[Pseudonym]

Just wait for the Winter Olympics to come again. That might present a slightly different image.

[Wally_Sconce]

Dedicating your life to something like gymnastics is simply retarded when you know that a single step forward at the end of your routine can cost you a standing. Sports like that don't teach your children the kind of values that they need in life to love and enjoy their family and theirselves.

[Wally_Sconce]

lily lily:

Au contraire, my rednecked friend.

Gymnastics teaches values like teamwork, dedication, focus, patience... it's probably the best all round sport for both physical and mental health. The single step that could cost them a standing... the kids are actually taught about choices... sometimes it's better to take that step rather than risk a fall... they know how many deductions each mis-step will cost them, and they have plenty of options in the back of their minds.

Most competitive gymnasts do very well in other areas of their lives, like schoolwork, becasue they learn at a young age how to manage their time.

OK, I'll concede on this one. Mostly because I don't care enough about it anyways.

[Gunnair]

mtbr mtbr:

romanP romanP:

I guess hockey and curling aren't sports

Curling? about as much as checkers or lawn darts. You can't play a real sport while you're full of Rye and chicken wings.

Big baby... what, did you shy away from lawn dart tag when you were little?

Tell me that's not a sport

[mtbr]

Gunnair Gunnair:

mtbr mtbr:

romanP romanP:

I guess hockey and curling aren't sports

Curling? about as much as checkers or lawn darts. You can't play a real sport while you're full of Rye and chicken wings.

Big baby... what, did you shy away from lawn dart tag when you were little?

Tell me that's not a sport

that's all you got?

lawn darts are banned in Canada probably because you and your family still have them embedded between your eye balls.

[robmik43]

$1:

If it's not good enough for you, then be prepared to shell out more in taxes. The federal government only provides about 3% of Olympic athletes funding. Other countries provide far more, from 10% (USA) to 80% (China). Do the math...

OK...let's do the math using YOUR numbers..you say :
90% of US Olympic athlete funding is NON-governmental
97% of Canadian Olympic funding is NON-governmental
...in other words, government funding plays almost no part
in the success of USA's athletes.

Chinese government funding is 80% compared to USA government's 10%...
therefore, using your rationale, China should be WAY more successful
than the USA, because that's how you say Canada's athletes will be way more successful....more government spending....but China isn't way more successful.
So far [Friday night] the USA has 46 medals, China 41. Do yet more math.

$1:

So do the math. We can spend $250 million a year (like the Aussies) for 50 medals or $20 million for 10-15 medals. Which do you want?

I don't much like that math...spending about 12 times as much from now on,
to win MAYBE 3-4 times the medals...someday, like in 12-16 years ?
Sounds like Bruce McNall / J.P.Ferguson Jr. / J.P. Ricciardi / Conrad Black
math..."someone else's money, results not my fault" math. Bad math.

[stokes]

Everyone is trying to compare us to the US...again...not a fair comparison by any means. When it comes to population they beat us by 10:1, also 200 years ago they bred a huge portion of their population to be stronger and faster, even though they no longer have slavery they are reaping the benefits today.

Also, they have a huge university sports program(NCAA) that is head and shoulders above anything else in the world. These athletes get a free ride for being very good at a sport and the competition among schools is better than most olympic or world championships.

We have way too much politics involved in how we do sport and until we get rid of the "old boys" club nothing will get any better.

[Gunnair]

mtbr mtbr:

Gunnair Gunnair:

mtbr mtbr:

Curling? about as much as checkers or lawn darts. You can't play a real sport while you're full of Rye and chicken wings.

Big baby... what, did you shy away from lawn dart tag when you were little?

Tell me that's not a sport

that's all you got?

lawn darts are banned in Canada probably because you and your family still have them embedded between your eye balls.

Brilliant - ye're still a big baby though.

[ShepherdsDog]

lily lily:

Au contraire, my rednecked friend.

Gymnastics teaches values like teamwork, dedication, focus, patience... it's probably the best all round sport for both physical and mental health. The single step that could cost them a standing... the kids are actually taught about choices... sometimes it's better to take that step rather than risk a fall... they know how many deductions each mis-step will cost them, and they have plenty of options in the back of their minds.

Most competitive gymnasts do very well in other areas of their lives, like schoolwork, becasue they learn at a young age how to manage their time.

I'm sure moms with kids in diving, track and any other sport would say the same thing.

[Hyack]

stokes stokes:

Everyone is trying to compare us to the US...again...not a fair comparison by any means. When it comes to population they beat us by 10:1, also 200 years ago they bred a huge portion of their population to be stronger and faster, even though they no longer have slavery they are reaping the benefits today.

Also, they have a huge university sports program(NCAA) that is head and shoulders above anything else in the world. These athletes get a free ride for being very good at a sport and the competition among schools is better than most olympic or world championships.

We have way too much politics involved in how we do sport and until we get rid of the "old boys" club nothing will get any better.

Well said, although, the way the Chinese train their athletes is more like a factory than a school. They live their sport...somewhat like the old Soviet army athletes.

[bootlegga]

robmik43 robmik43:

$1:

If it's not good enough for you, then be prepared to shell out more in taxes. The federal government only provides about 3% of Olympic athletes funding. Other countries provide far more, from 10% (USA) to 80% (China). Do the math...

OK...let's do the math using YOUR numbers..you say :
90% of US Olympic athlete funding is NON-governmental
97% of Canadian Olympic funding is NON-governmental
...in other words, government funding plays almost no part
in the success of USA's athletes.

Chinese government funding is 80% compared to USA government's 10%...
therefore, using your rationale, China should be WAY more successful
than the USA, because that's how you say Canada's athletes will be way more successful....more government spending....but China isn't way more successful.
So far [Friday night] the USA has 46 medals, China 41. Do yet more math.

The Chinese have twice as many GOLD medals, which is how everyone in the world EXCEPT the US measure Olympic success.

The point is other countries fund their athletes by a far greater margin, be it governmental or corporate sponsorship. The US government spends at least three times as much as we do. The Aussies do the same. Is it any wonder they have more medals. Sadly, in Olympic sports, more money means more medals, plain and simple.

robmik43 robmik43:

$1:

So do the math. We can spend $250 million a year (like the Aussies) for 50 medals or $20 million for 10-15 medals. Which do you want?

I don't much like that math...spending about 12 times as much from now on,
to win MAYBE 3-4 times the medals...someday, like in 12-16 years ?
Sounds like Bruce McNall / J.P.Ferguson Jr. / J.P. Ricciardi / Conrad Black
math..."someone else's money, results not my fault" math. Bad math.

Well that's what it takes. If you're not willing to ante up the money, then you should stop complaining about a lack of medals and just be happy with whatever Canada gets.

[N_Fiddledog]

I'm not sure if I remember this right, or not but I remember when they first started talking about lotteries, and they were saying they would be a good thing, because they would fund Olympic athletes. Tons of money there. What happened to it?

One thing I do remember more or less clearly was this news program I saw concerning this issue more than 10 years ago. They were talking about it then.

What they put forward was the money was there, but the athletes weren't getting it. The cash got lost in the black hole of bureaucracy. They showed this one big, beautiful, building in Southern Ontario. It was created for the bureaucrats to shuffle money around from. It had been sitting there for 2 years. Nobody was in it yet. They questioned the head bean counter. He didn't know when if ever it would be populated, but gosh...wasn't it pretty.

Oh well we just won a couple of medals today, and I'm watching Verbeek wrestle right now...oh wait, there you go...three now. She just won the bronze. Whoopee!

[TattoodGirl]

I only value swimming and rowing sports as a true sports in the summer olympics...now if they put Field Lacrosse in the summer games I would consider it real games.

The summer games are ghey and these games should never have taken place or we should have backed out...ghey!!!

[ShepherdsDog]

ghey? is that the new PC term for gay?

[romanP]

mtbr mtbr:

romanP romanP:

I guess hockey and curling aren't sports

Curling? about as much as checkers or lawn darts. You can't play a real sport while you're full of Rye and chicken wings.

You haven't seen me and my friends on the lake in winter. We're all drunk, high, and full of snacks and we still play hockey.