Guest.
Today's piece is a report by lecturer and writer Greg Russell on plans circulating within the Canadian sports establishment to improve Canada's performance at future Olympic games. It's important stuff; that's why I have included it today.
Canada Discusses DISC
In light of the poor medal take during these Olympic games it is clear that amateur athletics in Canada is in dire need of an overhaul. Whether this is in the form of a shakeup of the Canadian Olympic Association or an influx of funding is not known. But something must be done.
There is a report that a new cost-effective measure might resolve the dilemma facing Canadian athletes. The report, a 120 page document, is circulating about the Prime Minister's inner cabinet, but government officials are not yet talking about its contents.
But other sources close to the Prime Minister's office have been a little less tight-lipped about the report and we are now able to bring you some of the highlights.
Canadian athletes have not fared well in traditional venues such as track and field or gymnastics. However, it seems that Canada makes a much better go of a sport if they are pioneers of that activity. Witness our successes in sports such as rhythmic gymnastics, curling, snow boarding, triathlon, and trampoline. Clearly development of new sport is a key to an increase in Canadian medal successes. Rather than pouring untold sums of money into amateur athletes the government is proposing to pour untold sums of money into the development of innovative sport; the plan is dubbed the DISC program (Development of Innovative Sport in Canada).
An unnamed high-level bureaucrat had this to say: "We could spend the kind of money that Australia is spending, but why bother? We have a plan to allow the DISC program to propel Canadians to the podium by beating the rest of the world to a particular sport. Before other nations really understand the nuances of a particular activity we'll have Gold, Silver and Bronze and be on the plane home."
Critics of the DISC program question the sustainability of such a plan. Clearly Canadians only have a limited window of time in which they may succeed. Traditionally other nations win medals in such sports in the second and subsequent Olympics after it has been offered as a demonstration sport.
Another bureaucrat with the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) said, "Obviously our successes would not be sustainable, but that's alright. Right now we feel that this is the way to go. We [Canadians] will develop the sport and take it to the Olympics. Naturally, as in the past, we will perform admirably as the rest of the world sits back and tries to figure out what the @#^!& the sport is all about."
The DISC program therefore, would not concern itself with sustainability but would ignore a sport and its athletes in its second Olympics as has been the current practice and re-allocate new monies to new sports.
The report outlines that there may be opportunities for wins in the second and third Olympics if other nations fail to grasp some of the finer details of the sport. This is deemed to be unlikely but not impossible.
The Ross Rebagliati win in snow boarding in the last Winter Olympics is a case in point. Nowegian Snow Boarder Johann Per Gynt recent comments might explain why.
"We had been chasing Ross's time for a while. We were many seconds behind and could not explain his times down the hill. Fortunately for us, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) found traces of marijuana in his blood and we understood. Since then we have broken his records many times."
Note that the IOC did not strip Rebgliati's medal despite a positive drug result. This is due to the fact that the IOC has been quietly allowing Canadians to make up the rules in new sports. Since the Norwegians and other Nordic countries have begun to inhale legally they have vaulted to the top of the sport.
The report outlines other opportunities that exist in the area of women's sports. Canada has fared well in women's hockey because, although the sport was previously developed they got in at a point where very few nations participated.
"This is another opportunity for us, says another unnamed source. "There are a number of woman's sports that are as yet untapped. Canada could theoretically field a team in one of these sports and do quite well until other nations allowed their women to play as well."
One such sport would be Olympic Boxing. Rumour has it that Canada will in fact send a woman's boxing delegation to the 2004 Olympics. The talk is that the athletes will be well-developed, attractive females with little clothing.
A Canadian Boxing Federation (CBF) insider said, "Right now it is felt that the judging in Olympic boxing is ripe for this type of sport. We think the athletes that we send will have a good chance to score points from the judges, particularly against the ladies from Europe and Russia, who quite honestly look a little ungainly."
Undoubtedly other countries would at first send powerful women and that could be their downfall. It might be more difficult in subsequent Olympics when these countries understand what 'knockout' really means. Canada has several individuals that they could send. It is not known whether Pamela Anderson still retains her Canadian citizenship but she could do quite well in such an event.
"I don't know about that," said the CBF insider. "Pam Anderson would likely fail the illegal substance test, although I have no idea how they would test for that."
Another event being touted is one that has been in Canada for years. Open Water Snow Machine Crossing is a likely event that DISC will fund. Canada has been at the fore of this event for years. Originating in Quebec, the purpose of this sport is to cross a large section of deep open water on a snow machine at incredibly high speeds. Canada has a distinct advantage in that we have athletes such as Frenchy Cloutier ready to go.
It is expected that this event, like many others, will not be sustainable because other nations such as Australia and the US actually have more open water. They do not suffer from the same problem of lakes freezing over and so they could train year round for such an event.
DISC will likely fund the alteration of existing sports. It has been suggested that the bicycle sprint held in velodromes could actually be slowed right down by eliminating the sprint aspect.
A Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) individual had this to say: "It would be a real cat and mouse thing wouldn't it? If we could get other nations to stop taking off when the damned bell rings I think that we could be there when they handed out the medals."
This in and of itself could be a cost saving measure. It is likely that the athletes could use a less expensive bicycle and forego the use of a helmet.
The DISC program seems to be a viable program for the ailing Canadian Olympic movement. The only limitation will be the Canadian imagination. Inventing new sports or tweaking old sports could offer Canadians an opportunity to bring home dozens of medals each year.
