VANCOUVER, Canada—It began with a video montage of athletes training for the Games: skeleton racers sitting in a wind tunnel as a jet of air marks their friction point, free-style ski jumpers flipping into pools of water, a computer program analyzing the mechanics of a hockey player’s slapshot.
This is what ‘Own The Podium’ has been working on, the head brass shared at a press conference Tuesday—a program for high-performance athletes on par with what the other Winter Olympic superpowers (the ones that take the gold while Canadians settle for personal bests) provide for their athletes.
Much has been made of Canada’s new go-for-the-gold attitude and the CA$117 million ($110 million) that backs it up. Own The Podium is a joint effort between the Canadian government and the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC) with corporate partners kicking in as well.
This is not the Olympic team Canadians are used to, where athletes struggle through the year, choosing between training time and an extra shift at work to make ends meet. These athletes have personal trainers, sports psychologists, nutritionists, and physio. They can train all year and don’t have to flip burgers at resort restaurants to buy their time on the hill.
Roger Jackson, who heads up Own the Podium, said Canada having the Olympics was a rare opportunity to do something special. The attention directed at the Vancouver Olympics is what finally prompted Canada to create a high-performance program, he said.
