Canada wins 4 more medals overnight.

Canada's Whitfield takes silver in triathlon.

CBC Sports - Canada's Simon Whitfield captured the silver medal in the men's triathlon Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics. Whitfield, who lives in Victoria, mounted a furious rally to briefly take the lead late in the closing sprint before being overtaken over the final stretch by Germany's Jan Frodeno. "I kind of fought my way on there, and I thought there's no time like the present," Whitfield said. "I tried to make it a battle of pure willpower. I gave it everything I had."

Whitfield finished five seconds back of the surprise winner, who completed the course in one hour, 48 minutes, 53 seconds.New Zealand's Bevan Docherty took the bronze, 12 seconds back of Frodeno.

Pre-race favourite Javier Gomez of Spain faded late to finish fourth. Edmonton's Paul Tichelaar finished 28th, while Colin Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., was 50th.

Despatie wins silver in men's diving for Canada.

CBC Sports - Alexandre Despatie won Canada's third medal on Day 11, finishing second in the men's three-metre springboard diving competition at the Beijing Olympics. Despatie, a 23-year-old native of Laval, Que., finished with a total score of 536.65 points from six dives to claim the silver medal Tuesday. He also took the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games.

He Chong of China won the gold (572.90 points) and countryman Qin Kai, the reigning world champion, took the bronze (530.10).

China's He earned 11 perfect marks of 10.0 in the six-round final to take the gold. China has won all six diving competitions at the Beijing Games with two events remaining.

Canada's Burnett wins silver in men's trampoline.

CBC Sports - Canada's Jason Burnett has won silver in men's trampoline at the Beijing Games. Burnett, 21, posted a score of 40.70 Tuesday for his routine, which featured a degree of difficulty of 16.8 — the highest in the final.

The three-time Canadian champion from Toronto told the CBC that playing it safe with an easier routine wasn't even a consideration. "No, definitely not," Burnett said. "This is the Olympics. This is it. Why play it safe? "You might as well put it all on the line and go for broke, and it paid off today with a silver medal."

Burnett was edged out by Lu Chunlong — the final competitor in the eight-man field — who had a score of 41 points to win gold. Lu's routine featured a degree of difficulty of 16.2.

Canada's Lopes-Schliep wins hurdles bronze.

CBC Sports - Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won a bronze medal in the 100-metre hurdles final late Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics, a race won by Dawn Harper of the United States. Harper ran in 12.54 seconds, with Sally McLellan of Australia taking silver.

Lopes-Schliep, of Whitby, Ont., ran in 12.64 seconds, the same time as McLellan. The Canadian got off to a good start before slipping back over the middle part of the race, but was resurgent as several racers lunged towards the line. "It was really close, when I saw 'photo finish.' I was on pins and needles, I didn't know what happened," Lopes-Schliep told CBC Sports. "All of us just went for that line. It was an intense race and I came through and got the third, so I'm very pleased.

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Canada’s Huynh grapples to gold.

CBC.CA News - Wrestler Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., has won Canada’s first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. The 27-year-old captured gold on Day 8 of the Games in the 48-kilogram freestyle weight class over Japan’s Chiharu Icho by a score of 4-0 and 2-1. Huynh threw her hands in the air and covered her mouth in awe after winning Canada’s first gold medal. The Canadian’s coaches then hoisted her on their shoulders and paraded her around the stadium with the Canadian flag.

Huynh’s victory came less than 20 minutes before Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., won the bronze medal in the 55-kg weight class.

She began crying on the podium, wiping away tears and singing as the Canadian anthem was played for the first time at the Beijing Games. “I was just thinking how proud I am to be Canadian,” Huynh said of her reaction. “And I was just thinking about the road to how I got here. It’s been a long one but a good one.' “This is unbelievable,” she told CBC Sports following the medal ceremony. “I knew I wanted to go in with supreme confidence in my abilities, and not doubting myself one second. That’s what I did, and I wrestled the match of my life, and it was awesome.”

She is the second Canadian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal, the first being Verbeek, who won silver in Athens. Beijing marked the first Olympic Games for Huynh, whose parents, husband and siblings were in the stands watching. “I knew they were basically right in the front row there, and knowing that in the back of my mind was such a good feeling,” she said, smiling.

Her parents were born in Vietnam, though Huynh was born in Hazelton, B.C. After her bout she thanked the people of Hazelton for their support and help in “raising an Olympian.”

Huynh’s win is considered an upset. Icho is the defending and three-time world champion, and won silver at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The five-foot-one Huynh is a three-time world championship medallist (silver in 2001, bronze in 2000 and 2005) and placed 5th at the 2007 world championships.

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Rowers win gold, silver, bronze.

The Leader-Post (Regina) - BEIJING— In rowing, Canada won one gold medal and two bronze Sunday to fatten its overall total to four. In the men’s eight, the favoured Canadian side got a first-place performance from Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C., Andrew Byrnes of Toronto, Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Malcolm Howard of Victoria, Dominic Seiterle of Victoria, Adam Kreek of London, Ont., Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., and coxswain Brian Price Belleville, Ont.

Canada led the men’s eights from the outset. “Just hitting the line like that and knowing that you’re the Olympic champ and you’ve got the gold medal is an unbelievable feeling. Everything just spills out then. It’s amazing.”

The Canadian crew celebrated a significant improvement from 2004, when it finished a disappointing fifth in Athens despite high expectations. “We’ve been thinking about it ever since Athens,” Hamilton said. “I never thought I’d get the opportunity to be the favourite in an Olympics again. Just to come in as the favourite is an amazing experience, but not many people get to experience it. To do it twice is just amazing. “To win ... I can’t say any more.”

Canada posted a winning time of five minutes 23.89 seconds. Great Britain was second (5:25.11), followed by the United States (5:25.34).

“The medals are won over the winter,” Hamilton said of the group’s training regimen. “We’re in the wind. We’re in the snow. We’re in the rain. It’s crappy out there. When it comes down to one race, we practise rising to the occasion time and time again. We just took it away from there.”

Earlier, the lightweight men’s four team of Iain Brambell of Brentwood Bay, B.C., Jon Beare of Toronto, Mike Lewis of Victoria and Liam Parsons of Thunder Bay, Ont., earned a medal shortly after the lightweight women’s double tandem of Melanie Kok, of St. Catharines, Ont., and Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, N.S., reached the podium.

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Silver for Canadian Equestrian Show Jumpers.

HONG KONG, AUGUST 18, 2008 Exactly 40 years after Canada earned its only Olympic team show jumping medal, the Canadian team stood on the medal podium today. Under the most unlikely conditions, having lost one horse to injury earlier in the day, Canada met the powerful American team in a tie-breaker for the gold medal and claimed silver.

“A medal is a life-long dream come true”, she said. A determined Henselwood made a powerful recovery after being Canada’s discard score yesterday. “The angel’s came down”, she said about today’s spectacular turn of events after Cone’s withdrawal.“Jill’s performance motivated us all”, Millar said. Once a medal looked within reach, the 61-year-old remarked, “And then we’ll just keep on going to 2012”.

This being his ninth Olympic Games and having never earned a medal, Millar was elated, but emotional. He lost his wife, Lynn, to cancer in March and said, “This one’s for Lynn”. His 34-year-old son, Jonathon, and 31-year-old daughter, Amy, were both in Hong Kong with him. His goal now is for them to be his team-mates in 2012.

Also very emotional about their achievement, Lamaze is in a four-way tie for the lead in qualifying for the individual medal final on Thursday. Henselwood and Millar are also qualified. All riders enter the individual final with a clean slate and it is contested over two rounds. Canada has just one individual medal in Olympic show jumping history. Michel Vaillancourt won a silver in his hometown of Montreal in 1976. “These Games are coming together just the way we planned”, Lamaze said, seeming very optimistic about Thursday.

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Ryan Cochrane wins bronze, Brown just misses podium

BEIJING – Ryan Cochrane of Victoria won a dramatic bronze medal in a close men’s 1,500-metre freestyle race on Sunday, the final day of swimming competition at the Olympic Games. It was Canada’s first swimming medal at the Olympics since Curtis Myden won the bronze medal in the men’s 400 IM at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It is also Canada’s first Olympic medal in the men’s 1,500 freestyle since George Vernot’s silver at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium. ‘’I’m ecstatic,’’ said Cochrane, 19. ‘’I’m so happy with the result. The final was all about racing and getting the medal is so amazing. And it was so great to have the support of the Canadian team.’’

Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia won the gold medal and two-time defending Olympic champion Grant Hackett of Australia was second.

In the women’s 4X100 medley relay, Canada with Julia Wilkinson of North York, Ont., Annamay Pierse of Vancouver, Audrey Lacroix of Montreal and Erica Morningstar of Calgary clocked a Canadian record for seventh place.

In the women’s 100 freestyle semifinals, Erica Morningstar of Calgary placed 15th and was eliminated.

Mike Brown of Calgary came within 0.09 seconds of the medal podium in a fourth place finish Thursday in the men’s 200-metre breaststroke. “Finishing fourth is probably the worst place because it all comes down to the touch,’’ said Brown, who clocked a Canadian record in Wednesday’s semifinal. ‘’I could see Rickard and Kitajima right next to me and could see that it would be close. Obviously I would of liked to be on the podium but this was my seconnd fastest time ever and to do this in an Olympic final is quite good. The Olympic Games is the biggest pressure cooker and the pressure is immense, but I strive on that.”

Michael Phelps broke Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven gold medals in one Olympics, Sunday, by winning his eighth gold in the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay in a world record time.

Sunday’s performances capped a strong showing by the 27-member Canadian team at the Games. Twenty-six national records were set, Canadians raced in 10 finals and 30 personal bests were set, a huge improvement from four years ago in Athens.

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Hartley edged off podium in her diving swan song.

Times Colonist (Victoria) - BEIJING—Before she made her first dive in the women’s three-metre finals yesterday, Blythe Hartley stood for what seemed like an eternity at the start of the board at the Water Cube. The Vancouver diver looked like she was stuck to the board, afraid to jump. That wasn’t far from the truth. All the emotions of what she’s been going through over the last year—from the death of her brother Strachan, only 30, from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, to the approaching end of her diving career—were catching up with her all at once.

As she stood there, she was frantically trying a way to harness those emotions. “I was trying to tell myself to relax,” Hartley said. “I felt very tight, so I was trying to take some time to tell myself to relax and be loose.”

That’s why Mitch Geller, the technical director of Canada’s diving team, called Hartley’s performance in the finals one of the most courageous he’s ever seen. She didn’t miss a dive, had the best international performance of her career, and narrowly missed finishing her career with a medal. Hartley placed fourth in the women’s three-metre springboard yesterday, edged out by Wu Minxia of China, Julia Pakhalina of Russia, and defending Olympic champion Gou Jingjing of China, who finished third, second, and first, respectively.

Hartley, 26, announced before these Games that she’d be retiring once they were over. The last dive of Hartley’s career, a forward 21/2 somersault twist, earned her 76.50 points, not enough to earn a trip to the podium. But she walked away proud that she was able to get through what has been a difficult three days of diving. “I think naturally I was more emotional than in the past, but I think that’s understandable,” she said. “I definitely was tight [on Saturday] and I came in [yesterday] hoping to feel more relaxed.

“But I started the competition very tight and on my second dive I said ‘You’ve got to do something to change this’ and then I did. “So I’m very proud I was able to acknowledge how I felt and make a chance during the competition.”

Geller said he was impressed by Hartley’s performance, but the competition was just too strong. "If all of our divers go in and compete like she just competed, I’m going to walk away proud, as proud as I can be,” he said. “The fact was, she had the best event of her life. The other girls, they beat her fair and square, what can I say. She did pretty much everything we could hope she would do in there.”

Hartley retires with one Olympic medal in three appearances: a bronze in the 10-metre platform synchro in Athens in 2004. “Ending my career doing my personal best at the Olympic Games, you couldn’t ask much more than that,” she said. “I’m walking away feeling very proud for what I’ve accomplished this year.”

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Zelinka finishes Olympic heptathlon in 6th with Canadian record.

SIRC - Bejing - Even competing shoulder to shoulder in a field of 43 athletes, in a cavernous stadium packed to the rafters, heptathlon can be a lonely sport. Seven events - running, jumping, hurdling, throwing - are spread over two days, each requiring a different focus, each a particular test of body and mind. So when Jessica Zelinka needed a friend this weekend, she found it a long way up at roof-level of Bird’s Nest Stadium.“The spot I always looked to was the Canadian flag up near the finish line,” Zelinka said Saturday night, having just set a national record of 6,490 points to finish an excellent sixth in her first Olympic Games. “I thought, ‘OK, I’m not alone, a whole country is supporting me.’ Just to be in a huge stadium like that, just to feel that contentment within yourself and on the track - this is why I love doing this, this is why it’s a beautiful sport.“I’m so happy to be here doing this and competing hard.”

With her parents, two older sisters, an aunt and her fiance in the crowd, Zelinka achieved four personal bests and came within 10 points of the lofty goal she had set before the Games. The record she broke was her own, set last year, improved by 147 points.
At 26, she has yet to reach her prime as a heptathlete, and now sets off toward London 2012 with the priceless experience of having competed in the Olympic arena. “I came here, got a Canadian record, was close to what I was aiming for and finished strong,” said Zelinka, a native of London, Ont., who lives and trains in Calgary. “The whole year, the last four years, I’ve had my mind set on August 2008. That’s when I was going to be at my best and healthy. Nothing that happened before mattered.”

She downplayed a crippling injury suffered last summer, a plantar fascia tear that prevented her from competing at the valuable pre-Olympic world championship and upset her training. But Zelinka worked hard to mend, and even two so-so heptathlons this summer in Europe didn’t discourage her.

Her work complete, Zelinka will now be able to attend other events and cheer on her teammates. At the top of that list would be the men’s water-polo team; its captain, Nathaniel Miller, is her fiance.
The couple will spend from September to May in Barcelona, where Miller plays professionally, though she’ll return home or entertain visits from Les Gramantik, her coach. She expects to join a club in Spain and find a few athletes with whom she can train.
“It will be a good transition year after the Olympics,” Zelinka said, grinning at the possibilities. “It will be a good change of scenery.”

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Christopher fails to advance; Canada’s best medal hope in track eliminated.

Times & Transcript (Moncton) - Tyler Christopher’s quest for an Olympic medal has come to an end. The 24-year-old sprinter from Chilliwack, B.C., was eliminated in the heats of the 400 metres at the Beijing Games earlier today, finishing fifth in his heat. 'Disappointed? That’s a bit of an understatement,” Christopher said after the race. “Disappointment would be not making it to the final. Not making it out of the heats, that’s just ridiculous.”

Christopher arrived in Beijing ranked sixth in the world, and captured gold at the world indoor championships in March in Valencia, Spain. He was touted as one of Canada’s top hopes for a medal on track in Beijing. But he said he came down with a flu bug at the Canadian team’s training camp in Singapore, and didn’t manage to shake it until a couple of days ago. “I couldn’t really get out of my bed until two days ago,” Christopher said. “I thought I was over it, but it seems like it still has taken a lot out of my body.”

The six-foot-one runner looked sluggish from the gun, and never managed to make up any ground on the field. “It basically felt like half my speed was missing,” said Christopher, who set his Canadian record of 44.44 in winning bronze at the 2005 world championships. “I got to one slow constant speed, couldn’t pick it up from there.”

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Gym team making progress; Gafuik learning what it takes.

Canwest News Service - Hard to miss Alex Wong. Trousers from the Krusty the Clown signature design series. Decked out in a home red Calgary Stampeders’ No. 1 jersey. Small straw cowboy hat perched atop a bright red fright wig that transforms him into an hallucinogenic vision of the Wendy’s hamburger girl. “Yeah, I caught a glimpse of him,” his son, Canadian gynmast Adam Wong, said following the men’s artistic gymnastics all-around final. “Those pants... colourful, isn’t he?”

Four years ago, Alex Wong’s madcap ways conquered Athens. Now he has Beijing in the hip pocket of those gaudy trousers, too. “I’ve had a great time,” gushed the elder Wong. So has his boy. “An amazing experience,” Adam Wong said. “After Athens, I was super-pumped to get back in the gym and train hard for four more years to get to this moment. I’m totally satisfied with how it went. It wasn’t a great day for me, I made little mistakes here and there, but I thought both Nathan [Gafuik] and I handled the situation pretty well.”

No, there weren’t any Canadian medals to be celebrated at the National Indoor Stadium yesterday. Consider, however, that no Canuck has as much as reached a men’s all-around final since Curtis Hibbert was 22nd in Seoul in 1988. And yesterday, there were two. Wong finished 15th (89.800 points) and Nathan Gafuik was 17th (89.625). China’s Yang Wei won the gold medal.

“They were having more fun today,” Canadian coach Tony Smith said. “The first day, there was so much pressure because our team goal of making the team final. And Brandon [O’Neill] was injured. It was just a tough day. But today, and the last couple of days in training, they’ve been a lot looser. “I think you could see they were enjoying themselves.”

If not for a slip on pommel horse during the sixth and final rotation, Gafuik could have edged his way into the top 10, a monumental achievement for someone who travelled to Athens four years ago only as an alternate. “One mistake, and he slips from eighth to 17th,” Smith said. “But that’s what happens at this level.”

“He still did a fantastic job, hitting 11 out of 12 routines this week. We’ve just got to add 20 pounds—well, that might be exaggerating a little: let’s say 12 pounds—of muscle for London (2012 Games). If we can do that, Nathan could be fighting to get on the podium, not break into the top 10.”

Add 12 pounds? Uh, to be put where, exactly? “My biceps,” Gafuik replied, flexing. “If you look at me compared to some of the other guys, I’m pretty small. “So I need to get back and train harder. But this is a great incentive.”

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Calgary’s Taub not bothered by loss; Men’s Wrestling.

National Post. - BEIJING - Ari Taub walked into the packed gymnasium and breathed it all in. His head turned, seeking to catch a glimpse into every corner of the facility. This was why he spent 23 years of his life grappling with sweaty, hairy men in singlets. This was why he persevered through illness, injury and devastating heartbreak. This was why he emptied the family bank account. This was the Olympic Games and he was there. That it lasted all of four minutes was immaterial to him.

The Greco-Roman wrestler from Calgary fell 2-0 to Hungary’s Mihaly Deak-Bardos in his first-round match in the men’s 120-kilogram competition yesterday at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium, but nothing was going to wipe the smile from his face. “I’m OK with my performance,” Taub said. “I did the best I could.”

For Taub, 37, who was dropped from the 1992 and 2004 Canadian Olympic teams on the eve of the Games and who missed eight years in the prime of his career because of a misdiagnosed neck injury, the arduous battle to finally stamp himself an Olympian was worth the trip. “It was great,” he said. “All the hard work and stuff I’ve done over the past 23 years, all I put into getting here and this is really the show, where we get to have a good time.”

Owner of his own law firm in Calgary, Taub is considering buying a gym and is also thinking of pursuing a career as a motivational speaker, hoping his story will inspire others, including his own children. He knows for certain that his days as a world-class competitor on the wrestling mat are done. As much as its cost him in terms of dollars, sweat and heartbreak, every sacrifice felt worth it as he entered the gym yesterday in front of a cheering throng. "My next-door neighbour just bought a $100,000 car. I remember six months ago, sitting in his living room, watching TV and I told him, ‘I’d much rather use that one hundred grand to go to the Olympics.’ “

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Canada soccer loses extra-time heartbreaker to U.S.

Times Colonist (Victoria) - SHANGHAI—Karina LeBlanc’s bloodshot eyes betrayed her, as she stood bravely in the mixed zone and talked about coming up short in the game of her life. “It hurts,” the Canadian goalkeeper said, drawing a deep breath and biting down on her lip to fight back the tears. “It just hurts. It’s like just having your heart broken.”

Once again, the United States is responsible for the pain, although the defending Olympic champions needed extra time yesterday to dispatch Canada 2-1 in the sudden-death Summer Olympic quarter-final at Shanghai Stadium.

Stunned and soaked, the ninth-ranked Canadians walked around in tears as the Olympic theme song, One World, One Dream, serenaded the victorious Americans. Especially considering LeBlanc entered the game as a backup to injured star goalkeeper Erin McLeod, of St. Albert, Alta.

The two goalkeepers embraced as the rain gushed down and thunder rumbled overhead. “Karina, as she showed tonight, is obviously one of the best keepers in the world,” McLeod said.

Over the past four years, Canada and the U.S. have played each other 10 times. The Americans have won all 10, out-scoring Canada by a margin of 27-5.

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What’s behind Canada’s slow start? Years of funding neglect.

North Bay Nugget (ON) - BY DONNA SPENCER, THE CANADIAN PRESS - C anadian team officials are preaching patience but for many back home it’s hard to understand how tiny Togo, with just four athletes, won bronze while Canada’s army of 331 was shut out the first seven days of the Olympic Games.

In truth, there were only three solid medal possibilities for Canada the first week. All were at the pool: Alexandre Despatie and Arturo Miranda in synchronized diving, the men’s freestyle relay team and Brent Hayden in the 100-metre freestyle. The divers and the relay team were both fifth and Hayden didn’t make the final. Other athletes were longshots.

What was missing for Canada this time was the out-of-the blue winner such as Lori Ann Muenzer racing to gold in track cycling four years ago or Simon Whitfield winning the triathlon on the second day of the Games in 2000.

Upcoming, Canada has medal potential in diving, kayaking, mountain biking, taekwondo, trampoline and triathlon. Medals should come. But the bigger picture is bleaker.

The world has not stood still in sports. And Canada jogged while other countries sprinted, with the bottom falling out of Canada’s sport funding in the late 1980s and 1990s. After winning 22 medals in 1996, Canada dropped to 14 in 2000 and a dozen in 2004.

It takes up to two decades to produce an Olympic medallist. The lack of seeds sown in Canada 20 years ago has resulted in a spotty crop in Beijing.

The steroids scandal spawned by Ben Johnson in 1988 did not help amateur sports—or funding—at the time, but it seems that lack of a coherent game plan since then is the real problem.

Changes to Canada’s summer- sport system are underway, but have come too late to do much good in Beijing. The federal government committed in February to kicking in extra money over the next four years heading into the 2012 Games in London and beyond.

Sudbury native Alex Baumann, a former Olympic swim champion for Canada, was lured back from the Australian sport system to head up Road To Excellence a year and a half ago. Road To Excellence is a plan modelled on Own The Podium, a five-year, $110-million strategy established in 2005 for winter sports to move Canada atop the medal standings at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

RTE will have $20 million in federal money to work with in 2008-09, $28 million the following year and $36 million for each of the two years heading into 2012. But Canada has fallen so far behind other countries in summer sport that more modest goals of a top-16 result here and top 12 in London are the targets. Getting to the top five will be near impossible unless Canada starts matching the massive investment of a country like Australia.

After winning five medals at the 1976 Games in Montreal, Australia made a concerted effort to become more competitive and developed the Australian Institute of Sport—a system of sport facilities and programs headquartered in a suburb of Canberra.

It wasn’t until 1996 that Australia’s efforts really began to bear fruit, and then the Aussies won 58 medals, including 16 gold, at their own Games of 2000.

Once you get the system rolling, it’s much easier,” Baumann said. We’re at the low level right now and it’s going to take time.”

Australia, primarily a summer-sport country, has a budget of about $250 million for sport, said Baumann. The Aussies—with 20 medals after seven days—are worried about their count here, however, and are saying they’ll need another $200 million to keep them among the world’s elite, he added.

In contrast, the Canadian government will spend $166 million on sport, both winter and summer, in 2008-09.

Despite the slow start, the Canadian Olympic Committee is sticking to its goal of a top-16 finish in the medal standings when the Games end Aug. 24.

It’s never time to modify the medal projection until the gun goes at the end of the Games,” committee president Michael Chambers said. We’re not even halfway into the Games right now and we’re a second- half team.”

Despatie, from Laval, Que., is optimistic. Don’t give up on us,” he said.

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Either invest in athletes or bank on status quo.

The Calgary Sun ERIC FRANCIS - You probably thought you were pretty funny last week, comparing Canada’s medal count with that of Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Togo. You were the one at the office taking every pot shot you could at Canada’s inability to reach the podium in a competition you like to suggest includes potato sack races and egg-on-the-spoon relays.

Truth is, you’re an idiot.

And as someone who has been at the last three Games, unaware how cynical those at home have become, I’m stunned at how unrealistically demanding and ignorant the attitude has become surrounding the Summer Olympics.

In a country that ignores these amateur athletes for three years and 11 months, what makes you think any of us have the right to criticize them over the two-week period we do actually care?

Fact is, expectations weren’t that high to begin with. The athletes are not choking—they’ve simply been set up to fail.

We hardly have summer here in Canada, so why should anyone expect our sparsely populated country to fare well in the Summer Games? Much more to the point, we don’t give athletes the resources needed.

Even though they receive very little support from the government, corporations, the media or the public, these athletes have poured their hearts and souls into an endeavour we watch from afar every four years and scoff at when things don’t go our way.

While eighth in the world at anything is an incredible accomplishment—even if it’s something as trivial as air pistol or badminton—such results the last week have sports radio news readers leading with, “Losses continue to mount for Canada.”

Meanwhile, you make jokes.

Until the government—ie: we the people—decide summer Olympians are, indeed, considered important for national pride, things won’t get better for us at the Summer Games.

It’s a matter of choice. In one of the world’s most taxed nations, do we think it’s important enough to cough up more of our hard earned cash for more research, coaching, infrastructure and athlete development?

Even though my life has revolved around sports, I’m not even sure I’m in favour of it. However, I do know that the proudest moments I’ve ever felt as a Canadian revolve around seeing one of ours on a podium with the world watching. How could you not get a lump in your throat yesterday seeing wrestler Carol Huynh sing O Canada with gold around her neck?

If nothing else, it inspires our youth, gives them hope that in a bloated nation continually cutting back physical education, they too can be amongst the world’s best.

Whether we, as Canadians, want to make it happen more often all boils down to the country’s attitude on sports.

Don’t believe me?

Twenty years ago in Seoul, China sat seventh with 28 medals. They’ve since invested more money in their athletes and are currently battling the U.S. for the medal crown.

Australia took a similar approach, moving from 14 medals in 1988 to 58 medals in Sydney, one out of third spot overall.

We’re doing the same thing for our winter Olympians with the brilliant Own The Podium program, which has Canada poised to challenge for the 2010 medal title on home soil in Vancouver.

Officials are trying to mirror the program for summer Olympians, but it takes time. And more money.

The same prime minister preaching patience this week is the one who has to take a lead on this issue and decide if it’s important to show well at the Olympics or not. He needs to know how you feel and a potential fall election would be the perfect time to do it.

Until then, to all the people slagging athletes who should be held in nothing but the highest esteem, might I recommend you try pole vaulting into a rock pit.

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Canada spends low, aims low in Beijing.

Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free Press - OTTAWA - Five days into the Beijing Olympics, the Australians have already made a dozen trips to the podium.
Australia’s Stephanie Rice poses with her gold medal after the women’s 200m individual medley swimming medal ceremony at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 13, 2008.

While Canadians may salivate at those results - on Wednesday our own medal count was still a glaring goose egg - they should also realize that Australian taxpayers have paid a much higher price in hopes of securing their share of Olympic hardware. In 2006, Australia spent the equivalent of $194 million Canadian on its sporting programs - more than $50 million more than Sport Canada spent.

Not surprisingly, Australia’s medal aim is much higher than Canada’s. Those from Down Under are shooting for 64 medals, which should put them in line for a fifth-place finish at the Olympics. By comparison, Canada’s goal for Beijing is to finish in the top 16 - which amounts to about 16 medals. The disparity between Australia and Canada isn’t likely to narrow at the 2012 summer games in London. Before Beijing, Australia pledged another major investment so that, by 2012, they could count on 60 medals. Canada too is aiming higher for London, shooting for a top-12 finish - somewhere between 20 and 25 medals.

Aiming to compete with China or the U.S. in the medal standings is unrealistic for Canada, says Randy Anderson, general manager of the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba. But he said we should be able to go head to head with other middle powers, such as Australia. Anderson said there are a number of factors that go into producing top international results: coaching, facilities, competition, sports psychology, nutrition, and physiology. But they all cost money.
Canada has started to recognize that hard fact. The federal government recently launched its Road to Excellence program for summer athletes, a plan to invest $48 million over the next three years with a view to targeting sports Canada is already doing well in.

Canoeing, diving and rowing top the list, says Lane MacAdam, director of the program for Sport Canada.
Sport Canada funding has gone up overall, from $96 million in 2003-04 to $152.9 million this year. That doesn’t include the $48 million earmarked for Road to Excellence.

In Athens, Canada had 60 finishes between 4th and 8th place. MacAdam said some of those athletes were less than a second off the podium, and it wouldn’t take a vast investment to give them the edge they need.
He said some of the new money for Canadian athletics was invested before Beijing, but, for the most part, the effects won’t be seen until London.

Anderson said the money for the summer Olympics programs is helpful, but the sport centres had asked for a figure closer to $30 million a year. “It’s hard to look a gift horse in the mouth, but to me, it’s not enough,” he said, adding it will not keep pace with investments being made by countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom.

Unlike Australia, Canada has a very strong winter sports program, and that has to be factored into how we perform in the Olympics overall, said Jeff Hnatiuk, president of Sport Manitoba. But Hnatiuk said the Australian athletes have far better facilities to train in. The dearth of facilities was identified by sports associations as a major hindrance to Canada’s sports programs, he said. Hnatiuk also said Canada is just starting to develop a new program, the “long-term athlete development model,” which starts with giving basic skills to young kids, such as throwing and kicking and running, and helps identify which sports those kids are best at later on.

The idea is to get more kids involved in sports while they’re still young, but not to shuffle them into one specific sport too early, says Hnatiuk. It will take a lot of co-operation at the school, community club, provincial and national level, he notes, and could take a generation to show results.

Anderson said one of the other problems Canada needs to remedy is our university and college level sport programs. The United States Olympic team is dominated by current and former college athletes who train and compete in highly competitive, well-funded NCAA sports programs. “Athletes coming out of the (Canadian Interuniversity Sport program) aren’t able to step right into the world-class competition level,” said Anderson.

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