Canada sucks?

Every day I wake up I check the medal count for the Canadians, everytime I sit down after dinner I check the medal count for the Canadians. I see tiny little countries with one or more medals, I see Uzbekastan Borats home town with a medal, but day after day, night after night I continue to see a big ZERO beside our country.

Why do we suck so much? Why do we not care to succeed? You know if I had the ability to do what some of these people can do and I finished last or 8th or whatever at the olympics I would be tee'd right off but no what i see when Canadian gets blown out is the Canadian saying it was a great race, I did well!

Its an accomplishment to get there for sure, but where is our countries pride, determination and will to win? Is it time to dump more money into our atheletes and programs? Is it time to build more buildings across canada for atheletes to practise in? I dont get it, everytime the olympics role around I feel embarrassed.

interesting, because we were saying the very same thing here

I recall one competitor, a young lady, saying that she'd be happy with a top 16th finish! wtf?!?! the guy interviewing her asked why not first? she said she had to be realistic

I think this is simply a reflection of our national inferiority complex - we have the colony-mentality and are always so worried about other people liking us.

I have hope that someday, Canadians will stand up and truly "go for gold", in all areas of life, be it sports, culture, or politics - instead of consistently settling for "16th place".

I love this country, but our mentality needs a shakeup.

Where are the training facilities in Canada/Ontario? Do you know of anyone who pursues an Olympic sport with dedication? Do you know anyone who has a sponsor? If someone in this area wanted to find a training facility, I am sure they would have to travel to Thornhill or Oakville or etc. Or even further.

Only in hockey do we spend money and provide facilities. The rest of the sports seem to be ignored. Remember the guy from Langton who was world class in archery? He got no recognition in his own area. A photo op once in a blue moon.

As well, it's forced training and a focused mentality. Look at the Chinese. Watched the synchronized diving! They are like fine-tuned machines! We do not promote that kind of discipline and dedication in our kids. And in our young people. Not at school and not in sports.

But would we want that kind of government involvement and intensity of training? It would extend far beyond Olympic athletic training! Would you want them controlling all aspects of your life?

But then, look at Phelps - a "product" of the United States who was raised by a single mother.

In my opinion, we were short-changed when the Olympics were awarded to Beijing instead of Toronto. Look outside at this superb air quality! THAT'S what the athletes would be breathing right now, had Toronto been awarded these games, instead of the Beijing soup that passes for air. Blame that on Samaranch, the head of the IOC, who vowed that he wouldn't retire until China got the games.

The games were awarded to Montreal in 1976, to Calgary in 1988, and Vancouver in 2010. Logically, the games should have been set for Toronto before they headed west again. I am still hopeful for a Toronto bid, given that Harper has endorsed Toronto's bid for the Pan Am games. If Toronto can pull that off, and there is no reason to believe that they can't, it should set the stage for another Olympic bid.

We are supposed to be a "hockey nation" - and that is certainly the image that media such as the CBC is ramming down our throats - but facts are that we as a people are comprised of many diverse nations. Hockey is a somewhat exclusive sport, affordable not to all, and limited by the seasons. Summer sport, however, is more universal (all you need to play soccer is a ball) and our sports abilities need to reflect that by supporting the venues and athletes who wish to pursue them.

We just don't have the in-depth training programs as other countries. At least not in summer sports.

We don't have a government run facility that takes kids at 3 years old and trains them constantly. And why would we? That's not our culture. But having said that and has already been mentioned, we should have more facilities and pay for more, perhaps better, coaches.

Athletes are content with their relatively poor scores because they know they don't have the skill to do better. They haven't been coached to do any better, plus the pool of athletes to draw from is minimal ... again, because sports aren't that supported in the community and in the schools. Not like they are in the US, for example.

But it all begins in the community ... and people around here just hate to pay taxes. What was the deal with the swimming pool in Simcoe again? I can't quite recall, but wasn't the city going to abandon it soon due to the cost of needed repairs? And then there is the Port Dover tennis courts that the Lions apparently had to sell (as well as the bowling green) because they were being over-taxed on the property.

It all starts in our own backyard. And, in the end, it all comes out of our pocket. If you don't support paying taxes for maintaining facilities and building new facilities, then don't whine about our athletes doing poorly. If you don't join a committee to save the pool, or build a track, or whatever, then don't whine about our athletes doing poorly.

Everyone says things like, "Well, they should do something about it." Who are "they" exactly? The government? The schools? Some magical entity that just makes things happen? ... "They" is us. And Canada will never do well in competitive sports until we start seriously supporting more sports in our community.

And remember, our gold medal hopefuls don't come up till next week.

Spidubic wrote:

And remember, our gold medal hopefuls don't come up till next week.

the tennis doubles were favoured to win, they lost in thier first game

Groovin we are a highly taxed country, even the US doesnt have the taxes we do yet they seem to fare well.
SAD!!!

I was referring to local taxes and how our city council makes cuts to public services in order to keep the public happy. So the point was ... If you believe in supporting young athletes, then take steps to make sure there is money available for some facilities, either through taxation or community groups (Lions, etc).

With regard to summer sports, the one truly decent thing we have in this area (that I can think of) is the rowing club in Port Dover. It's definitely a good breeding ground for athletes in this particular field. I know of someone who had her choice of scholarships to major US Universities, largely because of it.

Groovin wrote:

I was referring to local taxes and how our city council makes cuts to public services in order to keep the public happy. So the point was ... If you believe in supporting young athletes, then take steps to make sure there is money available for some facilities, either through taxation or community groups (Lions, etc).

With regard to summer sports, the one truly decent thing we have in this area (that I can think of) is the rowing club in Port Dover. It's definitely a good breeding ground for athletes in this particular field. I know of someone who had her choice of scholarships to major US Universities, largely because of it.

But we have tracks to run on, we have tennis courts to play on, we have basketball courts to play on, we have swimming facilities and lakes to swim in, we have soccer fields to play on, we have basically everything one would need to get into atheltics at a young age and stay in it.

Maybe its just canadian culture and the attitude of you cant press your kids to do things like sports and to push them to be better, im sure most of these american medal winners were pushed at some point by someone to be the best they could be, i dont see that happening around here, I see a so what attitude, who cares do what ya want.

What an amazing basketball game between China and Spain last night! Oh, my! Tied 73 to 73 I think at the end of the game and after 5 minutes of overtime, Spain won by 10 points! It was just rapid action, back and forth. What skill! (And I don't even LIKE basketball all that much!)

And in the swimming, that American guy Phelps is just like a machine! Another gold medal!

Jose Calderon from Spain plays for the toronto raptors, he's usually pretty good.

I see a port dover girl is on the softball team and has canada 2-0 so far.

Canada still sucks though