‘Children of 2010’ will spearhead future Olympians
BULLS OF THE WEEK
I’ve often described the current crop of young bucks on the PGA Tour — Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and others — as the “children of Tiger Woods.” They represent a generation of athletes attracted to golf as children when Woods was transforming the sport in the late 1990s.
The same can be said of rising basketball stars such as Anthony Wiggins, Kelly Olynyk, Tristan Thompson and pretty well any of the Canadians currently playing in the NBA. They are the “children of Vince Carter and Steve Nash.” So when “children of Vancouver 2010” is coined by Wendy Pattenden, the CEO of Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, it relates directly to the bull market that Canada is enjoying in the aftermath of Rio 2016.
With 22 medals — four gold, three silver and 15 bronze — the case can be made that these Olympics were Canada’s most meaningful Summer Games.
These Games were a revelation for Canada’s female athletes, with 16 of those 22 medals won by women.
The decade ahead could be the real golden era for Canada on the strength of those “children of 2010,” athletes who were between the ages of eight and 12 when Canada had a Winter Games like no other (14 gold, seven silver and five bronze). Those athletes will be in their prime at Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and what will likely be Los Angeles 2024.
This projected bull market for Canadian Olympians is a far cry from Montreal 1976 (11 medals) and even Calgary 1988 (five), when Canada had no gold.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
A night of partying gone wrong continues to haunt American swimmer Ryan Lochte, whose misrepresentations at Rio have cast upon him an unwelcome spotlight. He lost sponsors and was charged with falsely reporting a crime.
Hope Solo had an equally dismal week as U.S. Soccer suspended her for six months and terminated her national women’s soccer team contract.
Yet our biggest sport business loser this week is the Chicago White Sox, who made a deal with a discount mortgagelending firm to rename their stadium Guaranteed Rate Field. It’s right up there among the weakest names in North American stadium sponsorship.