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Regional Business News
regarding the 2010 Olympics
in British Columbia, Canada

OlyBLOG is for businesses across Canada, especially in Vancouver / Whistler and throughout B.C. We also hope companies in Alberta and United States (i.e. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California) will find OlyBLOG interesting and informative.





CURRENT NEWS: For February 2006


It's Turin Time 2006 !!
Support Athletes & Boost Your Business
Keep your money in Canada and keep it
working for Canadian Olympic Athletes.

Considering that Canada's Olympic Teams are in Italy this month living the dream (February 2006), I thought it only appropriate to share with you how some of our more progressive Olympic hopefuls use their websites to boost their visibility and generate revenue. You probably don't realize it, but there is an easy way to create an alliance with amateur athletes and trade off of each other's resources and strengths. Everyone wins.

Amateur athletes usually need financial, and always need emotional support. It's tough out there on the road. Check out the links below, and as you do, think of ways you can cross-promote with amateur athletes of all ranks and styles. It will be good for them, good for you and good for Canadian sport to establish relationships with these young athletes when they need you the most.

Cross-promotion is relatively easy. Basically, you can work with amateur athletes by showcasing them on your business website. Create strategies in partnership with athletes to help raise their visibility, which in turn will help them generate revenue so they can train for 2010.

It will be good for everyone by not only helping a Canadian athlete reach an Olympic goal, it will also raise the visibility of your company.

Don't confuse "struggling amateur athletes who need your help" with the elite athletes already on the Olympic gold podium. If an athlete wins a gold medal and they have a bit of business savvy they really don't need your assistance. Plus, Olympic organizations and sponsors have them so tied up in stringent agreements that they couldn't talk to you even if they wanted. Gold medal Olympians have bigger opportunity working with large corporations. You missed your opportunity to help them so move on and look for someone who is eager to work with you.

Seek out young struggling athletes who are literally living from day to day on incomes stretched thin. Seek out the young men and women who are trying to figure out how they are going to afford to buy new equipment or pay for physiotherapy for the next few months. They can't train if they don't have the gear or are in constant pain.

For all the noise Olympic organizations and sponsors make, they don't even come close to sharing enough of their wealth with up-and-coming athletes. Many athletes drop out due to financial stress.

Olympic sponsors are mainly interested in gold medal winners with advertising cachet, or those who are hovering on the fringe of success. Sponsors are not usually not interested in long shots, and unfortunately, silver and bronze winners hardly count any more either thanks to aggressive sponsors and campaigns like "Own the Podium." Nike put it most profoundly, "You don't win silver. You lose gold." John Furlong, CEO VANOC recently stated that if an athlete doesn't win a medal they are "empty handed." Apparently he dismisses the official creed of the Games, which is, "The most important thing is not to win, but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

Many people think that the Canadian Olympic Committee, or the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, or the International Olympic Committee provide funds for all young struggling athletes. Well in some respects they do, but not nearly enough financial support gets channeled to Canadian athletes. In fact, the profit the IOC makes goes to athletes in countries that are not as well off as Canada. Which is cool because without those funds we might never have experienced the Jamaican Bobsled Team or Eddy the Eagle. (Actually, IOC profit goes to athletes in countries struggling to survive, but I wanted to leverage a bit of Rick Mercer-styled sarcasm to illustrate that the money does not stay in the host country -- sorry Jamaica and England.) Most people are unaware that the profit Olympic organizations will make in Canada won't stay in Canada. And it is exactly why young Canadian athletes need your help, and why they need it today more than ever.

If you want to make sure your Canadian dollars are spent on Canadian athletes you have to get directly involved with the athlete. Skip the middleman. Don't count on overworked VANOC or the under funded COC, or especially an organization like the IOC who have been involved in bribery, fraud and corruption, to handle your money responsibly. The IOC is not your friend, nor are they Vancouver/Whistler's or Canada's friend. At best they should be regarded as arms-length alliances. Think of them more like a bushy-haired Don King-type boxing promoter looking out for their interests first.

Don't let Furlong lead you astray. The IOC and all the large corporate sponsors like NBC and Visa who sold billions in advertising to 4 billion viewers during the Athens Summer Games in 2004 left Greece with a $12 billion dollar debt. With friends like that who needs enemies? Three months after the Games in Athens Furlong came back to Vancouver and told a banquet room full of people (about 800) at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon that Athens was a success. Success for whom? Each Greek household is now on the hook for almost $78,000 US each. It will take generations to pay off.

The IOC and large corporations take little responsibility when a community staggers under the cost of hosting an Olympic event. And all the while, athletes still struggle.

Unfortunately, there is serious disconnect between Olympic organizations and Canada. If these organizations spent less time and money harassing small and midsize businesses like the Olympia Restaurant or Olympic First Aid Services, they would have more money to support athletes. Instead they hire lawyers to squander our tax dollars and divide the community.

If you want to do the right thing, don't count on the guys from the "Good Old Boys" club, instead create relationships with athletes on a one-to-one bases. Don't forget too, to support your neighborhood sports teams. When was the last time you bought jerseys for the local hockey or soccer team? Or maybe contributed a little cash to the junior snowboard or skate stars in training? These young people need your help. Contact their coaches and trainers to find out how you can help. Keep your money in Canada and keep it working for our aspiring athletes. We all know that VANOC wants to "Own the Podium", unfortunately the Canadian government woefully under funds sport in this country. If you want it done right you have to do it yourself.

Get in the Games & Enhance the SPIRIT!!

Not sure where to start? Consider this, all athletes today need a well-designed website. It raises their visibility, which helps them raise money to continue training. If you really want to "Enhance the Spirit" and do something positive to contribute to amateur Olympic sport contact the athletes listed below or other Canadian Olympic hopefuls and offer to contribute funds to build, improve and keep their amateur athletic websites updated.

Check out Kristi Richards' site for a great example of an Olympic hopeful who knows how to use a website to raise money. This rising star athlete has a plan, and she and all the other athletes in Canada need your help to make it happen. We have nothing to do with Kristi's site and are not affiliated in any way. Click on her name above and scroll about half way down her web page to see her fundraising strategy. She's brilliant!

According to the CBC website, the athletes listed below are heading to Turin.

The best to you all! Go to Italy, do your best and revel in the experience. If you bring back a medal - FANTASTIC! If not C'est la Vie. Hope you had a ball trying !!!!

The COC & VANOC won't settle for anything less than gold, silver or bronze, but you should know that most of the rest of Canada is already proud of you regardless of what happens. Compete to win, but keep it real too.

Citius, Altius, Fortius
Swifter, Higher, Stronger
and above all, Stay Focused . . .

Alpine Skiing
Kelly Vanderbeek
Manuel Osborne-Paradis
Erik Guay
Geneviève Simard

Cross Country Skiing
George Grey

Figure Skating
Jeff Buttle
Emanuel Sandhu
Annie Bellemare
Meghan Duhamel
Jennifer Robinson
Joannie Rochette
Mira Leung
Ben Ferreira
Chris Mabee
Keegan Murphy
Ken Rose
Dance
Sabrina Rettino &
Michael Whitehead
Megan Wing &
Aaron Low
Pairs
Elizabeth Putnam &
Sean Wirtz

Freestyle Skiing
Jennifer Heil - very cool site -- check it out !!

Alexandre Bilodeau - good site too!

Kristi Richards - check out Kristi's fund raising efforts through "The Beanery & Sumac Ridge Winery" It's half way down her homepage. Smart young lady!

Jim Schiman

Women's Hockey
Hayley Wickenheiser

Speed Skating
Francois-Louis Tremblay
Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
Alanna Kraus

Skeleton Racing
Lindsay Alcock

Snowboarding
Justin Lamoureux
Check Justin out here too at TreeTop Films
Crispin Lipscomb
Mercedes Nicol
Dominique Valèe
Check Dominique out here too at Oakley
Alexa Loo
Drew Neilson
Erin Simmons
Tom Velisek

Paralympic Athletes
Brad Lennea
Gord Tuck - recently retired
Read more about Gord here

(Sorry, couldn't find more links to Paralympic athlete sites. If you know of others who are going to Turin let me know and I'll add them.)

Here's a random selection of interesting websites regarding amateur athletics . . .

List of Canadian Olympians

Olympic Stats & Database - BIG LIST!

Turin 2006 Stats & List of Events

Amateur Athletes Bursary Fund

Undue Pressure on Athletes to Win

Turin 1 Month Before - Yikes!
What Vancouver/Whistler can expect in 2010

ROOTS Designs TEAM USA Wear for Turin

Turin Helicopters Snow to Downhill Course
No expense spared to make Games work

Turin Struggling to Finish In Time

Turin Oval Challenges

Buy Turin Tickets Here - Prices & Availability


* We invested over three years and a six-figure budget researching Olympic organizations' relationships with sponsors, contractors, suppliers, partners, etc. The results surprised us too. Click below . . .



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