From the Star:
Interesting bits bolded
Ottawa to be lobbied for more Games cash
COC wants $50 million extra a year to boost results for Summer Olympics
Feb. 27, 2006. 01:00 AM
JIM BYERS
SPORTS REPORTER
TURIN, ITALY—It was mission accomplished for the Winter Games. Now Canadian Olympic Committee officials say they're turning their sights to Canada's woeful Summer Olympic performance.
COC chief executive Chris Rudge said yesterday he'll be heading to Ottawa next month to try to squeeze as much as $50 million more a year to push Canada's medal totals in coming Summer Games.
"I don't expect in the next budget we'll get $50 million, but I expect the government to start giving us some of that money to help build summer programs," he said at a Turin 2006 wrap-up press conference.
Rudge also said it's time for Canada to invest as much as $300 million in sports institutes and national training centres, including new facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
"We have to get Ontario moving," he said. "Ontario has 25 per cent of the population but if you take out the hockey teams there were less than 10 athletes" from the province in Turin. "We can't ... move forward that way. We can't develop depth of field ... if we don't have greater participation from the greatest population base in this country."
Canada won a record 24 medals with seven gold, 10 silver and seven bronze in Turin, good for third place in total medals. The COC says it is on pace to finish on top of the medal standings in Vancouver, the key component to its Own the Podium program.
Rudge said the next challenge is to "take what we learned here and apply it to summer sport."
"Summer sports are three times as big with three times as many athletes," he said. "They've sat patiently on the sidelines and said, `What about me? When does my turn come? What do I get out of this investment in 2010?' We have to move aggressively forward now to address the needs for summer sport and do ... the same things for them that we've done for winter sports."
Rudge said a new report next month will be the summer equivalent to Own the Podium. Given that Canada won just 12 medals in Athens, Rudge doesn't pretend that Canadians will own anything in Beijing at the 2008 Summer Games.
"We're further back in the pack," he said. "Twelve medals in Athens; probably 16 to 18 medals in Beijing will be a big stretch."
Rudge said the COC, in partnership with sports federations and the government, would like to see a long-term plan to leverage the 2010 Games into programs to serve Canada's youth.
After Canada's performance in Athens, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge visited Canada to plead with governments to do more for amateur sport.
Asked if he was monitoring Canada's performance here, Rogge nodded.
"You have a record number of medals, far bigger than at the last Olympic Games, and what is more important, you have a young generation," he said. "You also have the stars of tomorrow who have not yet got gold, but are very close to it. I think this is very promising."
"I'm quite sure that already today we can say that the Canadian team will be ready in Vancouver."
Rogge met with Governor General Michaelle Jean and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell on Saturday and told them he was impressed with Canada's preparations for Vancouver.
"The new program of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Own the Podium, which is supported on one hand by the government, but on the other hand, the corporate world, has yielded already unbelievable results."