Own The Podium a failure? I think not.
There’s been a lot of people disparaging our athletes, saying Canada’s Own The Podium program has been a failure. Some of the athletes have responded, saying that it works.
Fourteen gold medals — the highest count for a host country in the Winter games. Ever.
I think it works.
Congratulations Team Canada!!!
AKA Keeper of Maps, I'm a geocacher who lives in Ottawa, Canada.
Technically, OTP is a failure. Their goal was to have Canadians win a medal in every single event; to win the most medals of any country in these Olympics.
That being said, however, I think they set their sights too high. If they had aimed to best themselves, then OTP would have been a success.
The ironic thing is, if they had done that, would they have done as well as they did? I don’t think they would have.
I guess it’s that old saying: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp”.
Actually the goals for the winter games according to the OTP website are:
While we didn’t make first place for the total medal count, we did take the highest number of gold medals in the history of the winter games. The IOC, when it ranks countries, uses the number of gold medals, while the US uses the total medal count. Someone mentioned to me recently that the US did use the IOC’s methodology until they were surpassed by China.
Does it matter wether OTP is a failure or not?
Given the money invested, I’d call it a failure even if we’d won all the medals. The money spent is simply not making Canada a better place.
Basically, it’s “panem et circenses”…
I am, however, genuinely happy for all the people who competed, even if they didn’t win medals, and moreso for the people who aren’t paid professionals in whatever event they happened to compete in.
But beyond that, today’s just another Monday.