How long 'till Own the Podium organizers call it an 'outright success'?

[bcb]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

I am really sick of you posters who are moaning about the Canadian athletes. How much have you done for our Canadian athletes? Are you out there helping the sport? Are you? Come on. Tell me.

I will assume you are not. I will assume you are not doing anything to assist the athletes. Then seriously. You should be ashamed. You are the choke artist. Stop sitting at home and being a big bitch about. Instead stand up and be a proud Canadian.

Jerks.

Please, enlighten me, define proud Canadian. These athletes are not folks off the street. They are paid very real public money (plus whatever they receive in private sponsorships) to do nothing but train for four years. They know their competitors, they know the venues and they know what it is like to compete in front of large crowds.

Do I expect a medal in every event? Obviously not. I don't fault a biathalete who finished in 50th spot, who had not hope in hell of reaching the podium.

It's a whole different kettle of fish when a speed skater is ranked number 1 or 2 in the WORLD and ends up in 15th place.

As far as I'm concerned, these athletes are professionals at what they do. I hope Canadians hold them to the same standard as we hold our hockey heroes. Nobody is above criticism!

If this makes me a bad Canadian, then so be it.

[bcb]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

And you think that is enough of a contribution that you can make to your countries athletes? How much does that work to? About $10 from you? Nice effort.

I am talking to the people who are moaning and whining about our athletes. They talk about the athlete choking. Not trying hard enough. When the poster is not contributing to the cause enough. Why aren't they out there cheering on the sport? Volunteering at events. etc etc etc

So I should quit my job to volunteer for ourOlympic athletes? If I really wanted to do something heroic for our country, I'd join the military.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by bcb

Please, enlighten me, define proud Canadian. These athletes are not folks off the street. They are paid very real public money (plus whatever they receive in private sponsorships) to do nothing but train for four years. They know their competitors, they know the venues and they know what it is like to compete in front of large crowds.

Do I expect a medal in every event? Obviously not. I don't fault a biathalete who finished in 50th spot, who had not hope in hell of reaching the podium.

It's a whole different kettle of fish when a speed skater is ranked number 1 or 2 in the WORLD and ends up in 15th place.

As far as I'm concerned, these athletes are professionals at what they do. I hope Canadians hold them to the same standard as we hold our hockey heroes. Nobody is above criticism!

If this makes me a bad Canadian, then so be it.

Has that happened though? I honestly don't know, I'm in the States and have been working 15 hour days, but I was under the impression that the 'choke' jobs a few individuals keep going on about were people finishing 5th or 6th. In Olympic competition that's a single small mistake.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

Maybe I am not saying it properly. Some criticism is valid. I am talking about the comments about choking and having no heart etc.

I think they have demonstrated unprecidented 'heart'. They are definitely trying.

However they are through trying choking their a$$es off.

[V]

Originally Posted by valo403

Has that happened though? I honestly don't know, I'm in the States and have been working 15 hour days, but I was under the impression that the 'choke' jobs a few individuals keep going on about were people finishing 5th or 6th. In Olympic competition that's a single small mistake.

Well, there is Denny Morrison. And we've had countless DNFs from the Alpine team.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by V

Well, there is Denny Morrison. And we've had countless DNFs from the Alpine team.

I don't know that it's fair to count crashes, I mean that's the nature of a sport like downhill skiing.

[edslunch]

What's the point of this thread. We're all disappointed in some of the results so far - but some people here are angry and looking for someone to blame. WTF?

[frostiex]

I think our biggest problem is Drive. I am not sure every where else is. In Calgary, the education systems raises kids with a no drive attitude. They promote kids to be mediocre. Its all about participation, I have heard that so many times. It makes me sick. How can we be raising kids who have no competitive mind set? I suspect every where else in the country have similar education systems. Just hearing so many times the after race interviews shows that. Its the competitiveness in us that promotes improvements. My 9 year old said it best. 2nd is the first looser.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by frostiex

My 9 year old said it best. 2nd is the first looser.

I hope your nine-year-old can spell "loser."

Take a pill everyone, we have a chance to win the most gold medals title in these Olympics.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/newsmaker...otp-day10.html

Cowperson

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Forgiveness if this has been covered elsewhere, but does anyone know the rules with respect to private sponsorships of Olympic athletes? We hear all about Shaun White's awesome private half-pipe built for him by Red Bull. Are there no similar opportunities for private companies to support Canadian athletes?

I direct you to b2ten.com. I was never privy to the exact business people involved however this is a group of high profile Canadian businesspeople who provided private money to support certain athletes who they felt were on the cusp of winning medals.

I also believe The Bombardier family are big supporters and provide private funding...perhaps they are part of B2ten also.

[kirant]

Let's be honest: Who thought a one-time 120 million dollar injection would suddenly make Canada top of the world? Even the program coordinator stated that their goal was going to be a long shot. And in such a short time frame, all they can hope to do is bring up the standards of the few athletes in the competition already. If Canada wasn't any good at an event earlier, what would make it better now? I'll be the first to admit the Alpine team didn't win, but that's a crapshoot all on its own (Most alpine events). I guess I should ask: How much WORSE would Canada have looked had there been no Own the Podium program set in place?

The price tag for this has been ~1 dollar a year from every Canadian in the last four years. I think it will do Canadians well to keep this program going. The fact that this program brings attention to the sports will let younger generations find them more easily, get better funding over time, and THAT would bring Canada over the top in terms of Olympic medals.

tl;dr version: I think we shouldn't be expecting Canada to come out as the Gold Standard after a small injection of money.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I hope your nine-year-old can spell "loser."

Take a pill everyone, we have a chance to win the most gold medals title in these Olympics.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/newsmaker...otp-day10.html

Cowperson

Which, outside of North America, is how the rest of the world ranks the medal count. Look at the US, they have 9 more bronze medals then Canada (10 vs. 1). If "2nd place is the 1st loser" what's 3rd place really worth?

[valo403]

Originally Posted by frostiex

I think our biggest problem is Drive. I am not sure every where else is. In Calgary, the education systems raises kids with a no drive attitude. They promote kids to be mediocre. Its all about participation, I have heard that so many times. It makes me sick. How can we be raising kids who have no competitive mind set? I suspect every where else in the country have similar education systems. Just hearing so many times the after race interviews shows that. Its the competitiveness in us that promotes improvements. My 9 year old said it best. 2nd is the first looser.

The US education system is virtually identical, how does that fit into your theory?

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by bcb

It's a whole different kettle of fish when a speed skater is ranked number 1 or 2 in the WORLD and ends up in 15th place.

None of the men are ranked 1 or 2 in the world (link), Morrison is our highest rank at 4th in the 1500m this year. Given their position in the ranking amongst their peers, I would characterize them as medal hopefuls not medal favourites. Looking at the rankings now I guess I'm not too surprised at the lack of medals on the mens side. I am disappointed Morrison didn't finish better, I was expecting him to be close.

Perhaps some of our expectations are skewed because of the media and how they like to hype the athletes before the event and drum up excitement. Yesterday during the aerial qualifying I found them hyping our athletes and then almost as an aside they made a comment like The Chinese are powerhouses right now, have swept the podium in previous events, and could have sent 6 athletes to jump if they were allowed. Given this little nugget of info my expectations of our aerial team have decreased. I'm now hoping we get a medal not expecting one like I was before.

Originally Posted by bcb

As far as I'm concerned, these athletes are professionals at what they do. I hope Canadians hold them to the same standard as we hold our hockey heroes. Nobody is above criticism!

To me criticism is acceptable IF it's constructive. The impression I'm left with from a number of the posts in this thread are more of complaints along the lines of "_____ sucks!" and "____ choked!" There is nothing useful in that other than perhaps those who take delight in running other people down (bcb, in case it's not obvious, I'm not suggesting you're one of those). Making those sorts of comments about sports most of us likely barely follow outside of the odd time is unfair.

We don't really know what it's like to be under that pressure and expectation. most of us don't have jobs where our actions are watched so closely and we're judged by our peers and the public to such a high standard. I guess I'm in the "don't comment until you've walked a mile in their shoes" camp.

[frostiex]

Originally Posted by valo403

The US education system is virtually identical, how does that fit into your theory?

Well obviously, there are some difference. What I am saying is in Calgary, I hear all the time "it's ok, you did your best!" Well, it just showed its not OK, you just lost! I am not saying you have to win every single time, but the mentality must be getting better each and every time. Accidents and misfortune happens, but it cannot be your main reason. I understand too much pressure is no good, but our system is too relaxed. Look at our underachieving flames...

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by frostiex

Well obviously, there are some difference. What I am saying is in Calgary, I hear all the time "it's ok, you did your best!" Well, it just showed its not OK, you just lost! I am not saying you have to win every single time, but the mentality must be getting better each and every time. Accidents and misfortune happens, but it cannot be your main reason. I understand too much pressure is no good, but our system is too relaxed. Look at our underachieving flames...

You know, you should really look back at past Olympics and see what Canada's medal totals used to be to truly understand what a "you did your best" mentality really looks like.

To say we are light years ahead of the 1970's and 1980's and even the 1990's would be an epic understatement.

Cowperson

[Infamous1]

Canada appears to have overachieved in 2006 in the medal count and perhaps gave the Own the Podium people a false sense of how great we could be with some more money. How many medals in 2006 were completely out of no where type upsets? I'm guessing quite a lot more than this year where only our contenders are getting any medals. Also last time, we had a few athletes with multiple medals which helped.

[frostiex]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

You know, you should really look back at past Olympics and see what Canada's medal totals used to be to truly understand what a "you did your best" mentality really looks like.

To say we are light years ahead of the 1970's and 1980's and even the 1990's would be an epic understatement.

Cowperson

I guess we should stop bickering about our flames too, since we never used to have a Hockey team let alone talk about winning Lord Stanley's Grail.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I hope your nine-year-old can spell "loser."

Take a pill everyone, we have a chance to win the most gold medals title in these Olympics.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/newsmaker...otp-day10.html

Cowperson

Great link.

Here's a good link that still projects us to win the most golds (winning ~7 more) based on the predictions of a bunch of the major North American sporting news sources:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/...tions-day.html

[valo403]

Originally Posted by frostiex

Well obviously, there are some difference. What I am saying is in Calgary, I hear all the time "it's ok, you did your best!" Well, it just showed its not OK, you just lost! I am not saying you have to win every single time, but the mentality must be getting better each and every time. Accidents and misfortune happens, but it cannot be your main reason. I understand too much pressure is no good, but our system is too relaxed. Look at our underachieving flames...

That's funny, I hear the in the US all the time too. But clearly that's the root cause