The Launch

Heatstroke, Why Canada's Summer Olympic Program is Failing and how We can Fix It, by Michael Simonson,is a passionate diagnosis of Canada's Summer Olympic performances and the disparate nature of amateur sport in Canada.

With over 80 per cent of all athletes living below the poverty line and billions of dollars being applied towards various sport causes, only our athletes have an interest in improving things within Canada. Heatstroke exposes the systemic causes of Canada's Summer Olympic failures against the backdrop of the country's increasing Winter Olympic success and the rise of summer athletes in Australia, a country that used to trail its northern Commonwealth cousin. Written with an understanding of Canada's wide-ranging affection for sporting activities, Simonson looks to preserve this part of our cultural identity, but something has to be done and fast.

"Unless Canadians start speaking to the importance of sport, we are at risk of losing a large piece of our cultural fabric in Canada," says Michael Simonson. "We need to examine Canada's Winter Olympic system and implement many of the ideas and programs if our summer athletes are going to be successful."

Simonson speaks about the politics that lie beneath the surface of Canada's Olympic movement, as well as within the country's amateur sport system, coaching ranks and amongst athletes themselves. He argues that Canada's summer athletes can replicate the success that Canadians have come to expect of their winter counterparts without it requiring a fundamental shift in societal and fiscal priorities.

"We don't seem to have the same leadership in summer sports," says Frank King, president of the Calgary Organizing Committee for the 1988 Winter Olympics. "We can't seem to get things together - but if ever there was a model on how to do it, all summer sports would need is to look at how our winter sports did it."

With interest in amateur sport greater than it has ever been, there is no better time for change than now. In Heatstroke, Simonson provides his own plan that will help restore our sporting legacy at the SummerOlympics while maintaining our present rate of success at the WinterGames.

The official book launch of Heatstroke will take place at the Gerry Thomas Gallery (602 11 Avenue SW) on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and include a copy of the book. To purchase tickets, call403.589.2989. Heatstroke can also be purchased online at www.heatstrokethebook.com for $19.95.