On Norwegians and sportsmanship

WHISTLER, B.C – So how is that home-field advantage working out so far for Canada up here? Well, no medals so far and all kinds of ugly questions raised about training restrictions at the sliding track after the death of that young Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Now comes a pointed whack at VANOC and the Own The Podium program from downhiller Aksel Lund Svindal, who made it a point, at his press conference yesterday after he had won the men’s downhill silver medal, to voice his opinion of things.

“I just want to say that the reason I was not allowed on the hill last year had nothing to do with the Canadian ski team. The Canadian team, and Alpine Canada, are great to work with,’’ Svindal said after finishing second to Switzerland’s Didier Defago. “Erik Guay gave me a great report on the hill here. I want to thank the Canadian ski team. It wasn’t them who kept me off the hill. It was VANOC and Own The Podium, or something.’’

This the most direct attack yet on the stated plan to limit visiting athletes’ use of the facilities here to the legal minimum. Own The Podium, of course, wishes to have it both ways, boasting about maintain Canada’s “home-field advantage’’ while at the same time saying it hasn’t done anything wrong.

Other athletes don’t see it that way, of course, and Svindal expressed himself  the only way that really matters, out on the field. He’s from Norway, the same place country as Bjorner Hakensmoen, the coach who handed Canada’s Sara Renner a ski pole after hers broke while she was winning a medal in 2006.

Comments

[Uptown]

Thank you for reporting the truth, which is more than I can say for CBC, the Minister of Sport, and some of your fellow Star columnists today who persist in making this childishly named program out to be fair and friendly.

[Canuck]

Re: the previous comment -- It's CTV, not CBC!

But I agree, "Own the Podium" is disgraceful, and contributed to the sad death on the first day.

[AS]

First the sliding track and now Whistler. I recall hearing something about long-track speed skating before the start of the games. Seems like maybe sour grapes at first, but as most talk surfaces, one has to wonder if there's more truth than fiction.

Others probably argue that other countries have done it in the past but does that make it right.

Sad that we pull these bullish moves and still can't capitalize on it.

[Richard Ring]

Own the Podium at all costs does little to enhance our image in the world. Never mind that "they do..have done..it too" Limiting access for training to non-part-of-owning-the podium athletes is petty and reflects poorly on us as the host nation..In spite of that I hope theOTP group does not wind up with egg on its face.
But uneven advantage for training will somewhat colour our achievements.
Perkins broken pole reference brings back pleasant memories of 2006..

[Jan Nicholls]

I think OWN THE PODIUM started as a means of boosting the self confidence of the athletes.
It has somehow become a burden to bear, due to crappy comments by other athletes from other countries.
I am sure the bad weather and the terrible Luge accident have somehow combined to bring out vemon in certain folks. Stress sucks. But, stop saying OWN THE PODIUM was EVER meant to put down athletes from visiting Countries...That is just stupid.

[MJ Credland]

I want the Canadian team to 'own the podium' too, but not from enforced home-field advantage, but from honestly beating the competition through hard work, skill and determination. If OTP was only about increasing funding for our athletes so they can spend more time practising their skills, then I'm 100% behind it, but if it's also means gaining unfair advantages through restricting access to our facilities for other countries, then shame on them, and shame on us for letting them create this environment.

[Greg Manko]

I am very surprised that the Own the Podium program actively limited access to facilities - that is not the Canadian way to win medals. If I was an athelete I'd be very ashamed of the program creators if I won under such circumstances. Someone should pay for this with their job!

[Uptown]

@Canuck, I was referring to an interview I saw on CBC where Evan Solomon was parroting much of the VANOC / OTP apologist line.

Chris Hitchens just released a hilarious column denouncing international sport in general, but most important: it was written just as the Games were starting, apparently before the luge accident. And he quotes OTP and VANOC types openly insisting that they were denying access to training time to preserve our "home court advantage."

So much for the big lie that everything was fair and above board. A sad disgrace of an operation so far; thank God we have some classy athletes to make up for it and let's hope it stays that way.

[Patrick Rutledge]

Own the podium seems to have morphed into a marketing concept more than an athlete empowerment concept. Which is a shame because the idea of adding funding and training opportunities to these athletes has strong merit and OTP originally was designed for that purpose. However, as anyone who has studied sport psychology will tell you, one must be careful about giving your opponent additional motivation, especially in sports that are already amped up on nationalism and where the competition is so tightly competed (winning margins in 100's to 1000's of a second). OTP has put tremendous pressure on our athletes while at the same time added fire to the other nations. I keep watching the Americans and wonder if OTP isn't on every coaches lips and on the bulletin boards of all these athletes minds. There seems a very quiet determination about how they are approaching these games. OTP may be the elephant in the arena and it may end up rolling over on us.

[another shame]

this whole brazen 'own the podium' medal-mongering is very uncanadian-like behaviour, in my opinion, and it's embarrassing to the country. isn't good sportsmanship just as important as winning, esp. at a world-class competition like the olympics? OTP reeks like Canada has some pathetic medal-inferiority complex, and does not make us look like good sports or good hosts. i feel sorry for the athletes who felt obliged to participate in it, and who probably would've done fine in the games without this program. (btw, it really doesn't seem like we're "owning" anything, does it?)

[Chris Donald]

$125 million spent -- 25 medals won = $5,000,000 per medal. Am I the only one who thinks we have not got our money's worth?