Canada On Right Track For Olympic Success

In what some might consider the motto of Canada Post for our Canadian Olympic Athlete’s on a stormy, rainy night and notwithstanding the poor weather, Canada’s Athletes seemed to be in a celebratory mood as they entered the

For young athlete’s it’s important for them to focus on their chosen sport in which they wish to excel and one day make it to the Olympics, which is a realistic dream.

You make it and with strong support from everyone around you one has to ask what the next step is?

In two simple words its “Staying focused” and that can’t be easy for some, especially with the outside pressure they face on a daily basis.

Some pressure we’ll never know or hear about, but we can speculate with such areas as Coaching, personal training, family issues or concerns and just maybe issues involving schooling and through it all they stay focused and persevere.

With the wrap-up for the Rio 2016 Olympics each Country selects an athlete to represent them as their Country’s Flag Bearer and what an honour just to be selected.

Overall Canada comes home with 22 medals (4 Gold, 3 Silver and 15 Bronze, which is Canada’s best-ever medal count at a non-boycotted summer games.

This clearly surpassed the number of Gold medals won during the Games in Atlanta in 1996.

Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) President, Tricia Smith, congratulated Team Canada Athletes on the success at the Games and stated “Canada is on the right track.”

She continued and mentioned “how incredible the success is for Canada’s Female Athletes who won and impressive 16 medals, which is the first time in 40 years that women will have won the majority of medals.”

To the surprise of many Canada enjoyed better than expected success at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, with female swimmers putting an end to a 20-year drought to capture six medals.

She won Gold medal and set an Olympic record in the women’s 100m freestyle, Silver in the women’s 100m butterfly, and Bronze medals in both the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.

Four seemed to be the lucky number for Toronto’s 16 year-old Penny Oleksiak, who mentioned “I’m super honored just to be able to carry the flag for Canada and lead all these athletes who’ve worked so hard to get here.”

Canada’s Athletics clinched six (6) medals with momentous performances with Andre De Grasse being the first Canadian (ever) to win medals in the three (3) sprint events at one Olympic Games.

De Grasse won Bronze in the 100m, Silver in the 200m and another Bronze in the 4x100m relay.

Derek Drouin Canada’s High jumper became the first Canadian in 84 years to win Olympic Gold in a field event.

Damian Warner and Brianne Theisen-Eaton both made extremely remarkable advance in the combined events.

Rosie MacLennan turns out to be the first Canadian Athlete to successfully defend a Gold medal at the summer Games.

Erica Wiebe won Canada’s third (ever) Olympic Gold in wrestling.

The Women’s Rugby sevens team captured Bronze in the Olympic debut of their sport while the women’s soccer team returned to the podium for a second straight Games.

Canada’s Chef de Mission Curt Harnett stated Oleksiak is the first Canadian in history to win four (4) medals in a single summer Olympic Games.

Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., earned showing jumping Bronze aboard Fine Lady 5, a 13-year-old mare.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a prepared statement “Canadians, especially our young women and girls, were incredibly inspired by our female Olympians who were a force to be reckoned with throughout the Games and I know the impact of our athletes’ accomplishments will live on and be replayed in playgrounds and on sport fields for many, many years to come.”

The rest of the athletes followed the flag-bearers, with the Canadians wearing their trademark red mittens. And the Canadian athletes deserved to. Canada earned 22 medals — four better than the 18 won in London four years ago — and was 10th in the medal standings.

Speed skater Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes, in both speed skating and cycling, are tied for the most career Olympic medals with six apiece.

The COC said previously a top-12 finish was a stepping stone to top eight, which required 29 medals in Rio.

Smith mentioned “We’ve talked about top eight in the past and there’s a price tag to that, so we’ll have to look at that price tag and see if that’s something we can do.”

The Canadian taxpayer is the largest single contributor to their Olympic teams.

The federal government spent almost $200 million in 2015 on its athletes and hosting international events for them.

Own The Podium directs roughly $36 million of Sport Canada funding annually based on medal potential to Olympic and Paralympic summer sport federations, plus an extra $6 million to summer-team sport.

COC chief executive officer Chris Overholt said Sunday that $105 million was invested in summer and winter sport over the last four years via corporate sponsorships.

The absence of multiple Russians suspended for doping and a slingshot effect from the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where the host team was second to the U.S. with 217 medals, were perhaps factors in Canada’s medal haul.

The COC pays bonus money to medalists of $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

Each athlete on the soccer and rugby teams receives $10,000 for their bronze medal, so the COC’s total payout for Rio will be $750,000.

The coaches of medalist are also rewarded at half the rate of their athletes. That bill comes to $137,500.

The Paralympic Games are scheduled for Sept. 7-18 in Rio despite recent budget cuts.

Photo http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/penny-oleksiak-carry-flag-canada-closing-ceremony/