Better late than never

BEIJING - Canada hit the gas after a sluggish start in Beijing to produce one of the country's best performances at a Summer Olympiad.

But team officials say if the country aspires to have more than a bit part on the biggest sports stage on the planet, Canadians have to care more about their Olympians with their hearts and wallets.

Eighteen medals - three gold, nine silver, six bronze - ties Canada's second-best performance at a non-boycotted Games. The country collected 22 in Atlanta in 1996 and 18 four years prior in Barcelona.

Finishing tied for 14th with Spain in total medals among 204 countries meets the Canadian Olympic Committee's target of a top-16 result.

Top 12 is the goal for 2012 in London. The mood at the COC's closing news conference Sunday was upbeat, but Alex Baumann sounded a cold note on Canada's prospects four years from now.

The former swimming gold medallist, now head of the Road To Excellence initiative, decides which athletes deserve more money based on their performance.

After conversations in Beijing with his equivalents from Australia, Britain and New Zealand, he says top 12 in London isn't realistic at the current rate of funding for the Canadians .

Canada may have committed to spending a record $166 million on summer and winter sport in 2008-09, but the country continues to lag behind the world's elite.

UK Sport has been pumping 100 million pounds (C$195 million) annually into its athletes to field a strong host team in 2012. The Australians' budget of $250 million a year could jump as high as $450 million.

Yet, both teams are getting what they're paying for. Britain jumped from 30 medals in Athens to 47 in Beijing, the fourth-highest total of the Games. Australia was right behind with 46, despite boasting a population of just 21.4 million people.

The ante will be upped for 2012, and Canada was just starting to play catch-up here.

"I do think Canada can get to the top 12 in 2012, but it's going to take a big effort. I do think there is a need for more investment."

As expected, the U.S. and host China took most of the medals off the table with 110 and 100 respectively. China led with 51 gold medals and was thus ranked No. 1 by the International Olympic Committee.

It was a nervous first seven days of the Games for the Canadian team with nary a medal. Wrestlers Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., and Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., along with the rowing pair of Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C., and Victoria's Dave Calder, kicked off the country's medal run on the second Saturday of the Games. Huynh won gold, the rowers silver and Verbeek bronze.

The country averaged two medals a day after that. Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., was Canada's lone multi-medallist with a gold in individual show jumping and a silver in the team event.

A dozen medals four years ago in Athens was Canada's lowest total in 20 years. The country needed to get back on the podium and the athletes did, but the gold-medal count remains flat.

Only once since 1984 has the country won more than three gold medals in a single Summer Games - seven in Barcelona.

"There were a number of events out there where we got a silver and I thought, 'Damnit, just short of the gold,"' COC chief executive officer Chris Rudge said. "Our ultimate objective at some time has to be how many gold medals will we win? We're certainly talking about that a lot more."

Almost every athlete had been to Beijing for training or competition prior to these Games. The COC held seminars for the athletes who heard from former Olympians on how to navigate the minefield of distractions and frustrations at the Games.

The athletes were better supported by the COC here. When a track and field athlete living outside the village faced a commute to the training facility, someone did a dry run for her, timed it and determined the most efficient route.

Meteorologist Doug Charko issued hourly climate updates, so the equestrian team avoided training in Hong Kong when heat and humidity was at its peak.

Canada Olympic House was closed to the public and open only to families of athletes. The reason for that was to ease stress on athletes from how their parents and siblings were faring in a foreign city, Rudge said.

Baumann says he needs to do more analysis to know exactly how much money the Canadian team needs to reach the top 12 in London. The federal government committed in this year's budget to $24 million more annually for RTE to provide extra money to athletes with medal potential.

"We would appeal to Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper to give us the extra $6 million dollars we'd asked for in the last budget," Rudge said. "We'd asked for $30 (million). Let's look at the extra $50 or $60 (million) we're going to need over the next few years to try and build the kinds of programs they've got in Britain and Australia and the United States.

"If we're going to play with the big boys, if we're going to be a G8 nation, let's be G8 at all levels."

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