Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton edges closer to choosing its leader
Calgary sports physiologist Mcneil looks like favourite choice among the athletes
Tara Mcneil has slid into the middle of the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton brouhaha.
The 53-year-old sport physiologist from Calgary will let her name stand for president of the embattled sports organization during board elections.
She is the only declared candidate for the position, as current president Sarah Storey has not yet announced whether she will seek a third four-year term. That could still happen on the floor of the annual general meeting in Calgary on Thursday.
Last spring, a group of current and former BCS athletes went public with demands for the resignations of Storey and current high performance director Chris Le Bihan. The mostly unnamed athletes claimed BCS fell short on several important fronts; including governance, transparency and athlete safety. The athletes have since issued a detailed and lengthy list of complaints dating back several years.
Mcneil, who wrote the athlete development framework for BCS from 2012 to 2014, said she was approached a couple of weeks ago by a group of national team athletes.
“It kind of just fell out of the sky. I didn't know this was coming. I've been watching it from afar and then they called me and said `Tara, would you consider this?' I said I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I definitely have a heart for and an understanding of the performance side and the facility side and the money side.”
Mcneil then met with a group of athletes.
“I had to submit answers to some tough questions about how I would approach this, and what I think is the most important thing to advocate for the athletes, and how I would go about that. And they voted on it. They, as in a body of people, voted on it to put me forward. It wasn't just, hey I'm going to try this, like picking up knitting. It was a process.”
The fate of Le Bihan will likely be an issue for whoever emerges from the AGM as president.
“If I was to be a part of it, I'm smart enough to recognize there are always two sides to every story,” said Mcneil . ... “The athletes may have one perspective, I'm guessing Chris has a very different one. I know of Chris as a really good person. I'd go in there with fresh ears and fresh eyes. I'm not saying I know the whole story. If I can help, I'd love to help.”
Mcneil said the volunteer position would mesh well with her two decades of work in sport and her dedication to the plight of the high performance athlete.
And she also happens to have the time to dedicate to the position, having planned eight months off from her PHD pursuit after her funding went “sideways.”