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First Person

Rudge sees a golden future

Funding, support lining up for Olympic athletes

For more than two years Chris Rudge has been the dynamic CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

It was a turbulent beginning for Rudge, as the Canadian team limped through the 2004 Summer Games in Athens with one of its worst medal hauls in decades.

There has also been controversy: Most notably with the COC deciding to take just top-12 ranked athletes to the summer Games instead of the top-16 and otherwise qualified athletes, as in the past.

But Rudge has also presided over the largest funding increase in Canadian sports history, as well as the creation of several new funding and support programs for sport organizations and athletes.

This week Rudge was in Vancouver to meet with the 2010 Games Vancouver Organizing Committee, and to announce another new program called Olympic Voices, which will give athletes an opportunity to speak at public and private events to raise money and awareness.

The Pique caught up with the COC CEO to find out what’s next for the Olympic program.

Pique – Now that you’ve been the CEO for over two years, including during the 2004 Olympics, which prompted massive calls for more investment for sports, how have you seen things change?

Chris Rudge – It’s been an interesting evolution. You’re right, the 2004 Games certainly drew attention to the performance of the team and was the cause for much discussion about what we needed to do better. That was the first part of it.

The second thing is that certainly having the Games here in 2010 has been a tremendous catalyst for discussion in this area and I guess the third thing is all the controversy around the standards we used to make up the (Olympic) team in 2004, and whether or not we should have had used top-12 or top-16 athletes in the world, and so on. I’m not saying that it was the right or wrong thing to do… but it was certainly good from the perspective of reassessing whether or not we care about winning in Canada, and if we do care, what the heck do we have to do in order to be more successful?

When you look at it from that perspective, I think we’re going through a pretty good evolution in Canada right now. Part of that had to be a change in the role that the COC plays in sport in Canada. Traditionally we were engaged in a broad variety of programs, many involving education, and the discussion of Olympic ideals in Canada. Our engagement with sport directly was minimal. We put the teams together and sent them to the Games, we paid for the team to go to the Games, bought uniforms, looked out for them while they were there, established the standards to make the team, etcetera; But we were never involved in building programs to enhance performance, and we weren’t involved in funding those programs that had the best chance for success.

Pique: So what happened?

CR: Some time ago we made the decision that we had to be more about excellence, that it was something that was valued in Canada. If you bring a team to the Games, you want to give these kids a chance to win medals.

It’s nice to go there and come home and be a good ambassador, but that should be a byproduct of the process, it shouldn’t be the focus.

So that evolution philosophically is taking place in our organization, and as a consequence the money we put into sport now goes into what we call our excellence funds, which goes only to the top athletes and programs that have the best chance of winning medals. But in addition there are other things we’re doing that we haven’t done in the past. A couple of those are developing programs that develop sport much better. When you look at the Own the Podium plan, it’s part of that process. If you look at the Torino Excellence Series, taking athletes away and putting them together with former medal winners to talk about developing a winning attitude, that’s also part of the process. We have a summer program now that mirrors what we’ve done for winter athletes under Own the Podium. That’s starting under Roger Jackson and that’s part of that process. ( Dr. Roger Jackson, a sport leader and three-time Olympian in Rowing, has been selected as the Program Director to develop a summer sport program to help Canada’s athletes achieve podium success at upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games)

These things are taking place, and all are a part of this climate that exists in Canada now to see us do better.

In addition, we’re advocating for more investment in sport at all government levels and we’ve had more success with the federal government in the last couple of years than we’ve had in 20 years, so we’ve raised the platform for base funding considerably.

Pique: When it comes to that new funding are we at a middle stage, or are we right where we want to be?

CR: I think we’re happy to be ahead of where we were, but I think middle stage is probably a good way to phrase it. We have a long way to go. We have adequate money to see the Own the Podium program be successful, (but) we would like to see that raised a little more so it can be a sustaining program beyond 2010.

We still have to see a considerable increase in investment for summer sports so we can raise their opportunities for performance, and focus at the same level as we think we can for winter sports… a needed increase there I would say of $30 to $40 million a year, at least.

The other thing we really need is a very thorough analyses – and Roger Jackson is going to do this when he finishes with the summer program – of our need in terms of sport institutes and training centres. And not just copying what they’re doing in Australia - we hear about that model a lot - but a Canadian-made solution that’s the best in the world that says what we can do here…to make sure our athletes have the right environment to train, and the right access to sport medicine and research and science and so forth.

Pique: Is a lot of this bringing pieces together that may already exist in Canada, but maybe haven’t been attached to one another yet through any kind of network?

CR: As a matter of fact we met with a lot of sport bodies in British Columbia, and that was one of the observations that (VANOC sport VP) Cathy Priestner made, is that Own the Podium is not just going to be successful because of the analysis that goes on, but also because it will make us a little more efficient with the system that does exist. We’re trying to get some of the redundancies out of the system and find ways to reinforce each other in the system as it works right now.

Pique: Obviously 2006 is the closest Olympics on the horizon. What will be different for Torino compared to the last Olympics? Have there been big changes leading up to this Olympics or are most of the changes we’re discussing more geared to 2008 and 2010?

CR: I think there are some things that are dramatically different. One is Own the Podium, the funding is starting to get into that now, so there will be better actual preparation of sport organizations and coaches and the athletes themselves.

The second is the Torino Excellence Series, where we’ve taken potential medalists away with former medalists and talked about the ability to turn potential into success. I think we saw the benefit of that last winter when we were bumped up to third in the world in terms of World Championships performances, compared to fifth before Salt Lake City.

The third is somewhat notional, but in my mind it’s big. Unlike in the past we’re talking about winning and believing we can win, and saying that winning is very important. Now this is to some degree historical anathema to the Canadian psyche.

To me it’s exciting to hear everybody talk about that, and I think the fact we’re even just starting to talk that way is having a big impact on performance.

It’s a lot different than what I saw going into Athens.

Pique: This whole will to win, that it’s okay to want to win, it’s okay to put resources into winning, is this new to the athletes or have athletes always been on that program?

CR: I think the athletes have always believed they wanted to win, but I don’t think they’ve been functioning in an atmosphere where they were supported in that vision and that thought. It’s always been a ‘nice to win’ attitude in Canada instead of a ‘will to win’. If you talk to anyone who works with athletes at a high level around the world, especially Americans…the attitude is very different. Every one of them absolutely believes they are going to win a medal, that they’re capable of it, whereas Canadians historically have always had a self-effacing attitude, and have been less internally committed to their own potential.

One thing that came out of our Torino Excellence Series, when we did it for the first time a year ago, was an exit interview with 40 or 50 athletes who were there. Over half of them, even though we had selected them as being potential medalists, even if they’ve finished in the top-five in World Cup events the year before…half still didn’t believe they were medal contenders.

That can only be something of what’s historically been in the head of Canadians compared to other countries, and that’s starting to change. The more that changes, I think, the more we’ll see Canadians winning.

Pique: You mentioned that the Own the Podium program has already kicked in. Was that contingent at all on the recent federal budget and the fact government didn’t shut down?

CR: Partially. We still haven’t gotten the federal money yet, we’re still waiting for some of the sponsorship money from VANOC. But what we do have is $10 million that was committed by Premier (Gordon) Campbell, half for summer, half for winter, and we’ve got that money in the bank and it’s going into the program.

I have to say that Premier Campbell has become a real visionary for sport in this country, and his leadership has been tremendous and he’s proselytizing with his peers in other provinces to try and get them to do the same kind of thing. So we’re pretty grateful for the commitment that he’s made.

Pique: What about the plight of ski jumping and nordic combined. Is the COC involved at all in those discussions?

CR: That’s a delicate question. Those are sports that traditionally have not done well and there are not a lot of prospects for them to do well from a medal potential at this point in time. We do face a certain challenge there in that it would be embarrassing for Canada to host the Games and not field athletes in every sport, so we’re definitely working with ski jumping and nordic combined people, with VANOC and others to look how we can have athletes participating in those sports.

The challenge we face is that while we still have limited resources, it would be unfair to put a disproportionate amount of money into sports where we are not strong at the expense of sports where we are very strong that do have a chance of putting kids on the podium.

That’s the kind of tough decision we all have to make and we will continue to make as we go forward.

Pique: Are you supporting either CODA or ski jumping and nordic combined when it comes to the facility at Calgary Olympic Park, especially now that VANOC is not planning any permanent jumping facilities, or practice or summer training facilities out in the Callaghan?

CR: Those are capital funding decisions that CODA would have to make and we understand the financial pressures they are under, but I think you have to consider a few other things. Sweden has no ski jumps, but they have ski jumpers, they go and train in other environments. Our freestyle jumpers go to train in Lake Placid in the States and other places because we don’t have the training facilities here that are world class to support them.

So I’m not sure the solution necessarily is keeping jumps open in Calgary for a huge expense, for a very small number of high performance athletes when the answer might be to help those athletes go and train in other environments where they would have better technology, better jumps, and a better training climate because of the level of athlete they may have an opportunity to train with. I think we have to be creative in our solution, and not just throw money at the sport…when it will not necessarily give us an appropriate return.

Pique: How do you feel about the schedule that VANOC is working with on the 2010 venues?

CR: I think we’re pretty happy with what we see the team at VANOC doing. It’s a strong management team there. I think the progress is excellent. We’re certainly well ahead of where Torino is.

Pique: A lot of our winter sports organizations recently tested the Farnham Glacier as a potential site for a permanent summer snow training facility. Is the COC supporting that facility?

CR: We certainly are. We put some money into the initial tests that were done there along with other funding partners, and we think it’s a good homegrown solution for summer training. I know CODA is working with Alpine Canada, freestyle, and snowboarding to look at how they might build that into a permanent training base, and I know that VANOC is looking to put some support into that. We think it’s an excellent idea.

Pique: Petro Canada recently announced their sponsorship for 2010, joining other funding partners, and VANOC has already exceeded their own expectations with a lot of sponsor spots still left to fill. Obviously the details are not finalized, but do you know what kind of funding to expect for the athletes as a legacy?

CR: There are two aspects of that, and one is what will go in now in terms of Own the Podium and other programs, and that’s still to be negotiated when we sign contracts with some of these sponsors, and we’re looking for some early money to support those programs. The other part of it is that if the Games show a significant profit, most of that money will go to support sport in Canada after the Games. So the more successful VANOC is in selling these sponsorships, and the more effective they are at managing their costs and running the Games well, the bigger the pot will be for all sports in Canada. We’re optimistic that we will do very well in that area.

Pique: How can Canada keep the momentum after 2010?

CR: The way you keep peoples’ interest alive is to provide a return on the investment that people have made. I think that accrues to all sports, no just the COC, but all sport organizations.

Sports are clearly a good story that Canadians are proud of. Certainly having Games at home helps you do that in a way that is unique, but we have to look at the bigger picture and make sure we develop communication strategies and programs that keep Canadians excited on an ongoing basis so that we can share in the pride that is generated by the success of our athletes 12 months a year as we go forward.

Pique: How is the media helping or hurting that cause? I’ve noted that a lot of events don’t get a lot of media coverage, even when we’re doing well. This winter was a little better without hockey coverage, but it still wasn’t great.

CR: I’ve certainly seen an uptake in the media in coverage of high performance sport around the world. I would say by and large that the media has been very supportive of the things we’re talking about. We had a tremendous turnout this morning to introduce our Olympic Voice program with our athletes, and I’m just really pleased with the way things are tracking right now.

If we can create a more compelling package ourselves, we’re going to get more media coverage. It’s a two-way street.