Gold-Medalitis

I simply do not understand why Canadians suffer from "Gold-medalitis"

By: Larry Solway

  I do not understand why we cover our heads with ashes and rend our garments in grief over the "failure" of Canadian athletes to win more than 14 medals.
  By now we should have stopped fighting over Olympic funding and got around to minor issues like re-organizing Health Care or the problem of adequate affordable housing. We have had our circus, now let's have the bread.
  The Toronto bid, which captures glory for all of Ontario, or at least Southern Ontario, and by extension, all of Canada, keeps the pot boiling. It will simmer at least until the decision picks Toronto over Beijing or Paris or Istanbul.
  There is an outcry (if you call whining from the media an outcry) that the government's stinginess has led to Olympic disgrace while writers like Rosie Dimanno remind us that Bruny Surin picked a lot of loose change from endorsements, like the one Nike just cancelled.
 

We won't spend money where it counts: national fitness

  What galls me most is being told that my pride as a Canadian is bound up in our guys being faster, stronger, higher. A Globe headline said Olympic results were "below national expectations." What expectations?
  I don't understand how my pride in Canada has suffered. I am tired of hearing from sports pundits, politicians and assorted beer-guzzling sports bar lounge potatoes that I am guilty of letting Canada down. Since when did Gold Medals define us as a country?
  I did not fell "giddy with pride" as one columnist wrote, when the Canadian relay team took Gold at Atlanta. I cheered but I certainly didn't feel more Canadian because four fast guys (2 of whom emerged as spoiled brats at Sydney) beat the world.
  Randy Starkman of the Toronto Star, maybe the best of the Olympic reporters, can't resist telling me "How we are failing our athletes" and how "there's little funding, support, or leadership." He writes that " Canada's Olympians are embarrassed by the team's performance here (in Sydney.)
  The inference I draw is that I, as a Canadian , should be embarrassed and ashamed. My personal prestige is hurting because our government beggars elite athletes.
  "Gold medalitis" is about having our national pride wrapped up in the success of a few hundred elite athletes. I once chided the Canadian Yachting Association for spending Federal money, not on bringing the joy of sailing to thousands of youngsters, but on a few potential medal winners and sending them at high cost to international regattas to hone their skills. The truth is that the Federal Government loves to spend money on the glitz of Olympic potential but little on general recreation and fitness. The money spent on a few of the best at international regattas could put thousands of everyday kids into sailing and water sports.
  We won't spend money where it counts: national fitness. Sports Canada lavishes what little it has on potential medal winners. My son reminds me that they have no outdoor swimming pool in Bowmanville where he lives. Throughout Ontario there is little public money for "frills" like after-school sports. In Toronto (and perhaps in other jurisdictions) the rentals for school athletic facilities to outside groups are now priced beyond the means of community sports and fitness groups. Kids get short shrift.
  Athleticism is fine. The Olympics are a good idea. But simply because other countries are medal-obsessed, why should we be? Make no mistake - I would like to see the Olympics in Toronto. I want the Portlands development which would include massive housing, to go ahead whether we win or not. But spending money to develop housing on the Olympic site should not be conditional on winning the Olympics. Furthermore, Olympic spending must not be an excuse to deny funds for housing, day care, jobs, health, or education.
  With all the talk about a federal election, maybe the Liberals, with a long record of pre- election pork-barreling, may sense that Canadians are embarrassed by our 14 medal Olympic showing, and promise new money for the athletic upper crust. If Canadian pride is so bent out of shape by our poor showing the Liberals can promise to shower money on the elite athletes and massage our wounded national pride and win votes.
  Pouring money into Olympic training is not a reflection of national pride. It is a sad reflection on national hubris.

Straight Goods readers: Speak your mind!

Posted: October 23, 2000

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