It was thought by many people that the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) was too hasty with its ‘Own the Podium’ campaign before the start of the 2010 games.
Now the same can be said of Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Rudge’s proclamation on Feb. 22 that the program, established five years ago with the goal of winning more medals than any other country, had not reached its mandate, before the Olympic flame had even been extinguished.
At the time Rudge was conceding the games’ medal championship to the United States, Canada stood fourth with nine medals, tied with South Korea. The Americans were in first with 24 medals.
However, in the final seven days of competition after that announcement, Canadian athletes more than made up for lost ground, picking up 17 more medals — including 10 gold — compared to 13 medals for our friends south of the border, coming in third overall with 26 medals. Not bad eh?
Not only did our athletes pick up the pace, team Canada set two new Olympic records: most gold medals by a host country at a Winter Olympics and most Winter Olympic gold medals.
We should also take into account that nearly 20 of our athletes came in fourth or fifth in many of the competitions, meaning that a break here or there could have easily put us at the top of the medal standings.
We should now revisit the question: Do we own the podium? Yes. For the goal of any Olympic athlete is not just to compete, but to stand atop the podium and listen to the strains of their home country’s anthem while draped in gold. Anyone who says otherwise is simply kidding themselves.
For our athletes to win a staggering 10 gold medals in seven days and set two Olympic records in the process is mind-boggling. Where the program goes from here is anyone’s guess. Back in 2003, when Vancouver won the Olympic bid, $117 million was committed to the program, paid for with $66 million of taxpayers’ dollars and the remainder with corporate sponsorship through the Olympic organizing committee.
Own the Podium officials are asking the federal government for around $22 million to replace the Vancouver funds that will no longer be available to them when the next Winter Olympics shifts its focus to Russia in 2014. That decision is expected to be part of the federal budget, which is to be released this month. There is no guarantee that the government or most Canadians will see the Own the Podium project as a success, or at least worth a cash infusion of several million dollars. Until that decision is made, we can all bask in the golden glow of the 2010 Winter Olympics. We stood on the top of the podium more than any other country at these Olympic games. That should be enough to consider the program a success.
B.C.