Funding for elite athletes needs ‘rethink’: report
HAS CANADA’S QUEST FOR MEDALS GONE TOO FAR?
The funding model that has helped propel Canada’s elite athletes onto the Olympic podium in the past decade is not doing enough to support up-and-comers, says a newly released government consultant’s report, which calls for a “major rethink” to the approach.
The report found that the “targeted excellence” model, which provides extra funding to those who are seen to have the best shots at winning medals, has created two tiers of athletes — those with access to the best coaches and training clinics, and those “left behind,” who sometimes have to couchsurf their way to competitions or drop out altogether because they can’t afford to continue.
In response, the federal government announced Thursday that it would attempt to strike a better balance between the short-term goal of winning medals and long-term sport development.
There’s no question that we’ve achieved better results with targeted funding, Carla Qualtrough, the Minister of Sport and a former Paralympian, told reporters in a conference call. “(But) what came out was a recognition that in order to sustain that level of success, we have to look further down the road. We have to look at the next generation of athletes.”
Qualtrough would not commit to extra funding to make that happen. She said it would be premature to say if this could lead to less funding for top-tier medal contenders in the future.
Josh Vander Vies, president of AthletesCAN, the association that represents Canada’s national team athletes, said he welcomed the findings.
“Targeted excellence should not be the main pillar of a successful national sport policy,” he said.” It should be one of the approaches along with general support to sport athletes, coaches and clubs.”
He said he hopes the discussions will lead to greater transparency over how targeted excellence funds, which are on top of Sport Canada’s core funding, are allocated and a more decentralized funding model.
However, John Furlong, chairman of Own the Podium, the organization that advises the government on how the top-up money — which amounts to $64 million out of a $200-million pot each year — should be spent, cautioned against watering down the current system too much.
“Don’t spread the funds too far,” he said.
Since 2005, the targeted excellence approach has been the “difference maker” in elevating Canadian athletes, especially those in winter sports, into the elite class, he said.
“Has success been achieved? Is the methodology the right one? It is,” he said.
That said, he welcomes discussions to try to develop those athletes and sports who’ve traditionally sat on the fringes and not benefited from the extra funding.
Perhaps there could be a way for those teams who’ve had a record of success to share their technical expertise, he said. Maybe more work could be done to try to get more corporate partners involved, he added.
The report by management consulting firm Goss Gilroy Inc., which surveyed hundreds of athletes, coaches and administrators, concluded that the number of medals won by Canadians in Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship events over the past 10 years has increased and that those sports receiving targeted excellence funding have won a large proportion of them.
That said, the report found that Canada was winning two per cent of available summer sport medals, “a situation that that has not changed substantially since the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.”
One problem with the current model, the report found, was that targeted funding can fluctuate wildly from one year to the next. This instability can be a turn-off if you’re trying to attract world-class coaches.
People affiliated with one unidentified sport said a loss of targeted funding one year was like being “bombed back to the Stone Age.”
With the loss of funding, “the coach left,” the report said.
The report noted that, in the face of pressure to find the “best coach,” teams will sometimes hire coaches from outside Canada, when Canada would be better off developing its own highperformance coaches whose “loyalty, pride and commitment” are assured.
Team cohesion sometimes suffered too, the report found, when some athletes received targeted funding, while others did not.
This made the latter group feel like “second-class citizens” with some having to pay $10,000 to $50,000 to cover their travel, meals and accommodations.
“The athletes who are not funded feel less valued, and the discrepancy causes strife within the team, which makes it difficult to manage.”
The reported said that there currently is confusion over which agency — Own the Podium or the Canadian Olympic Committee — is in charge of high-performance sport in the country.
Qualtrough said she hopes those roles will be clarified in the future.
“We’ve got these partners ready to sit down at the table and really hash things out,” she said.
“It’ll be tough because some people will have to give up territory and some people will take on new responsibilities.”