Canada’s “Own the Podium” has come under a lot of heat lately, in light of some peoples *disappointment* with Canada’s medal performance.
For those unaware of the Own the Podium is a program Canada launched in January 2005 to:
prepare our athletes to become the top winter sporting nation in the world by 2010. To achieve the goals of 2010, the focus of the program was to provide additional resources and high performance programming to Canadian athletes, coaches and support personnel.
One of the more notable condemnations of the program came when Olympic speed skater Denny Morrison called out the Own the Podium program specifically when discussing his disappointing 13th place finish. Specifically he mentioned the program not allowing him to train with his American training partner Shani Davis (who finished second) cost him a top spot.
“There’s a lot of ways of looking at it,” Morrison said. “I mean, I just think it would be nice to train with Shani and be able to have him push me or pull me,” Morrison said. “There was a time, back in the day, we used to just everyday in practice push each other. You’ve all heard the story, he was faster than me and eventually I was able to keep up to him.”
While I’m dubious that the program is specifically to blame, I find it very surprising and disheartening (if true) that our athletes weren’t able to train with partners/competitors that raise them to the top levels of their sport.
The perfect counterpoint came last night when Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skated to gold in Ice Dancing… Yeah, that right, I watched it, wanna make something of it?!
One of the things that intrigued me in their post performance interview was both of them specifically calling out their training with Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White being pivotal in pushing them forward and continually upping their game. I’m unsure of why the Ice Dancing pair was allowed to compete with their competition while Denny Morrison was not, but I would suspect it’s the fact that both the Canadian and American pairs share a coach… How weird is that?
Anyway… Ice Dancing aside (yes, you can breathe a sigh of relief), I’m interested in what our readers think of the Own the Podium program.
I for one think it’s a fantastic… LONG overdue. When you look at the support athletes in the USA, China, Britain or Korea, and Norway get, it embarrasses me what most Canadian athletes need to go through to get to the top echelons of their sports. I think we’re only seeing the beginnings of what’s possible with the proper support they’re starting to get.
With that said, I think the program was a wee bit over-ambitious for these Olympics. Lead the medal standings? Become the top sporting nation? For real!? Building programs like these take many years, and to think that we could go from a mid-level performer (on a global stage) to leading the charge in 5 years is a little unrealistic in my mind.
Overall, I think Canada is doing great. We’ve had some disappointments, and some young up-and-commers may not have lived up to the pressure we put on them, but with continued support I have no doubt we’ll see the likes of Patrick Chan (figure skating) and Mellisa Hollingsworth (skeleton), and Charles and Francois Hamelin (short track speed skating) on the podium in coming years. Besides, the games aren’t even over yet… Just yesterday we pulled in another gold in women’s ski-cross.
I guess the one failing I noticed (as an experienced couch coach ;-) is the seeming inability of some of our athletes to rise to the enormous Olympic pressure. Perhaps evidenced by our 16 fourth and fifth place finishes on this past “Super Sunday.” I’m not sure what the program entailed specifically, but I hope that just as many of these athletes have matured through valuable experience at the global level, the Own the Prodium program can also mature and support the athletes with the psychological pressures that come with carrying a nations expectations on their shoulders.
So now I’ll toss it out to you – Canada’s “Own the Podium” program… Good or bad? Integral to the Canada’s sporting success on a global stage, or putting unneeded pressure on Canadian athletes?
For our readers outside of Canada, I’m interested in your 2¢ as well – How are your athletes supported? How does your nation feel about that support?
I have given up on own the podium a while ago. I just think canada should increase the funding regardless whether they want to own the podium. by simply allowing providing more opportunity for athletes to develop their talents, champions will be created. with that being said, I just hope for gold medals in men’s and woman’s hockey. is that too much to ask ?
To me the big thing is our mentality. Although we want to win, Canadians have traditionally been ‘just happy to compete’. I’m being general here but we don’t have the same self image as the a country like the US. The ‘win, or else!’ motivation tactic just isn’t Canadian. For our athletes to get passed that will take time. Can you still be ‘Canadian nice’ and have the cut-throat atitude needed to win?
Can we still be ‘Canadian nice’ and demonstrate the competitiveness needed to win? That will take time. Although we want to win, Canadians have been tradtionally just happy to compete. That needs to change if we want to ‘Own the podium’.
These are people who are making an attempt to be the best (#1) in the world at their profession… We’re not talking about amateurs, up-comers, or people who aspire to be in the company of best-in-class…. We are talking about people who’s goal is simply to be the best – They need to be compared not only to Shaun White and Frederic Bilodeau, but to Steve Jobs, Terry Fox, Tiger Woods, and all others who have achieved that true #1 position. Along with extraordinary skill and commitment, they require extreme self-confidence (arrogance), focus and as close to perfection as you can get. There is no amount of pressure that derails these types of people. They are #1 because they can deal with and overcome extremities and ups and downs like pressure, conditions or tragedy. That is what differentiates them.
My 2 cents… Canada’s “Own The Podium” is a great program that provides great support for extraordinary people to perfect their abilities and potential to become #1. Dealing with pressure is one part of the training and when they master it, they become that much closer to being perfect and taking that #1 position.
I am proud of what the Canadian program produces. As witnessed last week alone, it is partly responsible for helping 5 Canadians become the best in the world at what they do. Canada is a small country with a high percentage of ‘Best in The World People’… and as a proud and loyal Canadian, I support any program that supports that. What the media and marketing does to promote, excite and evoke response (positive or negative) is entertainment. And it does just that – entertains, inspires and disappoints me… but it does not distract me from the true origin and roots of things that are good.
I think Canadian expectations have been too high and they have put too much pressure on their athletes. We have the same number of gold medals as the Americans right now. I think Canada is doing well. And medal standings aren’t the whole story. This olympics has seen canadians do very well in areas we don’t traditional excel at. 4th place in xc ski team sprint. 6th in biathlon. They aren’t medals, but I think these are very positive steps. Maybe I fall victim to that nice canadian attitude, but I’m be really excited to be 6th best in the world at anything.
I think too many people forget what sport is really about, and why we all take part in the first place. After each competition I think we should shake hands, shut the score clock off without writing it down, and everyone should go have a drink together and talk about the great achievements they witnessed from others. I think we should give the medals to the athletes which leave the games with the most new friends. I’m a proud Canadian because I think that’s the podium we really could (should) own.
It’s interesting reading the contrast in the comments from Dana and Darren. It makes me think of something commentator Brian Williams mentioned earlier in the games. I can’t find the quote so I’ll paraphrase:
Now, Brian Williams has seen a sporting event or two more than I have to be sure, so I thought it interesting that he sensed a change. There was certainly a different tone to the media promoting the games as it approached… Building anticipation sure, but also building expectation.
Though I hope that our athletes continue to get the type of support that Own the Podium brings to the table, I hope that as Canadians we never loose the essence of what Dana and Chris are talking about.
I think it’s great to aspire and shoot for #1, and I think it’s awesome that we’re starting to take that goal more seriously, but as Chris put it, I think the ability to “shut the score clock off, and go have a drink” is something distinctly Canadian.
I think there is a big difference between sportsmanship and some of the comments above. True, I want to be known as a fair player and someone who can walk away from a competition and into a pub to enjoy the company of like minded people; but I also want to win. Not only that, I want to be stronger, faster, fitter, better than I was on the last ride. I think it is fairly safe to assume that most people who regularly read this (amazing) blog feel the same way. That is what sport is about; that is why we do it; for the competition; to find out were you stand, get better, and win. If not against others than against yourself. Can anyone honestly say that they have not tried to chase down that person a few hundred meters in front? — on a training ride.
I would also like to point out that it is likely due to the Own the Podium progamme that Canada is doing so well in the medal standings. I’m pretty sure we have never done this well before (that is a challenge to someone to prove me wrong, if I am).
I think that we can win, and want to win, and still be considered nice people. They are not mutually exclusive.
My two cents: as long as the Canadian women’s hockey team owns the American team in tonight’s gold medal match-up all is well!
Here’s an excerpt from an article on Jon Montgomery, the winner of men’s skeleton. It presents a brief perspective on the programme:
“Schneider conceded he expected more medals than Montgomery’s gold. Perhaps at least two more from among Hollingsworth, Amy Gough and Jeff Pain. Schneider said pressure from Own the Podium left some of his athletes “insecure … (from) all this pressure from outside. There was huge pressure.”
But Montgomery insists he never felt stressed.
“I’m not downplaying it, I really didn’t feel pressure from Canadians, from Own the Podium, from anybody. I viewed it as I had an immense amount of support,” he said.”
The whole article can be found at http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/769062–jon-montgomery-is-the-life-of-whistler-s-party
I watched the Women’s hockey Gold medal game tonight. Wooo Hooo! It was odd to see how dashed and sour the US women looked as the received their Silver medals. I understand, they lost the game, and they lost the Gold medal, but still… I felt somehow they might have been happier about the whole thing. The won the Silver! I think this is evidence of the attitude in the US sporting world toward winning. WIN! WIN! WIN! That’s all that matters. I am not taking a strong stance here really though. I know Canada might have looked just as downtrodden if they’d lost the game. That happens when you’re expected to win, and expecting to win, but you don’t. That’s a hard pill to swallow. It will be interesting to see if we may need to lose some of our friendly ‘Canadian’ charm to ‘Own the Podium’. There is little doubt though that we’re doing as well as we are this year, because of the Own the Podium program. In my eyes, it’s been a HUGE success. Something else that I’d like to point out – the VAST majority of the medals won by Canada so far have been by the women. Go Canada Girls, Go!