Team Canada

For some sports the Pan-American Games are but an afterthought. Sports like rowing, track & field, and even swimming send their "B" Team to these games, preserving their best athletes for the World Championships while giving development athletes a chance at international competition.

For field hockey, water polo, diving, synchronized swimming, triathlon, dressage, handball, modern pentathlon, shooting, table tennis and canoe/kayak the Pan-American Games are a direct ticket to the Olympic Games. And based on what has transpired in Guadelajara Mexico, Team Canada will be have a much smaller presence in London than it did in Beijing.

Canada's Men's Water Polo and Field Hockey Teams qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games by winning Pan-Am gold in Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 2007. In addition, Canada qualified teams in soccer and softball. Some four years later initial observations are that Canada might not send a single team to London.

The sports of softball and baseball are no longer part of the Olympic movement. The men's basketball team has already being eliminated from Olympic qualification. The women's basketball team has been relegated to a last chance qualifier. Our Field Hockey and Water Polo teams (men and women) have their work cut out for them after falling to win gold in Guadelajara.

And while it is noted that soccer and volleyball have not yet had their Olympic qualifier(s) yet, evidence is mounting that Canada will be lucky to send 1 or 2 teams to the 2012 Olympic Games; a significant reduction from only four years ago. A sad state indeed.