Own the Podium Final Draft

Own The Podium

The “Own the Podium” program is a 5 year old, athletic advancement program in Canada, developed by a competitive country and large sums of money, to prepare Canada for the 2010 winter Olympics on their home soil.

The idea came from two prior years of disappointment and a deficient count of medals in their home country. Even though Canada has had no problem achieving gold medals in past Olympic events, their trials for gold in the 1976 Olympics and 1988 Olympics, both in Canada, came up short. Afterwards, the Canadian Olympic Committee promised that by the time the 2010 winter Olympics arrived in Canada for the third time, they would be ready and be the top medal winning nation there.

At the end though, Canada was unable to be the top winning nation in medal count, however when it came to gold, Canada was on top. This is a lot when you think of the fact that their previous record count of gold medals at home was at zero. But how did they do it?

It wasn’t just spirit that won the medals; Canada’s program, which started in 2005, went after the world’s best coaches, athletes and newest and best technology to achieve their goals. With highly competitive training centers and expert machinery, the country was able to take its already talented athletes and turn them into highly gifted and competitive athletes. The way they could afford this was from a radial budget of over 100 million dollars, which has made for some controversy around the world.

“I think that it is a waste of money” says an Eastview high school sophomore, Ranji Ramroop. “I believe that the Olympics should be about pride and athletic talent, not talent that you can buy.” Ramroop voiced his opinion about the topic as a negative effect to the Olympics as well as one that could lead to “Financial Issues.”

On the other hand, some believe that this was a smart choice for the country. Mitchell Deinhammer, an Eastview High school student, believes the changes will make for a better and more competitive country. “I think it’s a very useful opportunity” He said “I think that this will have a positive effect by getting their athletes in top physical condition.” He believes that the new program will end up changing the way the Olympics are played, and in a good way.

“When one country gets more competitive, it makes the other countries competing step up their game as well.” Reece Kopack, an Eastview high school student explained. “I think that it will change the way other countries train and will make every team more talented and competitive.” He too believes that this program, in the long run, will end up changing these world wide competitions for the better.

And apparently Canada believes so as well. With the highest gold medal count, including two gold’s for men and women’s hockey and a large count combine. The federal budget is in the process of nearly doubling their previous contribution which made up about half of the original budget.

This means that with the effort of athletes and contribution of large, some might say radical, amounts of money from not only the government but from private investors as well. Canada could easily be the biggest winner of medals for the 2014 competition in Russia. So what does this mean for other countries? Athlete organizations all across the world are currently trying to get investments into their athletic programs to improve their chances for gold.

This program has already started making changes for other countries. After a terrible and unproductive year in the Olympics, Russia has asked their top athletic advisers to step down and then the country will find other means to tackling a project like Canada’s.

With the program still in session to train athletes for the 2012 summer Olympics in Canada. The country is hoping for a new budget to expand for better technology to train the already gifted athletes for the years to come.