the Olympics are actually on. Then the rest of the time, nobody cares.

What's with this mentality that the government should be spending money on stuff like this when there are hundreds of more useful ways to divvy up tax dollars that are actually beneficial to everyone?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for winning. Hell, I make my own contribution towards the sports I care about. Hockey. I buy tickets. I buy tickets to NHL games which train the athletes I care about. I even bought tickets and attended a Team Canada game at the Torino Olympics.

So what I'm saying is that if you want something, make it happen. And as for the one who complained that we have no national identity, you're wrong. Our true national identity is being showcased right here in this thread. A bunch of whining that nobody is giving people free money to play games.

The US athletes are all privately funded. I think 4X4 is right. Canada should privately fund these people. Unfortunately our corporate / entrepreneurial culture is quite pathetic.

[LeftWing]

Now should there be medals for the top 5 finishes?

This year alone Canada would have cleaned up. We would even have picked up another one right now for the 3m synchronized diving event that according to CBC we were medal favorites in (again). Of course we would all lobby the government to throw a solid $200 for each athlete that reaches this lofty target so that there's a good reason for our Olympians to give up their normal lives for an additional four years.

Just think, we could have like 12 rusty Tin medals right now - then I'd be all like, "Take that Uzbekistan!".

[Frequitude]

This thread makes me ashamed to be from the same country as many of you.

There are hundreds of other things our government spends money on that are way more useless than the olympics. You want the government to cut out frivolous spending, target those, not the olympics.

$1B gun registry + $100 million for Olympics + $many billions for health care
<<<
$200 million for olympics + $(many plus 0.9) billion for health care


...and saying that $0 for Olympics + $(many plus 1.1)B for health care would be even better makes me feel extra shame.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by LeftWing

Now should there be medals for the top 5 finishes?

This year alone Canada would have cleaned up. We would even have picked up another one right now for the 3m synchronized diving event that according to CBC we were medal favorites in (again). Of course we would all lobby the government to throw a solid $200 for each athlete that reaches this lofty target so that there's a good reason for our Olympians to give up their normal lives for an additional four years.

Just think, we could have like 12 rusty Tin medals right now - then I'd be all like, "Take that Uzbekistan!".

I find it funny that there is apparently enough funding to allow so many of our athletes to be "medal favourites", but just not enough to allow them to execute at the Olympics. Something doesn't add up...

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by fotze

Exactly, I have great plans as long it involves other people money and none of my own (well, maybe a millionth of a cent).

I think tax forms should have the amounts we currently pay for existing programs, but another box for extras (like the olympics), you check off on your T4 that you want to pay some more taxes and you get to allocate where it goes, museums, olympics, ballets. Easy peasy.

ooooo

I would die to see how many tick the CBC box

[Devils'Advocate]

I'd tick the CBC box six or seven times. Anyhow.... I was wondering. If I go to Walmart and buy myself a PS3 and I know that Walmart gives to the US Olympic team... is money from my PS3 going to American athletes? There are a handful of Canadian companies doing their part - the ones with all the commercials - but there is no way that Canadian companies would be able to muster $80 million in funding for olympic athletes. And the other thing I was reading was that in the U.S. there is a *LOT* - and I mean a *LOT* of community fund-raising done for their Olympic hopefuls. Bake sales. Bottle drives. I dunno. Seems like a lot of effort. I'd rather chip in $2.