Jungle Jim Hunter blasting Canadian Olympic team on 960

[tkflames]

It has been alluded to in this thread, but I think the frusteration has less to do with our athletes (you can tell they are giving their all, even disappointments like Hamil and co.) and more to do with our support of athletes. However, as a country this is the only time we focus on the importance of amature sports and it is an important discussion to have. Australia (very comparable) in preparation for the summer Olympics invested huge sums in their athletes and has become an olympic powerhouse because of it. Canada has now invested a siginifcant sum in own the podium and it is important that we evaluate the impact. I don't mind having this discussion, but this "if you are complaining you are not patriotic", best be reserved for the southern states.

Added note: Support for our athletes in non-olympic years would go a long way. I can say personally I have never been to a speed skating event, or cross country skiing or any other olympic sport besides hockey in a non-olympic year. (actually thats not true, I saw bobsled and skeleton, but the point stands)

[grambo]

Originally Posted by IceMan xMVPx

I don't disagree with anything Hunter said. The goal was to win 35 medals and they're way off that pace. It's disconcerning to a lot of Canadians when they watch Britt Janyk and Manny Osbourne Paradis, who race on Whistler everyday, barely crack the top 10. I know Janyk finished 6th but her reaction was like she won a medal, saying that she was so proud of her performance.

Race on Whistler every day? They might have grown up there, but Whistler is not frequently used as a training centre, especially at the National Team level (aka where they have been for years). Whistler has also not been a world cup stop for 10+ years (due to too many weather cancelations in the 90's) until it was decided for olympics (so 2008 had a tour stop). The home course advantage is very, very limited and overhyped by the media who don't understand ski racing. Manny and Erik had a legit shot, but just a shot, they were not favourites in anyones books who follows world cup and knows the course. The women were not even outside favourites except for stupid CTV commercials. Janyk should be very happy with her performance as should Erik.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by jeremywilhelm

Example: I went to the World University Championships for Taekwondo (which is an Olympic sport) in 2004. It was in Patras Greece. I had to pay for pretty much everything except a Taekwondo uniform, a track jacket and one meal.

No, you volunteered to pay for everything except the uniform, jacket and one meal. Nobody forced you to do it. On the other hand, if my tax dollars had gone to pay for your vacation to Greece, I wouldn't have a choice in the matter.

[GirlySports]

Alot of countries put lottery money into the olympic program.. why can't we do that?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Alot of countries put lottery money into the olympic program.. why can't we do that?

Because our governments don't put enough $ into health and education.

[Schmidtyboosh]

Let's be honest. All our countries top male athletes are hockey players starting at the Atom level and going right up through Junior and into the pros.......Just Sayin!!!

[Keselke]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

Well I though the "own the podium" program was designed to inject a crapload of money into the olympic program in order to address the issues of funding for athletes.

Now they (the athletes) have received an extra 100+ million dollars and I suppose the "woa is me, i'm so poor" attitude will contine.

I feel like they've been given the funds, now show me the results.

The increased funding and training is fairly recent, I think you will see real results on a longer term basis, if the funding stays at current levels. When you will see a big increase is when the younger athletes who are raised on this impoved olympic training program get 10 years of training and raised in a different culture of importance placed on olympic success.

If you take some guy who is 26-30, he has only seen maybe 4 years of the "own the podium" program.

A complete culture change wont happen for several olympics, and only if the program continues to be funded well.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by simmer2

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.

It's also an evaluative comment regarding the value of athletic competitiveness relative to other values which I suspect most Canadians would rate as more important and worthwhile. If I don't exhibit a "win at all costs" attitude and that classifies me as a "loser", so be it. I guess it depends on how much you value "winning". In my mind—and I suspect most Canadians are like-minded in this—winning is great. It most certainly is not everything. If the Olympics end next week and the "Own the Podium" programme fails to approach its own lofty expectations, your life will go on, as will mine, as will the 206 Olympic athletes' representing this country. The vast majority will be better for having participated, and I expect we will all in this country be happier for having witnessed this event at home...Is that the definition of a "loser"? If so, I'm okay with that.

[Canuck-Hater]

I somewhat agree. Canada is not meeting expectations. They have had numerous chances to get 1/2 medals in some events and ended up with none. Manuel Osborne Paradis knows the hill so well, that he didnt win a medal. Not very good.

[Schmidtyboosh]

Take a vote, who thinks OWN THE PODIUM has been a success so far?

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Schmidtyboosh

Take a vote, who thinks OWN THE PODIUM has been a success so far?

It's been neither a success or a failure. Those upper-eschelon athletes who have succeeded or even failed have often thanked the own-the-podium program (even Montgomery last night just minutes after winning), so obviously it's had a big impact on the success that we've had. We're still on pace to win more medals than any winter Olympics yet, and winning the gold medal standings is still a realistic outcome.

The success of the OTP program is that it's successfully created a much more results-oriented approach to funding; it's allowed us to break through the 'everybody deserves equal funding' mentality to create more accountable system where funding decisions are made based on the goal of more medals. If you're critiquing the OTP program, you have to say where they went wrong in allocating money. Should they have focused more money on Hollingsworth, for example? Should they have spent less money on her and more on someone else? Or was the monetary allocation correct, and the failing was outside of their control?

edit: If I was going to critique the OTP program, I would say that long-term, they need to focus on getting Canada to the point of being one of the top nordic event countries. There are 22 events up for grabs in cross country and biathalon combined, and there's no reason why Canadians, who already have success in other stamina-based events like distance speed-skating or cycling, shouldn't be more competitive in nordic, if they're given proper funding.

[IceMan]

Originally Posted by grambo

Race on Whistler every day? They might have grown up there, but Whistler is not frequently used as a training centre, especially at the National Team level (aka where they have been for years). Whistler has also not been a world cup stop for 10+ years (due to too many weather cancelations in the 90's) until it was decided for olympics (so 2008 had a tour stop). The home course advantage is very, very limited and overhyped by the media who don't understand ski racing. Manny and Erik had a legit shot, but just a shot, they were not favourites in anyones books who follows world cup and knows the course. The women were not even outside favourites except for stupid CTV commercials. Janyk should be very happy with her performance as should Erik.

Ya they grew up on that hill and should have a significant advantage over most of their competition. I never said that they were "the favorite" but for them not even to be in contention on a hill they know like the back of their hand should return better results.

For all the hype of "Own the Podium" and all the stupid CTV commercials hyping up our athletes and saying they were favorites to get a medal is failing miserably. I'm no expert on Skiing or admit to watching and following our Canadian skiers in World Cup events but when the media shoves it down our throats saying that it's their home hill and they ski on it everyday, bla bla bla, us Canadians are going to believe it and hope for a better result. I guess I fell into the hype like most Canadians.

Originally Posted by grambo

Janyk should be very happy with her performance as should Erik.

Sure, I guess. 6th in the world is nothing to sneeze at but my grief is when I watch Janyk's post ski interview saying how she was really proud of her performance and she skied the best she could've. I guess I want more of athletes to have Melissa Holingsworth's attitude and how she was absolutely crushed with her performance even though she finished 4th.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by IceMan xMVPx

...Sure, I guess. 6th in the world is nothing to sneeze at but my grief is when I watch Janyk's post ski interview saying how she was really proud of her performance and she skied the best she could've. I guess I want more of athletes to have Melissa Holingsworth's attitude and how she was absolutely crushed with her performance even though she finished 4th.

Some perspective here is in order: Melissa Hollingsworth was the favourite to win the gold medal. For her to finish off the podium altogether was a complete surprise. Janyk's 6th is pretty well in line with where she was expected to finish, especially considering some of the setbacks she has suffered this season. The reason one was devastated and the other ecstatic is because neither is delusional about where they rank among their peers in their given discipline.

[Yamer]

Hahaha, the guy is all wound up this morning.

I used to hate this guy, but I am starting to really like how he speaks his mind. He's using the words about these games that I want to, but don't have the capability to.

[grambo]

Originally Posted by IceMan xMVPx

Ya they grew up on that hill and should have a significant advantage over most of their competition. I never said that they were "the favorite" but for them not even to be in contention on a hill they know like the back of their hand should return better results.

For all the hype of "Own the Podium" and all the stupid CTV commercials hyping up our athletes and saying they were favorites to get a medal is failing miserably. I'm no expert on Skiing or admit to watching and following our Canadian skiers in World Cup events but when the media shoves it down our throats saying that it's their home hill and they ski on it everyday, bla bla bla, us Canadians are going to believe it and hope for a better result. I guess I fell into the hype like most Canadians.


Sure, I guess. 6th in the world is nothing to sneeze at but my grief is when I watch Janyk's post ski interview saying how she was really proud of her performance and she skied the best she could've. I guess I want more of athletes to have Melissa Holingsworth's attitude and how she was absolutely crushed with her performance even though she finished 4th.

The problem is that the course is not the same as the mountain. The course (gates they ski through) is set differently every time. In GS and slalom, the mountain is not a significant factor in determining what type of skier (technician, glider, power) does well, the way the course is set (wide, tight etc) is important, this is becasue the terrain features (undulation, fall-line etc) are dealt with at a slower pace. In downhill, knowing the mountain is more of a factor because the course does not vary as much (less turns, straighter) but it still matters. If you look at WC results, home mountain is not a factor/advantage, again stupid CTV marketing hyping up people who do not follow ski racing.

Someone already addressed Janyk's response and I fully agree. Of course every skier believes they can win that day, but if you have a result consistent/better than your recent performance you can't be upset.

The bottom line is we do not have any skiers who are consistent in the way that Aksel Lund Svindel, Bode Miller, Lindsay Vonn, Carlo Janca etc. are. We've had podiums here and there, but those names are putting up WC discipline and overall titles. As to why, hard to say, funding is definitely an issue, as well as the fact that ski racing has been on the declince in popularity in the lower levels (age 6-12) in the last 10 years as freestyle/big mountain skiing have become hugely popular. Ski racing is extremely expensive so unless your family is rich, lack of funding is a huge deterent given the required travel and training time.

[Mccree]

Man is he ever fired up today. Upset that the Hockey is the number one story. He thinks it should have been the 4 medal winners from yesterday.

Boomer and him just yelling at each other.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Mccree

Man is he ever fired up today. Upset that the Hockey is the number one story. He thinks it should have been the 4 medal winners from yesterday.

Boomer and him just yelling at each other.

On the other hand, Jim is also saying there are only 11 possible medals out there for Canada to win, so we will probably fall short of Torino, and he thinks that is very embarrassing on our home turf.

He also admitted no one will hire him as a coach.

[Mccree]

^^

He seems passionate about amateur sports, that's for sure.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by troutman

On the other hand, Jim is also saying there are only 11 possible medals out there for Canada to win, so we will probably fall short of Torino, and he thinks that is very embarrassing on our home turf.

He also admitted no one will hire him as a coach.

Funny how he neglects to mention that of those medals we're gold medal favorites in 6-8 of them.

Going from 7 gold and 24 medals to ~12 gold and ~24 medals is hardly an embarassment.

Why are the US and us the only countries that judge the Olympics with standings that say 3rd place is just as good as 1st place?

[The Yen Man]

I think it's hilarious how Boomer responds with something totally unrelated after Jungle Jim goes on a big rant. He'd rant about Canadians not having winning attitudes, and then Boomer would be like "uh, actually it's a carriage, not a wagon, like you pointed out. You know, just sayin'..."