Canadian Olympic Committee announces monetary rewards for Olympic medallists coaches
Two years ago at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee gave away 1.7 million dollars as prize money to local medallists. As the London 2012 Olympic Games close in, the committee has decided to include monetary incentives for
Olympic coaches too.
For the upcoming Olympic edition, there is prize money allocated for the coaches of Canadian medallists.
As most monetary rewards, the sum of money shall range from high to low across the first to third positions.
In effect, the coaches of gold medallists will receive 10,000 dollars, coaches of silver medallists will receive 7,500 dollars and bronze winners’ trainers will earn 5,000 dollars out of the win.
These amounts are fifty per cent of the amounts the gold, silver and bronze medallists receive from Canada’s Athlete Excellence Fund.
The motion was spurred as a part of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s “Own the Podium” project.
The programme is geared to plant Canada back on the international sports scenario as an all-around athletic nation.
With the Olympic year looming near, the immediate goal for the Committee is to make Canada one of the top 12 countries as far as Olympic medal counts are concerned.
Canada needs to jump at least seven places ahead to realize this goal, as it held the 19th position in 2008’s Beijing Olympic Games. In medal counts this translates into at least 25 medals in all, seven of which need to be gold.
This latest development works on two levels. Firstly, it acknowledges that crucial force behind the face of the sport, which is responsible for progress.
Secondly, it is a clever incentive to cement the coaches’ commitment and lock in their efforts by extending the competition to them in a capacity that is more personal to them.
The news was officially made public on November 19, by the President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Marcel Aubut.
“Coaches are the backbone of our athletes’ planning, preparation and performances. From the time a child takes their first steps onto the field, the track, or the ice, the coach is the key. We need to keep our coaches in Canada. We need to reward them at
the level they so rightly deserve,” Aubut said.
In 2004, Canadian athletes returned with nine medals from the Olympic Games in Athens. The following edition of Olympics doubled this count to 18 medals under the “Own the Podium” initiative.
With these latest introductions in incentivising, the Canadian Olympic Committee hopes to realize even greater acceleration in their goals.
The committee intends to establish these monetary rewards as a regular tradition henceforth. If all goes as planned, other countries just might do well to take heed from this strategy and apply it to their systems, funds allowing.
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