WE’RE GETTING BEATEN BY TOGO

National Post
August 14, 2008
Canada

National Post

Our women’s softball team or men’s baseball team may yet redeem these
Olympics for Canada. And there is still a chance, beginning Thursday,
that our rowers (often our strongest team at the Summer Games) and
men’s divers will capture a few medals. Many of the sports we are best
at — canoeing, kayaking, track and field, trampoline and sailing —
come in the Beijing Games’ second week. But seldom in recent decades
have our teams gone so far into Olympic competition — six days and
counting — without winning a single medal. What’s wrong?

After day five of competition, 50 countries had medalled, but not
Canada. Such sporting powerhouses as Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Togo had each managed at least a bronze,
while we had racked up a big goose egg.

Azerbaijan had three medals. So did Zimbabwe, a nation that’s been
racked with political chaos and mass starvation for years. War-torn
Georgia was 10th overall with two golds and a bronze. Even North Korea,
where citizens have been known to boil twigs for food (although,
presumably state-chosen athletes have been given a better diet)
had seven medals.

South Korea, a nation roughly as prosperous as our own, was third
overall with 13 medals — including six gold and six silver — just
behind China and the United States. And Australia, which culturally,
demographically and economically may be the country most similar to
Canada in the whole world, was sixth with 12 shiny baubles. If the
South Koreans and Australians can do so well, why can’t we?

It’s true we are a cold-weather country. Australia and the Koreas
cannot hold a candle to us at the Olympic Winter Games. But many of the
sports of the Summer Games are held indoors — badminton, basketball,
boxing, diving, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming and others. They
do not require year-round outdoor training and competition for their
athletes to reach world-class standards. And few other cold-climate
nations have been shutout so far in Beijing. Russia had 12 medals
at the end of five days and Finland, Sweden and Norway all had at
least one.

Before the Games began, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) was
projecting our team would place 16th or better. It was assuring
reporters we could do no worse than the 12 medals — three gold, six
silver and three bronze– we earned in Athens in 2004, which itself
was Canada’s worst showing at a Summer Games in nearly 20 years. Now
both of those goals look unrealistically optimistic.

It’s likely true that the new federal and corporate funding
for summer competitors — and programs such as the COC’s Road to
Excellence — came too late for these games. As Mike Chambers, the
COC president, said on Tuesday, "It’s not going to have a big impact
(in China). It will be felt in 2012," in London. And our national
sports organizations’ embrace of the "Own the Podium" program, in
anticipation of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, has shunted their
summer counterparts aside to some extent.

Still, a country as young, prosperous, healthy and intelligent as
Canada should be doing better, now. We have heard for years that our
athletes will shine at the next Summer Games or the one after. It’s
time to stop putting off success until tomorrow while making excuses
today.

If a lack of training facilities is the problem, let’s ensure that
athletics funding is better targeted. If we need better coaches, let’s
broaden the search beyond our borders. Is our national attitude the
problem, or our athletes’ attitude? Are we and they too content with
their personal bests rather than world records and Olympic wins? Is
it the fault of our national sports associations and executives?

It cannot just be funding, although the inadequacy and inconsistency
of the money athletes in training receive is undoubtedly part of
the problem.

It’s time we as a nation did some soul searching — not to mention
some expert strategic planning — so that in London in 2012, Chambers
or his successor is not sitting before another group of disgruntled
journalists spinning daydreams about future glories.