From the Pressbox

Either go to WIN OR STAY HOME

Well said Elliott. Personally, I'm embarassed by our Olympic performance and as a Canadian. Countries such as Togo, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwae, Ethopia etc. have more medals than us!! can u believe that?!? We have nothing to be proud of at these games (so far). Hayden's attitude completey sucked. And im sick of our CBC commentators saying, "well its a new Canadian record and what a great top 10 finish," blah blah blah all this filler to make it seem more impressive when its a joke really. Who cares if it is a CDN record? nobody does, we wanna see gold and silver. Stop making excuses about funding and trying to make our athletes seem better than they are. I know most of them are giving 110% and train super hard but results count after waiting 4yrs. If you win or place at world championships then that should translate into placing at the Olympics. We are choke artists like in every other Olympic summer games. Get me to Vancouver 2010 for some hockey........and some medals.

Dear Elliotte,

It is entirely unexpected that our morning office conversations consisently focus on your pool-side interviews of Canadian athletes. The theme of your questions is apalling, considering Canada leads all countries in the pool at establishing "country-best" times (it seems the count now stands at 24 Canada-best times), which exceeds the performance improvements posted by either U.S.A., Australia, U.K., France, or Japan, or any other.

I have refrained from posting a comment to you, even though we have brutal clarity on how we evaluate your performace, but last night was the trigger. When interviewing Mr. Beavers (not certain if you realize it) you suggested that he; "is too smart to be doing this". We asssumed from your question that you were suggesting he is too smart to be a world-class athlete, as oppposed to being too smart to be talking with you? It would be one of the most fascinating events of the Olympics if you would come on the air and explain your prejudice. The litany of nonsence, and inappropriate accusations you make when chatting with the athletes is embarassing to you, but the Beavers interview actually caused you to condemn all athletes, not just make yourself look silly. Could you explain your position on your assumed intelligence of Canadian, Olympic athletes, or, as an alternative, perhaps you could contribute to a retrospective piece on the post-Olympic accomplishments of Canadian athletes in their careers, communities, and businesses? It would be very nice to witness an "Elliotte transformation" over the next 10-days; possibly one of the greatest memories of China. You deserve to do better, and it would be nice to watch you raise your game to a world standard; just like the Canadian swimmers.

Thank you,

David

Thanks Elliot. You were really right with this one. Canadians want to see PASSION (medals or attitude) at the Olympics!

I couldn't agree more with your comments about Sherraine Schalm and the double standard reflected in criticism of her for venting her frustration when she lost. OK, she should avoid cursing in public, but a simple I'm sorry rather than a televised mea culpa would suffice.

The problem is the degree of criticism she received and some of what it suggests about Canadians' attitudes.

It's understandable if an athlete ranked 53rd in the world, who is still Canada's best in a particular sport or discipline, is relatively content to finish 10th -- in other words, the athlete did his or her best but isn't as talented as other competitors -- but the bland, accepting comments from athletes who ought to compete for a podium spot but didn't medal are either disingenuous or reveal a lack of willingness to pay the price necessary to win.

It's more likely that the athletes feeding us this pablum are masking their disappointment and avoiding admitting the truth, which is that they faltered at clutch time, or didn't train hard enough or in the right way, or lacked funding -- in other words, they failed. (Again, I'm talking about athletes with talent enough to win.)

That's not to say they necessarily deserve to be criticized for their performances -- it's the nature of sport that if someone wins someone else loses -- but rather if we are going to compete we should be striving to succeed, which, in the Olympics, means 1st, 2nd or 3rd; and -- while always supporting our athletes -- unaccepting of anything less.

That should include applauding athletes like Sherraine Schalm who display that attitude. I was proud of her.

I completely agree that there is a double standard, however, I would personally prefer to see the athlete upset and be honest about their disappointment.
I think personal bests are fantastic if you are lounging around in your home rec pool or training on a highschool track. But at the olympics, you try to win medals, and there is a price to pay for representing your country and accepting government funding, however great or meagre it may be. It is called accountability. If you wear the maple leaf, you are accountable to all of us Canadians who watch the olympics. We can't hang our hats on PBs, nor do we feel any comfort from 30th and 40th place finishes. And it becomes increasingly hard to justify sending 300 or so athletes on a feel good holiday without anything to show for it but national disappointment.
The difficult part is that some of the PBs are fantastic stories. Take gymnastics for instance. We did fantastically well this olympics despite having no shot at a medal. It was a great story, and I enjoyed watching the Canadians, but maybe we need to be asking if this is the appropriate venue for these stories to play out. It sounds harsh, but many of these sports have world championships and international competitions.
If we want medals, then we need to send a clear message that only top athletes are headed to the olympics.
Representing your country is a privilege and comes with responsibility. There are repercussions for not meeting the grade. Win and you are a briefly a national hero. Lose and you have the collective weight of the nation on you. Such is life when you wear the maple leaf.
Only time will ultimately tell if the 2012 plan will work, but it may all start with an acknowledgement by our athletes that they are competing not only against other athletes and the clock, but more importantly, the collective expectations of the country they represent. And in that arena, personal bests are not enough.

Couldn't agree with your comments about Sherraine more. I for one, am glad to see an athlete who hates losing that much. Watching athletes who finished well below their expected positions, stand there and say "Well, I gave it my all, but it just wasn't my day" makes me want to throw up.

I was not aware of the comments or decision made by any of the athletes until this blog and some of the comments posted by the readers. But I want more athletes like Rick Say and Sherraine Schalm because to me they have the right attitude, come to win, leave proud knowing you gave it your all. If personal bests are the result from every ounce of effort then great, everyone including themselves should be proud. Unless you are 16 years old, being happy to be here doesn't cut it. Otherwise you are just going there to lose.

Funding is an issue, however you can't fund attitude and I don't believe for one second that if someone had more funding they would be more passionate about their results.
There are a lot of athletes from other countries who have gone to the Olympics with much less funding and have shown way more passion to compete..... and have even made it to the podium.

If the attitude exhibited during those interviews are true and not a display of our country's reputation of being polite and good sports then there is something much larger then funding as the issue. Attitudes, coaching and the culture of sport in Canada (outside of hockey) needs an attitude adjustment but in the opposite sense.

Bang on, Elliot!

Elliotte,

I have no doubt that these athletes at the olympics have dedicated their lives to their respective sports and have some personal goals and should be admired. The problem in my eyes is the seeming not caring lazy attitude displayed by many of the athletes. They seem complacent with their placement despite not achieving medals in areas where expectations were high. I saw an interview tonight where Rick Say and the male gymnist who placed 15 spoke. Rick said medals are expected and that is what the aim should be rather than personal bests and the other guy said the Cdn attitude is to go have fun whereas China and other countries set a standard that medals are expected and the athletes are pushed to achieve this. I don't think Canada should go to the extent of China, but Canada's complacent attitude of just go to have fun and achieve personal bests is not the best mental attitude to have. I suspect interviewing these athletes in the manner of these games in not easy for them or the interviewer, but at this level the athletes should expect it and if an impassioned comment comes out then I would be okay with it.

I don't expect Canada to lead in the medal count, but I think we should have a decent showing. I hear constant talk about lack of funding. I know funding contributes to some obstacles, but the athletes need to have the mental determination to perform when counted. I for one was pissed at Brent Hayden's decision and then lack of performance in an event he was saving his energy for. I know Michael Phelps is performing amazing feats at these olympics and some people are sick of hearing about him, but I admire him. He has that determination and drive that our Canadians just aren't displaying.

Elliotte,
I have found your questions very unprofessional and lacking in tact. There are many examples. For example, the questions of the 4 man swim team were inappropriate just after a difficult race. They could have been put to a Cdn official at another time but those questions at that point it were demeaning. I was stunned at your questions of Mike Brown just after he came out of the pool and missed a medal by what must have been a finger nail.

The Olympics are about mostly amateur athletes trying to perform in a pressure cooker. Your audience is ready to respond to their honest efforts. Tap into that. I am not asking you to be a blind cheerleader. However, better that than the media hitman that you are coming across as, in my opinion. I suggest you just ask the athletes to tell their story in their words and help your audience to identify with their trials, tribulations and successes rather than having your "angle" dripping from every question.

Exactly!

"If you can be fourth, you can be second,"
Adam van Koeverden, August 2004.

The people ripping Schalm should be ripping sportocrats who tell athletes their sport isn't "culturally significant enough" to deserve proper funding, as David Ford was. How the hell is Kayaking not culturally significant in Canada?

Here's my proposal - let's spend the same amount of money as Australia on sport - federally, provincially and locally. Not the same per capita, the same dollar amount and in the same proportions in respect of top athlete/mass participation. Since Australia has 2/3 of Canada's population, that is surely an affordable number.

Nicely put. Its hard to imagine how it must feel to an athlete that just competed at the top level of competition, suffered a disappointment and then must try to mix a P.R. exercise in at the same time

Mr. Friedman...well said!

First thing yesterday morning I read the article that included the 'repeatedly being kicked in the balls' quote. In my opinion at the time and still now...that is possibly the greatest sports quote of all time when describing how it would feel after having your athletic dreams and hopes crushed.

It was truly refreshing to hear someone...anyone...but especially an athlete at the Olympics give an honest response. When I play sports...which are not nearly at any level as the Olympics...if I lose...I am not happy...sometimes I am pissed...and that is when I play recreational sports. If I trained my whole life to play at the Olympics you are damn right I would feel like I was just kicked in the nuts repeatedly after losing…

As yesterday carried on and returned to read some of the comments on the website, I expected to see praise for her passion…but no…the comments were bashing her for what they call a tantrum…wow…now tell me that does not feel like the woman just took one last hoof to the groin as she is trying to get back up from the fetal position…

Brutal…get a life Canada…

Be upset about having no medals…but when someone shows that passion that Sherraine Schalm displayed…stand there and applaud her…or keep your mouth shut…

If you don’t…I hope someone lines you up nails you right in the bag!