Canadian Amateur Sports to Share the Wealth
“Since being awarded the 2010 Vancouver Games, Canadians have been spending an increasing amount of money on the very best athletes in pursuit of Olympic and Paralympic medals. Now, a review of the federal government’s high performance sport program says that needs to change.
Own the Podium, which targets $64 million of federal funds to athletes and sports with the most potential, has succeeded in the sense that Canadian athletes are winning more medals, the report released Thursday states.
But it also found that the targeted funding program has destabilized the sports system with wildly fluctuating budgets where high performance funding is there one day for a sport and gone the next, along with its experienced coaches, staff and even athletes. And the short-term focus on winning medals at the next Olympics precludes the development of the next generation of athletes, putting Canada’s ability to keep winning medals in doubt.”
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