Unanswered Questions

Weren't these the games in which Canada's athletes would no longer question the lack of resources that were available to them? After all we were told that the $110 million dollar Own the Podium program would take care of external issues and allow our athletes to focus on the task at hand. "Own the Podium is giving Canadian winter athletes the tools and the resources so that we too can deliver the performance of a life-time in 2010," noted cross country skier Brian McKeever.

Why is it then that Mike Douglas was eliminated from the Skeleton competition after he failed to have his sled ready for competition in the alloted time. After hearing about the news he questioned his coach saying "We should have checks in place. I think the head coach should be there to help with that. That didn't happen."

Why is it that after Denny Morrison failed to live up to expectations in the 1,500m in long track speed skating he questioned the training program. "It wasn't that I just got tired and started going slower. It was that I got tired and started skating worse. Is it something with my training program?"

There are others. The facts are that while Canadian athletes are performing admirably in Vancouver the Own the Podium program is not performing as expected. In fact, Canadian athletes showed in Torino that they can perform beyond expectations largely without an Own the Podium program.

Perhaps it is time to scrap the Own the Podium program and start investing into facilities that have a proven history of producing Olympic Medalists. Perhaps it is time that we used the monies from the Own the Podium program and restored the Calgary Olympic Facilities that have proven their ability to produce Olympic medalists. Just a thought.