Targets for Athlete Performance and the Sport System

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Relevant Background Information: Current Sport Climate and Agendas Sport Funding and Canada’s Performance at Olympic and Paralympic Games A brief history of Canada’s performance at recent Olympic Games is presented below. There are a number of evident trends that have been the subject of debate within the sport community over the last 15-20 years. First, research indicates that it takes approximately 10 years, or almost 10,000 hours of training and practice to reach the levels of performance needed to excel on the international stage (Starkes & Ericsson, 2003). Therefore, an investment in sport and athlete development today would be expected to have an influence on international performance 10 years later. Accordingly, investment in sport can be viewed as an important long-term lead indicator of future international performance. However, this is not the only lead indicator of sport performance at the international level. Figures 1 and 2 demonstrate that there is approximately an 8-12 year time lag between initial Federal/Sport Canada investment and international performance. Similarly, there is also a 6- 10 year time lag when funding is phased out before a performance decrement is seen. What becomes readily apparent in summer sports is that the performance increments and decrements closely follow the pattern of Sport Canada funding. Figure 2: Canadian Summer Olympic Medal Performance Medals Canadian Summer Olympic Medals 50 40 30 20 10 0 Gold Silver Bronz 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 Olympiad Figure 1: Sport Canada Funding (adjusted to 2002 $) Current $ (in millions) 100 80 60 40 20 0 1973 1975 Sport Canada Contributions 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 Year Ending March 31 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 The increased investments of the ‘Best Ever Summer Program’ in the mid-1980s led to improved performances in Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996). The declining investment following the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games and the deep budget cuts to sport (and many other programs) as a result of the fiscal crisis of the early to mid 1990s, began to manifest itself with a predictable declining performance in Sydney (2000) that is expected to continue in Athens (2004). The recent, targeted short-term investments in final preparation for the 2004 Athens Games, which were initiated by the Canadian Olympic Committee in collaboration with Sport Canada, may Athlete Performance and Sport System Targets, Evaluation, and Investment Page 4
mask this impact somewhat. However, it is clear that one consequence of the limited funding to sport for the next generation of athletes expected to represent Canada in 2008 in Beijing is that they have experienced less international training, competition, and development experiences and it is uncertain if even massive investments beginning today can overcome this preparation deficit by 2008. A major shortcoming of the Canadian approach to investment in high performance sport, as evidenced from the data presented above, has been that it comes far too late to achieve the impact desired. Generally, the limited funding available has had to be invested in senior team athletes striving to prepare for the next World Championships or Olympic Games with only a limited investment in the next generation of developing athletes. On the Winter sport side, the matching of performance trends with federal funding fluctuations was less apparent. Figure 3 shows the trend for Olympic Winter Games performance has been slow steady improvement since 1980. This is explained by the preferred situation experienced by winter sports in Canada as a result of the Best Ever funding program which preceded the hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. For example, the facility legacy at Canada Olympic Park, the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary, and facilities in Canmore have all provided a tremendous training advantage to Canadian winter sport athletes since the Games. This was particularly true for the sports of bobsleigh, freestyle skiing and speed skating, sports in which Canada has historically been strong but which now had state of the art facilities in which to train. Secondly, the facility advantage was coupled with the growth of the Calgary Olympic Development Association’s Figure 3: Winter Sport Olympic Medal Performance (CODA) endowment fund and other peripheral spin-offs of the ’88 Games such as the Olympic Legacy Coaching Fund (OLCF), which have permitted supplementary funding support to sustain and develop winter sports while Sport Canada resources were shrinking. Medals Canadian Winter Olympic Medals 20 15 10 5 0 Gold Silver Bronze 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 Olympiad This supplemental funding tended to offset or minimize the impact of funding cuts to federal and provincial budgets on winter sport compared to that experienced by summer sports. The creation of the first Canadian Sport Centre in Calgary further strengthened the winter sport system in those sports best situated to capitalize on the services offered. Some historically strong sports like Alpine Skiing and Figure Skating, however, realized lesser gains and have experienced performance decrements over the last few Games because they were unable to capitalize as much on any post-hosting legacy. The key point to note is that the federal funding-performance pattern found for summer sports is not as evident for winter sports because of support and funding from the legacy of hosting the 1988 Calgary Olympics that was not available to summer sports. This finding further substantiates the relationship between funding and performance. It also demonstrates the Canadian shortcoming of investing too late. Much of the impact on performance of investments in developing athletes, related to the hosting and the legacy from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, was not seen until 1994 and 1998. This finding highlights the importance of Athlete Performance and Sport System Targets, Evaluation, and Investment Page 5
Page 1 and 2: Targets for Athlete Performance and
Page 3 and 4: Action #2: Priority Areas for Actio
Page 5 and 6: Executive Summary The mandate of Fe
Page 7 and 8: F-T/P Initiatives Research on inter
Page 9 and 10: the hope of achieving results when
Page 11 and 12: 3. Establish a Canadian High Perfor
Page 13 and 14: Introduction and Mandate Canadian S
Page 15: • Face to face small group and on
Page 19 and 20: Figure 7 shows that the federal fun
Page 21 and 22: The key message here is that while
Page 23 and 24: important provider of facilities in
Page 25 and 26: Anti-doping controls Planned goals
Page 27 and 28: Based on international sport system
Page 29 and 30: • Provide recommendations for str
Page 31 and 32: The objective of developing ‘stre
Page 33 and 34: Analysis of Performance Required to
Page 35 and 36: Winter Paralympics: These were the
Page 37 and 38: The current Sport Review Process is
Page 39 and 40: The appendix presents characteristi
Page 41 and 42: In the fall of 2002, the Commission
Page 43 and 44: Group High Performance or Developme
Page 45 and 46: Recommendations: The desired action
Page 47 and 48: with medal potential, an amount tha
Page 49 and 50: Realistic targets for participation
Page 51 and 52: Recommendations: The desired action
Page 53 and 54: Table 3: Priority Actions and F-P/T
Page 55 and 56: Table 4: Priority Actions and F-P/T
Page 57 and 58: • Ability to provide direct or en
Page 59 and 60: Several sports indicate that they u
Page 61 and 62: Targets for Athlete Performance •
Page 63 and 64: 5. Competitive Programs with Intern
Page 65 and 66: • The HPSC should include 7-10 hi
Page 67 and 68:
References Chalip, L. Johnson, A.,
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Appendix A: Analytical Framework fo
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The SRC proceeded through the list
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AGE GROUP HIGH PERFORMANCE DEVELOPM
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AGE GROUP HIGH PERFORMANCE DEVELOPM
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Appendix D: Implementation Status o
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New recommendation for Sport Canada
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Able Bodied Provincial Level • Mu
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• The proposed $35 million from f
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Nat'l Slalom - Og - Prov Softball O
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Appendix F: Perceptual Map of Sport
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USA (USOC) Australia Canada Finland
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Targets for Athlete Performance and the Sport System

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