An additional financial effort will be necessary to help the development of sport of excellence and sport in general in this exit from the pandemic and in anticipation of Canada’s candidacy for the holding of the Winter Games in 2030, pleads the Canadian Olympic Committee.
With a final bronze medal won on Sunday by the four-man bobsleigh team piloted by Justin Kripps on the last day of the Beijing Games, Canada will have finally won a total of 26 medals, including 4 gold, 8 silver. and 14 bronze, finishing at 4and ranking for the number of medals, behind Norway (37), the Russian Olympic Committee (32) and Germany (27), but ahead of the United States (25). This Canadian harvest is a little less than that at the previous Winter Games, in Pyeongchang in 2018 (29 including 11 gold), but equivalent to the performance in Sochi in 2014 (25) and Vancouver in 2010 (26).
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) also notes that Canada has reached fourth place 8 times, fifth place 9 times and has finished in the top eight 68 times out of a total of 109 events.
“We’re completely satisfied,” COC Chief of Sport Eric Myles said Sunday. Especially when we take into account that these results were obtained in the midst of a global pandemic and by athletes who had to deal with some of the “most restrictive” health rules in the world, he argued. “When you think about it, that’s a total of 50 medals in 7 months, which is a nice round number and quite an achievement,” he noted, referring to the Tokyo Games haul this summer ( 24 medals, including 7 gold).
Ringing and stumbling medals
It is true that the total number of medals won at the Olympic Games and its distribution by sport has an impact on the distribution of funding for excellence in sport in Canada, particularly through the federal para-governmental organization “Own the Podium”, but not their colors, he assured, and not only. “We take into account several factors, such as the top 4, top 5 and top 8. We also look at trends. Are we dealing with end-of-career athletes or young people? How does the situation look for the upcoming Games? »
All of these issues will be particularly important in the context of Canada’s bid to host the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2030, argued Eric Myles. “Now is the time to think about the development of young athletes of excellence. But not only. The development of sport in general too. With the pandemic that we have just experienced and its impact on the practice of sport and social problems, we will have to take care of both in the next few years. »
More money
However, when we look at the budgets devoted to these various objectives in other countries, in particular in Norway, we can clearly see that Canada is not the most generous in this area, he admitted.
In its last annual report, “Own the podium” reported having taken care of sharing 105 million dollars over the four years of the Olympic cycle leading to the Beijing Games, against 87 million for Pyeongchang, 92 million for Sochi and 201 million for the Tokyo Summer Games.
In its own annual report, the COC, for its part, also mentioned revenues related to its private partnerships and marketing products of just over 40 million in 2020, which had gone to fund its various programs.
“Will more money be needed? Certainly, recognized Eric Myles. These are things that we will have to discuss with governments and our private partners. How do we ensure that young athletes and the general population are well supported in the development of sport? »
“The Government of Quebec is doing a lot for sport. It is a model, he continued. But how do we push this across the country? These will be big files that will keep us busy on our return from China… but after a well-deserved little break. »
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.