Did anyone catch Rick Say’s rant after the swimming relays on Tuesday night (4x200?) Wow. Rick sure made it clear that he was pissed off with getting 5th place.
Quote: “We came here for a medal, 5th place is unacceptable… I am pissed off…!”
After the first “I’m pisssed off!” CBC started censoring him. Classic. Loved it.
I feel bad…he seems to be the only one rabid. I wish I could coach a guy like that.
The 4x200 was incredible. What a leg by Keller. For you old schoolers out there, it reminds me of 1984’s 4x200 anchor battle between West Germany’s Michael Gross and America’s Bruce Furniss. Not so sure about the last name…but I remember watching it as a wee lad, jumping up and down.
I thought it was awesome. Shows he has a passion for winning - unlike some others at these games.
(I posted about Rick earlier in this thread here: http://charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6681)
This is one guy who can be a leader & pull the swimming team out of the deep end before they drown… now they need to get Alex Bauman & maybe Mark Tewksbury to head the program.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall a few minutes later when the team was in the locker room & starting to talk. Good for him & he’s good for Canadian swimming.
The sensoring was funny… I didn’t really think “pissed” was consider foul but they left “crap” in
Bauman already ruled himself out by telegraphing what he’d do (cut the deadwood!)
Krykie! The media are starting to really take it to the athletes! I got this from Toronto Sun:
Susan Nattrass, Canadian trap shooter, doesn’t go far without her gun. She even does interviews with it cradled in her arm. Which might be a good time to remind reporters that if you ask the wrong question, you never know how some people might, um, pop off.
Be careful out there, kids.
Speaking of Nattrass, the 53-year-old has been to the Olympics five times. Her best finish came this week, placing sixth.
When it was over, Nattrass went to the “I’m just a poor athlete nobody loves” refrain popularized by Canadian athletes from coast to coast.
Now, this generally may be true. Our athletes do deserve decent monetary backing. But hearing the complaint about being hard done by from Nattrass is really rich.
“I was one of the first to benefit from the Game Plan in 1969,” she told reporters. “And I got tuition which has helped me get three degrees.”
In return, Canada got zero medals. And those degrees?
She used those to get a job – not in Canada – but in Seattle, where she has lived for eight years. So Canadians don’t even benefit from the knowledge she gained at taxpayer expense.
“I’ve been thinking about U.S. citizenship because I love where I live,” she is quoted as saying.
Is there any way we can help pay for that?
Still checking. I mean, Canadians are such darn cheapskates.
We don’t need anyone here to blame the athletes- that’s what Johnson’s there for!
They need a decent program and the claim that this is a development phase is ridiculous after 10 years of steady decline.
Funding has been woeful, and, though the Gov put up 30 million in extra money, only 1 million made it to programs for every sport before Athens.
Competing soon after the trials left most swimmers unable to recover.
The coach’s excuse is that if the trials were earlier, performances there would have been lower and even though it would have been better for the Olympics, the genius’ running the COC would have left most of the team home.
So our swimmers were F**ked coming and going!
Mike…go on the www.usa-swimming.org for the Bruce Hayes anchor vid…
Gross Busters!
As for swim coaching up in Canada…in all respect it seems a bit “quiet”. No energy on the deck. Passive. Very strange.
I’m really glad Rick Say voiced his opinion like he did. Some one had to do it!
We (Canadians) need more of a killer instinct. And for our country to take care of the athletes.
Why doesn’t Say just go south of the boarder…the South Africans went to Arizona…perhaps they should try to go for the 4 x 200 again and train with people that think they can win.
Our new “sport minister” is more interested in Canada being “healthy”… why isn’t he the minister of health then??
We can’t get Sport Canada to re-distribute the $$ (cards, they’re called) because they say they will have to look at all sports to figure if they have enough/too much for their international results?!!? So other sports have funding with 65th & worse in World Cup results while I got dropped from the funding system with a 7th overall in Wc racing (winter sport, not track) because there weren’t enough cards.
Unfortunately, it’s a system so far out of whack that they would rather continue to fund failing systems because it would take work to fix it.
I hope Rick Say & Mike Brown are on the top of the podium in the next few years as I think they can really make some (more?) waves (sorry for the punn, could not resist)
What about us with no cards? My favorite is the 50m world champ Pilzik who was living on all you can eat pizza…with a carding system he could of upgraded to Pizza Hut!
As for Ian Thorpe again, he made the same error as mr.gross by going out way too hard on the first 50 but was impressive as an outside smoke in the 100m. Too many prelims and they should make the A standards much faster.
Queston: How many Canadian swimmers/relays had a chance of winning a medal? I find the athletes (in any sport) who have a shot at medaling have that “killer instinct”, the right attitude. While those that just make the team are simply happy to be there. To many athletes just make the team. There are contenders and then there are those on a all expense payed european vacation.
My 2 cents…keep the change.
Good theory but you get the killer instinct by being in appropriate level competition- there isn’t any- for instance, in Track, there hasn’t been an international dual meet for 16 years!
Why not follow the gymnastics format and add a team swimming and track medal for the “all around”? This will make 4th place finishers a bit more motivated.
Well something has to be done. I’m afraid that it starts before you even get to the Olympic qualifying levels. Has anyone (in Ontario) been to an OFSAA meet in the last few years? :rolleyes: There’s no development at all at the high school level.
By the way, it’s day 6 of the Olympics and Canada has fewer medals than Azerbaijan.
Can somebody please tell me how many people live in Azerbaijan?
Luckily we’re in good company right now, tied with other super-sporting powers like Spain, Argentina, Israel, India, Slovenia and the juggernaut athletic machine from the United Arab Emirates.
Clemson - I’m not sure if sending Rick Say to train in the U.S is the solution. The silver medalist in the 200m butterfly Takashi Yamamoto trains about 5 minutes from my house in Waterloo - I don’t think training in Canada is a problem - it basically comes down to the fact that Dave Johnson needs to step aside and let someone like Mark Tewksbury or Alex Bauman (too bad the Aussies have him) take over. There’s an article today in the paper that is talking about unnamed Canadian swimmers are seeking his resignation.
‘‘The idea is to get to the board (members of Swimming Canada) and tell them that Dave may be a nice guy, he may be a knowledgeable guy but he’s not able to execute,’’ the former swimmer who is organizing the get-rid-of-Johnson campaign told the Globe. ‘‘He needs to do the honourable thing and step aside or he has to be fired.’’
And that is the biggest beef I have with Canadian sports particulary track.
I’m in partial support of these raised standards, however, if you’re going to raise standards then you need to provide athletes every opportunity to achieve these standards. One the biggest issues in this country, and it appears to in all sports here, is the lack of quality coaching, meets, facilities (to name a few). A number of other countries have made leaps and bounds in various sports yet we continue to sit back and watch countries the size of small towns (no disrespect) improve. A good example I find is when I go through the results of a World Junior Track meet and see how it’s no longer dominated by the U.S. alot of other countries have invested in there Junior programs and are now seeing the results.
It’s a sad state of affairs in Canada…we seem to wait till the Olympics come around to say what we could have and should have done different…
My 2 cents…keep the change.
PS. Has anyone been to the Sport Alliance building on Eglington and Don Mills? Well it houses amateur sport offices for Ontario. Anyways, it’s a big Joke!
Early notice for Vancouver 2010, Canadian Skeleton team is #1 in the World for the men’s & women’s teams… no on-ice (driving coach) & virtually no organized development program (it’s limping along). At least 6/8 of the team is set to retire & they are not focusing on developing the ones who will fill big shoes for 2010… just in time for our own Olympics?!
The brilliance is mind blowing, when you think of it (sarcasm kids)
At 5 1/2 years out, developing should be a big priority.
Also… have you guys seen the VISA commercials? They sponsor 4 athletes!! & get the back patting commercials all during the Olympics. They, as well, were offered the skeleton teams as they sponsor men’s & women’s bobsleigh in Canada & refused (the sports are under the same federation)probably didn’t want to pay that many performance bonuses & then for Salt Lake they used a skeleton racer in their commercials!! All the while refusing to give the team 1 cent!
Maybe corporate Canada needs more inscentive than just tax breaks… maybe?
Sorry, venting again.
Canada does have top facilities & other nations come here to train (got to get to know Penny Heyns from S.Africa, double gold medalist in Atlanta) so that is not the problem.
Is it Money, trial placement, or coaching?
I am sure it is part of all three but the tampa bay bucs didn’t get the fans, money, or players till management changes and good timing.
So USA Swimming and Track and Field are being run perfectly…and we swimming gets all the money to train for four years? I am seeing very abstract problems and not good explanations why things are not better.