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Canada attempt to Own the Podium, BSSF goes into administration
Canada’s Own the Podium programme, which began preparation for the 2010 Olympic Games in 2004, provides funding for Canadian athletes with the aim of achieving the highest overall medal count.
While Canadians were given years of additional opportunities to prepare, British skiers and snowboarders were faced with chaos when their sponsor, the British Ski and Snowsport Federation (BSSF), went into administration just weeks before the competition was due to begin.
BSSF were denied a £200,000 grant from the government, causing doubts among the athletes as to whether they would be able to go ahead with their competition at all.
Forced to turn up to the Olympics without sponsorship, the fourteen athletes set to compete in snowsport events in Vancouver and their coaches had to, in some cases, arrange and pay for hotels and transportation themselves.
British skier Chemmy Alcot’s coach Mark Tilston expressed his concern for the athletes: “It is very, very difficult to have a clear head, a clear programme and stay focused on how to ski fast when a lot of energy is channelled into concern with what is happening tomorrow”.
Meanwhile, Canadian athletes were given extra warm-up runs on the Luge and Bobsled tracks: Canadians were allowed 300 practice runs, when athletes from other countries were only given 30. In an attempt to properly ‘own the podium’ Canada are covertly abusing their home advantage, giving hundreds of chances at extra preparation while British Olympians are faced with the possibility of not competing.
Luckily, the British Olympic Association (BOA) stepped in with a contingency plan that gave funding to athletes, which gave them the go-ahead to compete and ensured they would have support from Britain at the Olympics.
Though Canada undoubtedly have the edge on Britain in terms of accessibility of winter sports, in this case the home team have the additional advantage of backing from their country.
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