Sport Performance Weekly

May 8th, 2006

Cindy Klassen (CP image)

Klassen’s millions a record, Olympic champ cashes in on endorsements.
(Allison Hanes, National Post)

Just a few hours after the Closing Ceremonies in Turin, Canadian Olympic speed skater Cindy Klassen was standing in an Italian piazza celebrating her record five-medal haul when her cellphone rang. It was her agent calling from Toronto to tell her she was on the verge of becoming a millionaire.

No sooner had the flame been extinguished at the XX Winter Games in Italy than the sponsors started lining up back home to sign Canada’s most decorated Olympian ever. Ms. Klassen’s unprecedented accomplishments—one gold, two silvers and two bronze in Turin and one bronze in Salt Lake City—meant companies were willing to shell out unprecedented bucks to link their names to her success.

What might seem like a no-brainer to a savvy marketing guru was completely unexpected for the 26-year-old Mennonite from Winnipeg, who is known for her modesty. “I was actually surprised at how quickly it happened,” Ms. Klassen said of her sudden transformation from toiling speed skater to Olympic champion to the most bankable amateur sporting personality in Canada.

In little more than three months, Ms. Klassen has not only shattered records on the ice and the podium, she has also broken new ground for endorsements by a Canadian amateur athlete. Now, marketing experts expect the excitement she has generated—coupled with the anticipation building toward the 2010 Games in Vancouver—will spark a sponsorship frenzy. “There’s a focus on Olympic sport in Canada like there’s never been before,” said David Bedford, executive director of revenue, brand management and communications for the Canadian Olympic Committee. “The investments by Canadian companies are what they’ve never been before.”

For Olympic hopefuls, only a handful of whom typically manage to earn a modest income from endorsements, that will mean unheard-of chances to cash in. “I think Canadian athletes have never been in a better position than they are in today,” said Cathy Priestner Allinger, a 1976 speed skating silver medallist who today is the senior vice-president of sport, Paralympic Games and venue management for the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

The momentum from Canada’s success in Turin is going to snowball going in to Vancouver, said Priestner Allinger, and Ms. Klassen got it all rolling. “Cindy is great for all athletes across the country, for all speed skaters,” she said. “The energy creates more energy and people want to get involved.”

So far, Ms. Klassen has landed a deal with MTS Allstream, a telecommunications firm from her home province of Manitoba, renegotiated a multi-year contract with McDonald’s and plans to continue her relationship with eyewear maker Oakley.

Elliott Kerr, president of the Landmark Sport Group, said he is also close to signing Ms. Klassen with firms in the financial services and sportswear sectors. Mr. Kerr would not disclose the net worth of Ms. Klassen’s endorsements, but said they are all generous beyond comparison. “It’s more than a million dollars each over the life of these agreements, so you can add it up any way you like,” he said. “There’s not any bureau that ranks or monitors these things, but the relationships she’s garnered are in excess of what’s been seen before in Canada. Would these be records? These are records. “No one would be close to Cindy.”

Ms. Klassen plans to sign no more than six lucrative endorsement contracts, all of them lasting several years, so she will soon be booked solid right up to Vancouver and perhaps longer. This allows Ms. Klassen to focus on her priority—her rigorous training regimen—be selective about which companies she lends her name to, safeguard her cachet and provide her sponsors with an element of exclusivity. “This is not a situation where you develop as many partnerships as you can,” Mr. Kerr said. “We’ve kind of earmarked the five or six range and when we hit that we’ll stop.”

Mr. Kerr believes the speed skater has blazed a trail in her business dealings that Canadian amateur athletes hope to follow. “We hope we’ve raised the bar for other Olympic athletes who need corporate sponsorships to continue to train and compete,” he said.

The time for Ms. Klassen to make the most of her Olympic moment is now, said Richard Powers, assistant dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Canadian companies plan their advertising around the four-year Olympic cycle, he said. But since sprinter Ben Johnson lost his gold medal in a doping fiasco, advertisers have been reluctant to sign amateur athletes as spokespeople.

Ms. Klassen, Mr. Powers contends, has reversed the trend, warming sponsors’ hearts again to sports hero potential. “Cindy Klassen is the perfect spokesperson. She’s well-spoken, she’s a tremendous athlete, her appearance—everything about her is wholesome,” Mr. Powers said. “She gets out there and it refocuses people. They say, ‘If we can’t get her, who else can we get?’ “

The best way for companies to get in on the Olympic spirit is to personify it through a competitor, said Keith McIntyre, a sports marketing expert who runs Mississauga-based K.Mac and Associates. “The Olympics are about the athletes,” he said. “The goal is to sign individual athletes to bring our message to life.”

The first to be picked up, Mr. McIntyre predicted, will be those with a proven track record such as gold-medal winners Jennifer Heil, a freestyle skier, and Clara Hughes, a speed skater. Then will come those who were contenders for the podium in Turin, like downhill skier Erik Guay.

But Mr. McIntyre goes so far as to suggest sponsors will be falling all over blasts from the past and up-and-comers alike. “There are some athletes who have a national persona, but there are lots of other athletes who are lesser known but are very important to their local communities,” Mr. McIntyre said, listing Quebec’s crew of speed skaters as an example. “You’re also going to see a lot of new athletes being marketed and older athletes like Gaetan Boucher [who won two speed skating golds and a bronze in Sarajevo in 1984] -- you’re going to see them out there again.
“It’s going to be a fantastic ride for the next few years for these people.”

Ms. Klassen, meanwhile, seems to be taking her millions and her status in stride—focussing on putting the money to practical use instead of spoiling herself. “It gives me a lot more comfort in that I don’t have to worry about where my money is going to come from,” she said. “It’s a lot easier if you don’t have to worry about income. You can just focus on your training.”

She’s going to pay off the mortgage on her condominium near the University of Calgary, she said, and free her parents up from the financial support they’ve pitched in over the years. As for luxury items, the closest Ms. Klassen comes is considering the purchase of a new bike, which she will use to train during the off-season. “We need pretty good bikes because of the miles we put on,” she explained. “A new bike would be nice because I’ve had mine for a while and we travel with them so it gets kind of beat up.”

She, too, is optimistic her fellow Olympians will be able to ride the wave of her success. “Hopefully this is going to change things for other athletes and I can kind of pave the way with 2010 coming up.”

Emilie Heymans (CP)

Chinese dominate Canada Cup diving.
(CBC Sports)

China completed its domination at the Canada Cup Grand Prix diving competition Sunday in Victoria by winning all three gold medals. The powerful Chinese divers finished off a successful weekend winning seven gold medals in eight events while also claiming three silver medals.

World champions Feng Wang and Chong He easily won gold in the men’s synchro three-metres. Edmontonians Cory Watson and Ben Starchuk finished eighth and Erik Petursson of Calgary and Regina’s Reuben Ross were ninth. The Canadian team competed without their top two international divers Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Blythe Hartley of North Vancouver.

The Chinese divers said they weren’t in top form but didn’t mind competing despite Despatie’s absence due to a flu virus. “We were very happy with our performance,” said Wang through an interpreter. “But it was nothing outstanding. If Alexandre is there or not, it doesn’t change the way we dive whether it is in synchro or individually. We very much enjoyed our trip to Canada.”

In the 10-metre tower, Yu Lin of China scored four perfect marks of 10 during his fourth dive to win the gold medal. Jose Guerra of Cuba earned two 10’s on his third dive and to win silver, while Germany’s Meyer Heiko was third. Canadians failed to finished in the top 10, as Montreal’s Nicolas Leblanc placed 15th, Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg finished 18th, Wegadesk Gorup-Paul of Victoria 19th and Edmonton’s Eric Sehn was 20th.

“I was pretty consistent and I’m happy with my progress this season,” said Leblanc, who has been battling wrist problems this season. “I’m lacking some valuable training time right now and that’s costing me points on every dive.  It’s been a tough year so far but if I can make the World Cup team later this season that would be a great achievement.”

In the women’s three-metre synchro competition, world champions Jingjing Guo and Ting Li of China won the gold with Kelly MacDonald and Taryn Zack of Edmonton finishing eighth.

Canadian Emilie Heymans prevented a golden sweep for China at the meet by winning the women’s 10-metre tower on Friday. Canada’s other medal was won by Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., and Montreal’s Meaghan Benfeito in the women’s synchro 10-metre on Saturday. 

Canada wins four medals in track and field at Paralympic World Cup.
(Canadian Sport News/Nouvelles-sport canadien)

MANCHESTER, England- Wheelchair racer Jeff Adams of Toronto led Canada to a four-medal performance Sunday finishing second in both the 1,500-metre and 2,300 metre pursuit in rain-drenched track and field action at the Paralympic World Cup. In the pursuit, Marcel Hug of Switzerland took the gold medal to edge Adams second while Michel Filteau of St-Jean-Baptiste, Que., earned the bronze. 

In the men’s 1,500 wheelchair race, David Weir of England earned one of his three gold on the day.  Adams followedand Hug was third.  Filteau was seventh.

In the women’s 800, Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland was the winner with Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., second and Yvonne Sehmisch of Germany third.

The Paralympic World Cup, also includes wheelchair basketball, swimming and track cycling, is the largest international multi-sport competition for Paralympic athletes after the Paralympic Games.

Canadian swimmers shutout of medals at Paralympic World Cup.

MANCHESTER, England- Stephanie Dixon of Victoria posted Canada’s best result Saturday in swimming action at the Paralympic World Cup placing fourth in the women’s 50-metre freestyle in the S9 disability category. South Africa’s Natalie Du Toit was the big star of the competition breaking two world records.  In all five world marks were lowered.

Canada had two finalists in the men’s S9 100 backstroke with Brad Sales of London, Ont., placing fifth and Andrew Haley of Toronto seventh. ‘’The race was good and I improved on my morning swim,’’ said Sales.  ‘’I’ve had a good week of training as well so this was a great stepping stone for the big events coming up this summer and fall.  All in all a successful trip.’’

Canada's Hoopsters win Gold at Paralympic World Cup.

MANCHESTER, UK – MAY 4, 2006 – Canada won the wheelchair basketball gold medal at the Visa Paralympic World Cup today, in a intense, electrifying game, defeating arch-rivals Australia 65-49, and avenging their earlier qualifying round loss.

“We knew Australia would come out strong and focused. We really stepped up our defense and it was a good team effort.” said Vancouver’s Richard Peter, exhilarated after capturing gold. “Each of us goes out everyday to win, whether it is a gold medal or an exhibition game. This is a great step toward the World Championships in July.”

Ranked #1 by the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation entering the World Cup, Canada’s Men’s team is an international powerhouse that has triumphed in back-to-back Paralympic Games (2000, 2004)

John Furlong

Leave funding, details to us, Furlong tells young athletes.
Source: Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun

VANOC I CALGARY—The head of the Vancouver Winter Olympics told Calgary’s elite student athletes Thursday that all they should have to worry about in 2010 is pushing Canada to the top of the medal standings.

John Furlong, the chief executive officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, met with students at the National Sports School as part of a cross-country tour to continue the momentum Canada built with its 24-medal, third-place showing in Turin, Italy this winter. “All the key players are working together and we’re raising money so that you can be completely focused on competing,” Furlong said. “You are the people who are going to push Canada over the top in Vancouver.”

The money will come from the $110-million Own the Podium fund established to prepare Canadian athletes for the 2010 Winter Games. Some of that money is available for disabled athletes, but most has been earmarked for development-level performers.

Furlong’s announcement was music to the ears of athletes. Greg Baxter, a 16-year-old ski jumper, is already an Olympic veteran after competing at Turin despite breaking his collarbone earlier in the season. “It was an incredible experience to be in the village with the other Canadian athletes and to go through that level of competition,” said Baxter, a Grade 11 student. “It makes you want to kick up your training to another level, to reach for the podium next time.”

Kirsti Lay, 18, is a long-track speed skater who wants to be part of the next wave of stars in one of Canada’s hottest Olympic sports. “The timing for athletes like us really couldn’t be better,” said Lay. “We feel like the country is behind us, that there’s a great opportunity for Canadians to be the best in the world.”

When asked how Vancouver would top Turin’s show, Furlong promised that facilities for athletes would be second-to-none, “and that the venues for the games themselves will be spectacular.”

With a budget of $580 million, the organizing committee plans to build a new curling facility in Vancouver, a hockey arena at the University of British Columbia, new nordic and sliding facilities in Whistler, and a new long-track speed skating facility in Richmond.

Cam Hodgson, principal of the National Sports School, said Furlong’s visit was a great experience for his students. “Talking with someone like John Furlong and getting to hold an Olympic torch will only motivate these kids more,” he said.
Furlong told the students they have a chance to become national celebrities. “You’re the ones who are going to be the sports idols for the next generation of Canadian kids,” he said.

Furlong also said on Thursday that Vancouver organizers are working closely with their counterparts in Calgary to ensure new athletic facilities built for the 2010 Games won’t encroach on Calgary’s 1988 legacy. “Our strategy is to make sure the legacy of Vancouver is a complementary legacy and not a competing legacy,” he said during a meeting with the Calgary Sun’s editorial board.

Beckie Scott and Michaelle Jean

GOV. GEN. SALUTES OUTSTANDING CITIZENS
The Edmonton Sun

Olympian Beckie Scott has inspired Canadians by skiing hard and battling drug use in sports, but yesterday she got some inspiration of her own from Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean. “Her message of caring for your fellow Canadians and making an effort to look out for them is very powerful,” said Scott, who took home yet another medal yesterday, the Meritorious Service medal, at a City Hall celebration.

Scott won a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, but she later got the gold when the skiers who topped her were proven to be blood dopers. And she won a silver medal earlier this year in Turin, Italy.

She’s well known for her advocacy of drug-free sport, having led an anti-doping campaign in skiing in 2001. She also spearheaded an athletes’ petition demanding reform of drug testing in World Cup and Olympic competitions. “You (Scott) have reminded us every action, every word, makes a difference,” Jean told the crowd at City Hall.

The ceremony included Jean’s presenting of the Caring Canadian awards and an Afro-Caribbean dance group that got Jean’s head bobbing to the beat of Caribbean tunes.

New Online Drug Database Helps Canadian Athletes Compete Doping-Free.

(Ottawa, Ontario — December 9, 2005) — The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport launched a new online global Drug Information Database (DID) today. As Canada’s world-recognized sport ethics and anti-doping agency, the CCES partnered with UK Sport, its counterpart in the United Kingdom, to provide athletes and their support personnel with easily accessible and accurate information about which drugs, medications, and other substances are prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

http://www.cces.ca/pdfs/CCES-MR-DIDGlobal-E.pdf

COC Welcomes New Children’s Fitness Tax Credit by Government.

TORONTO, May 2, 2006 – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) welcomed the new Children’s Fitness Tax Credit included in today’s budget by the Conservative Government and expressed optimism that the government would provide additional funding for sport and physical activity in the coming years.

“We acknowledge the good first step that the government has taken with this new Children’s Fitness Tax Credit which will help more children become involved in sport and physical activity,” said Chris Rudge, CEO of the COC.  “We are confident that this government will soon deliver on its commitment to increase the budget for sport to one per cent of the health budget, which would more than double the current budget for sport and fitness to approximately $300 million a year.”

Rudge said the COC has been pleased with the support demonstrated by Michael Chong, Minister for Sport, who attended the Olympic Winter Games in Turin just a few days after being named to his portfolio and attended the COC’s Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame induction ceremony last weekend in Quebec City.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with Minister Chong as a full partner and to ongoing discussions about government support for the new summer sport excellence plan to help Canadian summer athletes reach the podium at upcoming Olympic Games,” said Rudge.

The Canadian Olympic Committee is a national, private, not-for-profit organization committed to sport excellence. It is responsible for all aspects of Canada’s involvement in the Olympic movement, including Canada’s participation in the Olympic and Pan American Games and a wide variety of programs that promote the Olympic Movement in Canada through cultural and educational means. For more information see the COC website: www.olympic.ca.

Chris Rudge

Olympic plan seeks $510 million to put Canadians on podium.
(The Vancouver Sun)

QUEBEC CITY—The Canadian Olympic Committee is proposing an ambitious five-year, $531-million Summer Olympics funding program that would seek to put Canada into the top 15 for medals at the 2008 Summer Games, and in the top 10 by 2012.

Modelled in part on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games’ $110-million Own The Podium program, which seeks to have Canada top the medal standings in 2010, the plan includes aggressive recruitment of world-class coaches and a wholesale remake of the way high-performance sport programs are delivered.

The proposal, which was also funded by the Canadian Paralympic Committee and involved representatives from 28 Olympic sports as well as Sport Canada, is contingent on federal, provincial and COC funding. The B.C. government has already contributed $5 million to initiate the program. The budget for next year is estimated at $88 million, with over half of that coming from the federal government.

The changes are needed if Canadian athletes are to have any chance of avoiding a repeat of the country’s disastrous showing at the Athens 2004 Summer Games, COC chief executive director Chris Rudge said Sunday.

He also said the program would fix what he called “the starving athlete syndrome.”“For years and years, sport has gone to government funding partners from a perspective of what I call the starving athlete syndrome, screaming for money saying, ‘We’re poor, we need money, fund us,’” Rudge said. “I think these young athletes have to be elevated above the level of being charity cases. They have to a right to be seen as people who are significant contributors to the welfare of this country.”

Rudge said he has already met with Michael Chong, the new federal sports minister, who has pledged continuing support to the Olympic movement. However, Rudge said he didn’t ask for any money and isn’t expecting much in Tuesday’s budget. “I am looking at this as a longer-term vision. You don’t build a future by having a short-term vision,” he said.

The draft business plan, titled Road to Excellence, was given to COC board members at its annual congress on the weekend. It has not yet been made public, but The Vancouver Sun obtained a copy at the directors’ meeting. COC president Michael Chambers said the plan, if accepted, would deliver targeted funding to sports that have the capability of delivering medals at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games. The support for Beijing would be similar to the fast-track program Own The Podium delivered for the Turin 2006 Winter Games, he said.

The pared-down Own The Podium program, which offered some extra services but not comprehensive training, helped Canada to win 24 medals, its best-ever Winter Games medal count. The Road To Excellence proposal grew out of frustration over Canada’s poor showing at the Athens Games, where it placed 21st with 12 medals.

The business plan said that Australia, with a smaller population and a lower national gross domestic product, placed fourth with 49 medals largely because it invested heavily in high-performance sport once it was awarded the Sydney 2000 Summer Games.

The plan calls for the federal and provincial governments to contribute $46 million and $29.6 million respectively, in the first year, with the committee contributing $12.8 million. By 2010, total funding would increase to $119 million, with half coming from Ottawa. With that kind of funding, the report says Canada could increase its medal count to 21 in Beijing, putting it in the top 15 nations, and to 30 medals, in the top 10 to 12 in London.

Coaching support would jump from $16.8 million this year to $23 million in 2011. Athletes would also have an additional $30 million a year in support. One significant funding problem is that the Vancouver Organizing Committee bought out the COC’s marketing rights until 2012 in order to fund the 2010 Games, so the COC has to look elsewhere for money. Rudge suggested it could look for philanthropic donations and other sources of revenue.

The report also contemplates folding the $110-million Own The Podium program, which is specifically aimed at the 2010 Winter Games and was created in part by Vanoc, into a joint operation simply called Podium.