Canada Playing Nasty?

Count the American speed skater Catherine Raney among the athletes, coaches and officials of several sports surprised by Canada's approach to hosting the Winter Olympics in February.

Raney spent seven years living in Canada, attending University of Calgary and training with Olympic champion Clara Hughes and other Canadian skaters. For four years, a Canadian national coach was her coach, too.

But after the 2006 Games in Italy, Raney needed to find a new home and a new coach. She was told the Canadians did not want foreign athletes training with them prior to the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Raney and many other foreign athletes expected to spend quite a bit of time practising at the Vancouver-area Olympic venues, but have been granted only minimal access.

"They're playing nasty," said Raney, now based in Utah. "I think every one of us would love to prove to them that what they did wasn't right, and we're ready to show it on the ice.''

The way Raney and athletes, coaches and officials of several other sports see it, limiting access to the sites means the Canadians are more serious about mining medals than evincing Olympic spirit.

Canadian officials said they have been following rules of access to competition sites, as set by each sport's governing body. But they also intend to protect the Olympic host's home-field advantage.

Canada has made a public quest to win more medals than ever, and more than any other country.

"By virtue of being at home, you have more access to venues,'' Cathy Priestner Allinger, executive vice president for sports of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, said this summer. ``That's the nature of it. There's no country or organizing committee that would tell you otherwise, or that wouldn't try to take advantage of some of that.''

The colliding notions of sportsmanship and gamesmanship require a delicate balance. Some say Canada may have tilted too far.

An open-access agreement between the Canadian and U.S. luge teams has come undone. Americans said most Canadians took 60 to 100 extra practice runs in Utah before the 2002 Games. Canada offered the U.S. 18 this time, in a trade for 18 Canadian runs at this year's world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Americans refused.

"I guess I can intellectually say I understand it," said Ron Rossi of USA Luge, upset that a gentlemen's agreement dating to the 1980 Games has ended. "But as an honourable thing, I don't support it, and I think it shows a lack of sportsmanship.''

Last winter, foreign speed skaters were denied access to the Richmond Olympic Oval, Canadian officials said, citing a lack of proper arrangements and a last-minute decision to shut the site to add lighting. A German team spent days waiting to get in. The conflict and confusion made headlines in Canada.

At the Whistler downhill course, several medal contenders were left watching over a fence as the Canadian team trained.

"Everybody was pushing to get on that downhill," said Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief athletic officer. "That's an advantage we cannot give away.''

Canadian officials said that they had provided more access than any previous host, largely because their sites were completed early. But they acknowledge they are also driven to succeed at these Olympics.

"We're the only country to host two Olympic Games and never have won a gold medal at our games," Priestner Allinger said, referring to Montreal in 1976 and Calgary in 1988. ``It's not a record we're proud of.''

Canada's target this time is 35 medals, 11 more than it won in 2006 in Turin. Its Own the Podium program is pumping $110 million into the medal push, with focus on athletes most likely to win. Alpine skiers, for example, are being counted on to win two medals. Besides gold medals in hockey and curling, Canada expects big hauls from speed skating and the sliding sports.

Own the Podium emphasizes the advantage gained by giving athletes time to acclimate.

"Increased track exposure will provide athletes with the confidence they need to reach the podium," reads a section about bobsled and skeleton in the program's literature. Speed skaters were given "a strategic plan to maximize their comfort level" at the Olympic oval. Even biathletes were granted ``additional training opportunities to ensure athletes know every inch of the course.''

The benefits of familiarity vary by sport. It is vital on one-of-a-kind new sites like the track for luge, bobsled and skeleton. Canadian athletes will have had hundreds of trips down what is widely considered the world's most treacherous course. Foreign athletes will have had a few dozen.

"For sure, there's an advantage," said Tim Fars tad, executive director of Luge Canada. "That's the nature of our sport – every country has an advantage on its own track. It's not like a 100-metre sprint, where it doesn't matter where you sprint.''

At last February's luge world championships in Lake Placid, the American Erin Hamlin became the first non-German woman to win in 16 years. Weeks later, on the same track, Steven Holcomb and his four-man bobsled team became the first American world champions in 50 years.

To improve Canada's chances in skiing, the downhill course at Whistler was built each of the last two springs and surrounded with safety fencing, at a cost of $100,000.

"Once we go to downhill training in Whistler, it has to be exclusive to Canadians," Gartner said. "It is an advantage if you've run that downhill a few times. No question.''

Some rivals, including the U.S. ski team, expressed disappointment. But many understand Canada's reluctance to open up competition sites, even if the pressure to win stems largely from the organizing committee.

"It just doesn't seem like it's in the Olympic spirit," said Derek Parra, a skating medallist who now coaches the U.S. team. "It's un-Olympic.''

Among his charges is Raney, still close friends with Canadians she'll race against in February. She might have the sharpest rebuke to her neighbours to the north.

"It's un-Canadian," Raney said, laughing. "Isn't it?''

 

SOURCE: http://www.thestar.com/