You can understand the positions of both sides in the current dispute between rising cross-country ski star Alex Harvey and his association.
 |
| JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS |
| Alex Harvey wants to follow his own to road 2010. |
From Harvey’s point of view, he’s establishing himself as a force to contend with working under a program designed by his coach Louis Bouchard in Quebec. From the Cross Country Canada viewpoint, they want the kid participating in every aspect of their program so the skiers can feed off of each other.
This is not a new problem in Canadian Olympic sport, a strong-willed athlete in a confrontation with a federation vowing to stick to its own rules. Harvey’s father, Pierre, the first Canadian to win a World Cup cross-country ski race, had his own battles with the Cross Country Canada.
History tells us that the athlete usually wins out -- and it’s hard to argue that it shouldn’t be that way when that athlete has been establishing their own pattern of success. If you’re going to succeed as a Canadian in sports like cross-country skiing, you’ve got to be strong-willed because you are definitely going against the tide.
Look at Myriam Bedard. She used to talk about her mother saying she told her that she had a “tête de cochon” -- that she was pigheaded. And it was that iron determination that produced two Olympic gold medals in biathlon for Canada at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Bedard had incredible fights with her association over everything, but she fought for what she felt she needed to win.
That’s what Harvey’s doing right now. He wants to be on snow in September in Austria testing skis for the Olympic season, not in Mammoth Mountain, Calif., with the team doing dry land training.
He’s not saying he won’t take part in any team training camps. He’s prepared to go to most of them, but he and his coach have their own ideas of what he needs to be ready for the 2010 Winter Games.
Cross Country Canada is afraid of looking wishy-washy if they cave in to Harvey, but they were the ones who set the guidelines, not Harvey. If there is no flexibility in them, that’s not Harvey’s fault.
The thing is that former star Beckie Scott trained mostly on her own with her own coach outside the team leading to the 2006 Turin Olympics. That’s not to say Harvey is of that stature, but a precedent has been set.
These things don’t have to be acrimonious. They should look at the structure set up by the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, headed by CEO Peter Judge. He’s been able to work out an agreement with coach Dominick Gauthier, who guides moguls stars Jenn Heil and Alex Bilodeau, where they have their own program but still work seamlessly with the team.
Gauthier, who is one of the brightest young minds in Canadian Olympic sport, said the sports system has to recognize the importance of looking at each individual’s needs.
“We treat our sports like speed skating and skiing like they’re team sports, but it’s an individual sport and we run it as a team because it’s financially the only way to do it,” he said. “Sometimes one individual can be lost in the system and it’s not that the system’s necessarily wrong but it doesn’t suit what the athlete in this case needs.”
Gauthier said Judge has been open minded and worked with them to make sure everyone is getting what they need.
“I want to be with them and they want to be with me and we all know how we work together. It’s the perfect environment. I know I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
It’s hard to think Harvey and Cross Country Canada are going to come to such a cheery arrangement, but something needs to get done – and fast – so it doesn’t hamper a promising athlete’s preparation for the 2010 Games.
Recent Comments