Jungle Jim Hunter blasting Canadian Olympic team on 960

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by troutman

Jim just blasted Emily Brydon for not attacking today.

Dunno if it was a direct response to him but Brydon just did an interview where she stated that the only reason she was out there today was to find the fun in skiing.

Seems like it's a typical olympic story that a good chunk of our athletes who are medal favourites (obviously not Brydon) fail to win medals. I wonder if it's something psychological about the lack of exposure and then full national attention.

[Mccree]

This is the same debate Canadians have during and right after each Olympics. We need more medals, more funding etc.. In a few months all will be forgotten only to be relived during the London Olympics. There is not enough coverage in between Olympics for the average Canadian to care. Just my opinion.

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by Mccree

This is the same debate Canadians have during and right after each Olympics. We need more medals, more funding etc.. In a few months all will be forgotten only to be relived during the London Olympics. There is not enough coverage in between Olympics for the average Canadian to care. Just my opinion.

It's true, for most people not involved in amateur sports at a high level the awareness wouldn't be there. It's a bit different for me because my sister competes at a very high level in Long Distance running so it is a constant battle to get funding for her. For example, she is 24 years old and still needs to work 3 bingos every two months in order to get enough money together to travel to certain competitions....I bet you high level University athletes in the States don't have to work bingos to travel to track competitions across the States.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by simmer2

[/b]Okay, so I've done some digging on this and here is what I've come up with for funding of Canada Vs. Australia:

Australia Funding

Sport funding in Australia is supported by the government to the tune of $2.142 billion Australian Dollars in 2005-06 (worth slightly less than Canadian Dollars). This is shared between the state and the federal government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Australia

(I know it is wiki so take with a grain of salt but it is likely within the ballpark)

Canada Funding

http://gymbrooke.com/funding.htm

According to this website about $133mm was funded to Canadian sports programs in 2005-2006. If you add in the $117mm 5-year Own The Podium strategy, that addes about $20mm extra per year, so that works out to about $155mm/year spent on amateur sports. This is spread between Winter and Summer events but the weight is generally much heavier on the Winter events.

Again, this is just a brief search but if it is correct, then Australia spends 16x more money on Amateur sports than Canada. Australia also has only 21 million people vs. Canada's 35 million people so per person this funding is even less in Canada.

As for the argument about social programs, the last time I checked Australia had a very good Universal Health Care program and their social programs are still funded strongly. Taxation in Australia is roughly the same as Canada's, except they have a 10% GST versus our 5% GST.

Either way, I don't buy the argument that by funding more amateur sports hurts other social programs, we just need to re-allocate the money better. Kids look up to heroes at the olympics and get involved because we do well. That in turn gets kids involved in sports which keeps them healthier which reduces health care costs, etc. etc. Not to mention the value of pursuing a sport to its fullest and realizing what you can achieve.

That's an apples and oranges comparison. That Australian total includes "total government funding for sports and recreation activities." Given that 49% of that funding comes from local governments suggests to me that they're including virtually every facility in the entire country. In order to make an analogous comparison for Canada, you would have to include every government subsidised arena, baseball field, soccer field, community center, pool, etc. I can say with great certainty, that if you included all of the sports facilities in Canada, that the total would be much, much greater than $155 million a year (a single pool near where I live requires over $2 million a year in government funding to operate).

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by opendoor

That's an apples and oranges comparison. That Australian total includes "total government funding for sports and recreation activities." Given that 49% of that funding comes from local governments suggests to me that they're including virtually every facility in the entire country. In order to make an analogous comparison for Canada, you would have to include every government subsidised arena, baseball field, soccer field, community center, pool, etc. I can say with great certainty, that if you included all of the sports facilities in Canada, that the total would be much, much greater than $155 million a year (a single pool near where I live requires over $2 million a year in government funding to operate).

You're likely right, I just did a quick scan because finding all the necessary info would take hours. I would bet money though that Australia spends way more money/person on amateur sports than Canada does.

If anybody happens to know this number, it would be appreciated.

[North East Goon]

I heard Norway is crying out for an inquiry due to there lack of medals in the nordic events. The Netherlands are not happy with there speed skating haul either. Relax, this happens all over the world.

[Le Golie]

I think things are relatively on track at these games in terms of medals, and fine the way they are in terms of funding and emphasis on these sports that we only care about during the Olympics. There is really no reason for Canada to be a sports powerhouse in anything outside of hockey. I actually think it's good to be an average/below average nation in terms of sports performance, because it makes it that much more glorious and exciting when we actually win something.

[Torture]

Classless comments IMO.

These athletes are competing on the world stage....where they've trained for years to get....and they're not trying? Cause we all know that having fun and trying are mutually exclusive.

[Cowboy89]

There's a lot of reasons for less than competative showings at Olympics for Canada than the US.

1) It's really isn't the top of the heap in terms of priorities. Viewpoints like "I would rather spend money on social spending than olympic athletes" is more common here than in the States. Watching gold medal performances does very little for you if you have to remortgage your house to pay for your heart surgery.

2) The spoils of victory are not on the same magnitude here. Sponsors have an easier time putting money towards elite level US athletes than Canadian ones because a US gold medalist can sell 10x more wheaties than their Canadian counterpart. There's more fame and fortune to be had from being a gold medalist in the US. Somethine extra for those US athletes to shoot for. In Canada as a gold medalist you have a $40,000 cheque (which I'm sure can get spent up on training pretty easily), and a guaranteed interview/appearence with Micheal Landsberg on Off the Record.

3) We do not have a competative attitude towards athletics outside of hockey. Sure the US has its more favored sports, but when you live in a country of 300 million people and the world's largest economy, Americans take the view that regradless of sport or competition they as a nation must be winners or at the very least be a force. In Canada due to our very size we cannot have the same approach and keep our sanity.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

...Americans take the view that regradless of sport or competition they as a nation must be winners or at the very least be a force. In Canada due to our very size we cannot have the same approach and keep our sanity.

This.

There is a great deal to be noted regarding the cultural differences between Canada and the US that hinge on this point. Individual achievement, against the grain determinism, pissing in the wind and nation building through excess are practically synonymous with "American values". We just don't function or think in like terms with Americans, and while it rubs a number of Canadians the wrong way—culminating in the "my name is Joe and I am Canadian" sort of idiotic beer commercials—this element of our own cultural identity promotes at least as much benefit from the fact that athletic competitiveness is simply not as high a priority here. Instead of sulking and being critical of the fact that we will likely never "own the podium", perhaps it is more important to focus on why that is the case, and celebrate those parts of our country and identity that are great in large part BECAUSE we are marginally competitive.

[return to the red]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/can/medals

Many of the events Canada Medalled in 2006 have yet to go and realistically I wasn't expecting much from the men's speedskating as much as from the women's (not including short track)

[Hammertime]

I didn't read the whole thread, so I'm not sure if this has been stated.

Athletes in certain countries (Korea for example) have an "all or nothing" attitude. All they have known in their lives are training for these Olympics, and if they don't perform, they have nothing to fall back to. On the flip side, gold medal winners in Olympics are set for life.

The Risk/Reward is much greater in other countries than Canada..

[loob job]

Originally Posted by Torture

Classless comments IMO.

These athletes are competing on the world stage....where they've trained for years to get....and they're not trying? Cause we all know that having fun and trying are mutually exclusive.

Couldn't agree more. Anybody who thinks they aren't trying is an idiot. Why doesn't Tiger win every tournament, he's the best isn't he? Just because the favourite doesn't win doesn't mean they aren't trying. Anyone who agrees with him in this thread is as big a tool as he is.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Hammertime

I didn't read the whole thread, so I'm not sure if this has been stated.

Athletes in certain countries (Korea for example) have an "all or nothing" attitude. All they have known in their lives are training for these Olympics, and if they don't perform, they have nothing to fall back to. On the flip side, gold medal winners in Olympics are set for life.

The Risk/Reward is much greater in other countries than Canada..

As well, per the commentators on CTV, if a Korean gets a gold, they get a salary for life!
(And thats South Korea!)

[Infamous1]

From the looks of it, we need Cindy Klassen to start getting some medals.....

I think we're doing fine overall and only a cpl of our real medal favorites have failed. Our 2nd week will be much better. The only problem is that the US is getting some medals they didnt expect and are now going to be tough to catch for the overall lead. I think we'll finish at least 2nd and take down the Germans. That website someone posted earlier: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/...ons-day-6.html shows we have a lot more events in which we can get medals than the other countries.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

This.

There is a great deal to be noted regarding the cultural differences between Canada and the US that hinge on this point. Individual achievement, against the grain determinism, pissing in the wind and nation building through excess are practically synonymous with "American values". We just don't function or think in like terms with Americans, and while it rubs a number of Canadians the wrong way—culminating in the "my name is Joe and I am Canadian" sort of idiotic beer commercials—this element of our own cultural identity promotes at least as much benefit from the fact that athletic competitiveness is simply not as high a priority here.

I don't think the US wins that many medals per capita, compared to many other nations.

http://www.medalspercapita.com/

http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/reloly.html

Medals by GDP:

http://www.stubbornmule.net/2008/08/olympics-by-gdp/

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

This.

There is a great deal to be noted regarding the cultural differences between Canada and the US that hinge on this point. Individual achievement, against the grain determinism, pissing in the wind and nation building through excess are practically synonymous with "American values". We just don't function or think in like terms with Americans, and while it rubs a number of Canadians the wrong way—culminating in the "my name is Joe and I am Canadian" sort of idiotic beer commercials—this element of our own cultural identity promotes at least as much benefit from the fact that athletic competitiveness is simply not as high a priority here. Instead of sulking and being critical of the fact that we will likely never "own the podium", perhaps it is more important to focus on why that is the case, and celebrate those parts of our country and identity that are great in large part BECAUSE we are marginally competitive.

A true competitor should never be satisfied with being marginally competitive. Do you think the Flames were satisfied making it to the Cup Finals but not winning? That's a loser's statement right there.

[Hammertime]

Originally Posted by Ducay

As well, per the commentators on CTV, if a Korean gets a gold, they get a salary for life!
(And thats South Korea!)

I don't think it's a set salary from the government or anything (I could be wrong), but they are "set" in that the sponsorships and opportunities in the sport is enough to set them up for life. Gold Medal winners will be top dawgs in the sporting associations (executive positions), coaching, private businesses (Mr. Lee's speed skating Clinic), etc.

[Envitro]

Originally Posted by Hammertime

I don't think it's a set salary from the government or anything (I could be wrong), but they are "set" in that the sponsorships and opportunities in the sport is enough to set them up for life. Gold Medal winners will be top dawgs in the sporting associations (executive positions), coaching, private businesses (Mr. Lee's speed skating Clinic), etc.

It is a set salary for life from the sporting body in Korea.

[Schmidtyboosh]

My proudest moment as a Canadian this Olympics was to see how upset Jen Hial was for losing the Gold medal. It was clear that she wasnt there to "try her best" or be "happy to just be there and enjoy the experience." More of our athletes need her winning attitude.

Own the podium was created to get athletes ON THE PODIUM! Not to take a 40th place athlete, pump a bunch of money into them the last 4 years so that they could possibly finish top 20. Canada should have picked out their top medal hopefuls (approx 30% of the team), and put a majority of the money behind those athletes to get them from 7-4th place up to the podium.

Wortherspoon was a failure - why was he even here? Took how much own the podium money for a swan song? Child Please!

Chan choked - FYI I hate figureskating, but 'the quad' DOES make you a man (see Shawn White highlight reels, dude goes all out at practice)

both mens and womens alpine teams should be ashamed! Its your home course!

How are we so bad a luge? We've had a top notch track in Canada for 20 years!!! And spent how many million dollars on that stupid Practice Start building that you see from Highway 1

Cross country and Biathalon - Canmore Nordic Centre!!! And we can't place better than 20th?

A majority of our athletes are just happy to be there, and dont put in 100% effort in their training like other countries do.

There is no reason why we shouldn't win the medal count

118 million dollars spent on 182 Athletes (acutally 205 but take off 23 NHLers)

$648,350 spent per athlete over the last 4 years.

The numbers don't lie