CANADIAN PARALYMPIC TEAM SURPASSES EXPECTATIONS.
(Canadian Paralympic Committee Release)

Athens, September 28, 2004 – The performance of the Canadian athletes at the Paralympic Summer Games in Athens surpassed all expectations of the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The team concluded the 12th Paralympiad with a total of 28 gold medals, 19 silver medals and 25 bronze medals for a total of 72 medals. The prediction for the Canadian team in Athens was between 70 and 75 medals.

The CPC also reached another objective with a top-eight finish in the nations standings. Canada was third in the gold medal count and seventh for total medals.

“We knew that we couldn`t win as many medals as we did in Sydney,” said Louis Barbeau, Chef de Mission of the Canadian team. “In part, because we had less athletes and certain multi-medallists from 2000 did not return. The emergence of some teams like China deprived Canada of many podium results. But we though we could win 70 medals at the beginning of the Games.”

The rankings of the countries by gold medals is China with an impressive 63 gold medals followed by Great Britain with 35. The United States finished behind Canada in fourth place with 27 gold medals.

An interesting statistic, 42 medals were won by females, 25 by males and five mixed (boccia, wheelchair rugby and equestrian are mixed sports).

Canada did well in both individual and team sports as four out of five teams won medals: women’s and men’s basketball, women`s goalball and men`s rugby. The fourth place finish of men`s goalball was unexpected as the team was not favoured to win a medal.

“In individual sports, athletics, with 39 athletes, finished third with 10 gold, four silver and ten bronze for a total of 24 medals. Many athletes stood out in almost every category on both the track, the field and in the marathon.

In boccia, Paul Gauthier was the first athlete in history to win a gold medal in an individual event.

For the first time in cycling Canadian athletes were shut out of the medals in both road and track. The international calibre is getting better and better.

Canada fielded an equestrian for the first time since 1996 and it didn’t disappoint with two bronze medals won by Karen Brain.

Bill Morgan, Canada’s sole entry in judo posted a career best fifth place finish losing the bronze medal match.

In powerlifting, Kenny Doyle set a Canadian record while Sally Thomas finished sixth.

Canadian swimmers sparkled in the pool with 40 medals more than half the Canadian team’s haul. Kirby Cote and Benoit Huot were particularly strong earning seven and six medals respectively. The team finished fourth in the swimming medal standings.

Finally in wheelchair tennis no medals were won but in mixed doubles Sarah Hunter and Brian McPhate lost in the bronze medal match.

No medals were won in shooting and sailing.

Overall the Games were a big success for Canada.

Chantal Petitclerc was named Canada’s flag bearer for the closing ceremonies.

Feasts to fund Olympic dreams: Athletes, top chefs team up to raise money for athletes at Gold Medal Plates.
(The Calgary Herald)

It may sound like light fare, but Canada's best amateur athletes consider this fall's Gold Medal Plates dinners an essential ingredient to success at their next Olympics. "I'm sixth in the world right now, but financial support is going to help me make the leap to the podium (at Beijing in 2008)," said Mike Brown, a 20-year-old swimmer who will attend Gold Medal Plates Calgary, a fundraising evening for the Canadian Olympic Committee's Excellence Fund at the Fairmont Palliser hotel Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. Brown broke three Canadian records at the Athens Olympics in August, but is still trying to get a big company to sponsor him.

Calgary's top Olympians are teaming up with seven of the city's top chefs to raise money for the country's best amateur athletes. High-profile Olympic athletes, both aspiring and retired, will each team up with seven of Cowtown's best chefs to make dinner for business people and philanthropists at $350 a plate.

Current Olympians confirmed for the evening include speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon, hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and Brown. Former Olympians confirmed for the evening include Ken Read of alpine skiing fame, and medal winners speed skater Susan Auch and swimmer Tom Ponting.

The COC partnered with the federal government to create the fund in 2002 with an initial investment of $8.7 million. The fund supports high-performance athletes, coaches, national sport federations and six Canadian sport centres.

Each year, Canadian amateur athletes ranked among their sport's top-five internationally, or as Canada's best prospect in their sport to earn a medal at the next Olympics, are given $5,000 each. "Just to have that financial freedom of not having to worry about rent or bills that week or whether you can go to training camps helps athletes so much," said Brown, who trains six days a week and studies full-time at the University of Calgary.

The Gold Medal Plates evenings are being held in nine cities across Canada this fall. Organizers expect to raise $500,000 to $1 million from this year's dinners, which they plan to make an annual event. Guests at each dinner will get a dish from each chef. The chef whose meal is voted by diners as the best will vie for the honour of winning the national competition fundraiser at Whistler, B.C., in early November. "The competition gets pretty intense. The chefs take this honour very seriously," says Glenn Fawcett, the Calgary Gold Medal Plates event director.

The Calgary fundraiser has room for 50 tables of 10. Eight tables have yet to be sold. Guests who sponsor a full table for $5,000 will sit with an Olympian. Each Olympian at the event will mingle among the tables, and many will make speeches.

Live and silent auctions, including a rare wine auction, will be held. Michael Burgess, one of Canada's top tenors, will perform with violinist Eugene Draw.

For tickets, call 291-9700 or visit www.goldmedalplates.com.

Welcome Neve and Gliz! Torino 2006 Mascots.

(ROME, SEPTEMBER 28TH 2004) – The mascots of Torino 2006 were presented today in Rome, at exactly 500 days from the opening of the XX Olympic Winter Games. Their names are Neve, a snowball, and Gliz, an ice cube.

Neve and Gliz are complementary characters: they represent the two elements without which the Olympic Winter Games cannot take place, snow and ice, and they personify the essence of winter sports: the harmony and elegance of the sports action (with the fluid and rounded shapes of Neve) and the power and the force of the athletes (the angular and smooth shapes of Gliz). The two mascots are the symbol of a new generation, full of energy that loves and lives sports and the positive challenges of life.

Neve and Gliz were born from the pencil of the Portuguese designer Pedro Albuquerque, 38 years old, who won the international competition tendered by the TOROC on the 25th of March 2003.

The Big Picture with Dale Henwood: The BIG Games.

The Olympics Games are over and we, as Canadians, did not win as many medals as we expected to win or as many as we wanted to win. Similarly, the Paralympic Games have concluded and concerns have been expressed with our overall medal count.

At the Olympics, we were a long way behind any of our G-8 partners who were all in the top 10 in total medals. Canada was a distant 19th. At the Paralympic Games we finished 7th in the medal standings. There is, however, one event in which Canada leads the count: The BIG Olympics- the battle of obesity in our country. If there was a medal count for the Big Olympics, we would be winning, ahead of any of our G-8 partners. Canada would have more medals than we want and definitely more than we can afford.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an “epidemic of obesity” around the world, and the good news is that Canada is a world leader. With strong representation from each and every province and territory, Canada leads the international field in childhood obesity.

We have made remarkable strides in the obesity level of boys and girls in our nation. The rate has tripled (from 5% - 15%) between 1981 and 1996. Recent data indicates that more than 30% of our children are overweight. And it seems that we are doing our best to elevate this number.

As we continue to lead the field in inactivity, we can be expected to be rewarded with outcomes such as obese individuals with: a 90% higher chance of developing coronary artery disease; 60% more likely to suffer osteoporosis; 40% more likely to experience a stroke, hypertension, colon cancer or Type II diabetes. Go Canada Go! If we keep at it, we can be the leader in each of these disease categories.

The future is also bright for our physical activity levels; by 2005, over 75% of all major recreation facilities in the Alberta will be in the last half of their functional life expectancy, and many are nearing the end of their functional life. Undiagnosed deterioration and a lack of maintenance programs in many communities are accelerating the deterioration. Only a few communities have a comprehensive Lifecycle Maintenance Program that will ensure ongoing facility assessment and upgrading. Many facilities are not even consistent with Building Code requirements.

In a recent Alberta report, a sample of 40 arenas, pools and curling rinks projected the cost of upgrading those facilities to be in excess of $900,000 per facility. Extrapolating from that figure, upgrading arenas, pools and curling rinks across Alberta would cost up to $270 million, and replacing them in today’s dollars would exceed $1 Billion. The cost required to upgrade, as compared to reconstruct, may force some communities to close their facilities despite strong commitment to their continued use. Perhaps we should set a stretch target for the number of recreational facilities we can close?

The good news doesn’t stop there; in 1997, total direct costs of obesity in Canada were estimated at $1.8 billion or 2.4 percent of the total health care expenditure for all diseases. The cost of poor diets in Canada is estimated to be $6.3 billion Approximately $2.1 billion, or 2.5 percent of the total direct health care costs in Canada, were attributable to physical inactivity in 1999, and that about 21,000 lives were lost prematurely in 1995 because of inactivity. With very little effort we can increase these statistics, in fact that’s exactly the way to do it.

Right now, the Federal-Provincial/Territorial governments measure physical activity participation annually through the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute. So, for example, Ontario’s inactivity level is 57%—that is to say that 57% of the population is not active enough to benefit their health. A 10% increase in activity in Ontario will mean that 47% of the population is not active enough to benefit their health. All governments have developed programs and targeted resources to achieve this 10-percentage point increase in each province and territory. Why target a 10% increase - let’s really make it a priority and we can stretch for 5% or even 2% increase.

There is no doubt that as a nation, Canada continues to lead in the talk, research, evaluation, procrastination and inordinate delay. We are gold medalists in planning but we remain at the back of the pack when it comes to implementation. Regrettably, we are winning the Big Olympics, exactly the event we do not want to win.

A Golden dream: Renner says she might end her career in Vancouver.
(The Vancouver Sun)

HOMETOWN: Golden, B.C. BIRTHDATE: Apr. 10, 1976 She was born in Golden, which seems perfect for an Olympian. As a child, Sara Renner never knew she could walk until the snow melted. She lived on cross-country skis, and still does. "There was seven feet of snow," she says. "So I really did grow up on cross-country skis."

She never grew out of them. A two-time Olympian, Renner figured she would finish her racing career at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. Then Vancouver and Whistler were awarded the 2010 Games and now she isn't so sure. As she trains in Canmore, Alta., for the November start of her eighth World Cup cross-country season in Europe, the 28-year-old's ambition is undiminished. She wants a family. She wants an Olympic medal, too. The order isn't important if she gets both. "I thought I'd be done after Nagano [in 1998]," Renner says from Canmore. "I thought I wouldn't have that fire, thought I'd lose my passion. But it never happened.

"There are so many other things I've always wanted to do. Now, I realize I have time for all those other things. But the time for being an athlete is so limited, you have to take advantage of it. "If Vancouver hadn't gotten the Olympics, I could honestly say 2006 would be my last Olympics. Now that we've got the Olympics, there's room for continuing."

Renner was ninth in the 1.5-kilometre sprint, her strongest event, at the Olympics in Salt Lake City two years ago. She was seventh at the world championships in 2003 and feels she is getting faster each year. Elite cross-country skiers often peak in their 30s. Renner says she wants to seriously challenge for medals in Turin. She will make her decision for 2010 on her competitiveness in '06.

"I definitely feel like I'm improving each year and feeling stronger each year," Renner says. "That's what's so motivating and keeps me going. I really feel like I'm clawing my way up and getting closer and closer. At the top, one or two seconds is the difference between ninth and the podium. I feel like I'm picking up a couple of seconds a year."

The clock at the finish line isn't the only one ticking. Renner says if she continues to 2010 she'll likely take a year off after Turin to have a baby. She isn't worried about the possibility of trying to survive a maternity leave to compete in Whistler. "Quite a few women have done that," she says. "One of my teammates, Milaine Therieault, has a one-year-old baby and she's back training and looking strong. Quite a few women have families [on the World Cup circuit]. It's not new. There are lots of husbands trying to keep up with their wives."

Renner has a match in husband Thomas Grandi, 31, a national alpine ski team member whose slalom silver medal in Austria last January is the highest finish by a Canadian man in a technical alpine event. Smitten after an initial meeting with Renner, Grandi used to plan training runs around the Renner family's back-country lodge, perched on the British Columbia side of the Rockies.

On one bike ride, Grandi ambushed Renner and her friends as they were planning to sleep out under the stars. It didn't take much convincing for Grandi to join them, but he had only cycling shorts with him. Renner loaned him a pair of pants. So don't ask who wears them in the family. It's complicated.

Renner and Grandi were married in April, 2003. The bride wore boards. The couple and their guests telemark skied across the Continental Divide for a ceremony in the woods. There was driving rain. Renner wore her grandmother's fur coat. Everyone else got cold. Anyway, it was beautiful.

o is the Renner family home, which Sara calls "paradise." After stints in Golden, Invermere and Canmore, Renner's parents established the Mount Assiniboine Lodge. It is accessed by a 28-kilometre trail from Canmore, where Renner and Grandi live during the six months they aren't criss-crossing mountain ranges in Europe during their separate World Cup campaigns.

Just as Renner emerged from the wilderness, so has her sport in Canada thanks to teammate Beckie Scott's gold medal in Salt Lake City. "I think her success has really been our team's success," Renner said. "The public awareness of cross-country skiing has gone up since her medal in Salt Lake City. Our sport has been able to benefit. "Beckie paved the path for me in World Cup. Nothing but good things can come when you have a successful teammate."

Renner was 11 when the Winter Olympics were held in Calgary. She says those Games sparked her racing career. She admits there's symmetry to the idea of ending her cross-country career when the Olympics return to Canada. "I'm really a product of the Olympics in Calgary, watching as a kid," Renner says. "Vancouver would have the same impact on kids. It will be totally inspiring. If I go to Vancouver, it would be my fourth Olympics. That would be a dream for sure."

Instead of complaining about funding woes, the COC needs to better communicate its value proposition.
(By Ken Wong)

There are two Olympic "experiences" for Canadians. The first, rightfully, belongs to the athletes who we're told are underfunded. The second belongs to everyday Canadians. I wonder if the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) realizes the two are intimately linked, and that whatever funding problems it faces may, in fact, be largely due to inadequacies with the "Olympic experience" for the rest of us.

The COC needs to be reminded that all funding flows-either directly or indirectly-from the general public. If they don't have the "right" experience, they won't open their wallets to support the COC, won't pressure politicians to direct funds their way and won't behave in a manner that creates true value for the companies that commit millions to sponsorships or buying media time during telecasts. The COC also needs to realize that the competition is intense and different-in-kind.

In the competition for our charity dollars, the COC lacks the angst of a major disease or social condition. It lacks the day-to-day connection to the
lives of Canadians that, say, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has for the families of victims, the Canadian Cancer Society has for bereaved families, or Big Brothers or Big Sisters and youth centres have in terms of lower crime rates.

In the competition for government dollars, the COC's Olympic experience product falls far down the list of the public's priorities as it struggles with an overloaded healthcare system, rising tuition costs or even garbage disposal. The $200 million already spent could do wonders if applied to developing Olympic minds at a world class level, especially if those minds created jobs and national wealth.

That leaves the corporate sector. Corporations sponsor causes and events
because they feel their association will ultimately lead their customers to buy more: whether that occurs as a result of reinforcing an association with certain characteristics, an opportunity to showcase products and services and thereby generate trial, or perhaps gaining access to events to which it can invite preferred accounts in order to engender goodwill. All of these are readily available from a myriad of sources that touch peoples' lives far more often than once every four years.

And if that is the case, you better offer some very special characteristics. Yet, consider this year's sponsors. Very few could make a functional association between the Olympics and what they do. Most were looking for an image play and, to be frank, I don't know that consumers make the connection as strongly as we might like.

The COC does have some special characteristics. But it needs to find a way
to translate those characteristics into events and programs that more concretely touch the lives of Canadians in a significant way more often. And if it cannot do that for the general public, then maybe it needs to focus efforts on a group of "customers" for whom it could-customers like the non-Olympic athletes who fill sports camps every summer and buy millions in sports and recreational products.

And that is perhaps the greatest lacking of all: the failure to cultivate an image and create an experience with non-elite athletes in this country. My children play elite sports but can't tell me anything about who is on the national teams in the sports they play. They've never attended a COC-certified camp nor purchased a COC-endorsed video or instruction book. They have no Olympic merchandise save what they can get through Roots. They get no offers of discounts to see our athletes perform.

But they can tell me who is in Nike, Adidas and Reebok ads. We have walls of posters from athletic equipment suppliers. We've attended camps and clinics put on by the same firms. We watch instructional TV shows that they sponsor. We have workout regimens from these companies. Oh...and, yes, we buy their products and pay to attend the camps and clinics. Our experience with them is weekly, if not daily, and we don't mind paying for it, or even subsidizing others who can't.

I really hope that I am wrong; that someone from the COC will write back and tell me all the things they are doing to touch our lives everyday. Then we have a simple advertising problem. But until they do, this is a much more fundamental marketing problem-the Olympic experience I'm being asked to pay for has a very weak value proposition versus everything else competing for my money.

KEN WONG is associate professor, business and marketing strategy at the Queen's University School of Business, in Kingston, Ont. He is one of four FourThought column contributors.