Abstract:
With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games quickly approaching, there has
been a heightened interest in the performance of Canadian athletes at international
competitions (Duffy, 2007; Fidlin, 2005; Longley, 2006). Two significant documents
outline Canada's goal to become the number one sporting nation at the 2010 Olympic
Games, and improve Canada's performance at the 2008 Olympic Games: Own the
Podium and Road to Excellence (Priestner Allinger & Allinger, 2004; Road to
Excellence, 2006). These two documents represent heightened interest in the performance
of our elite athletes, in conjunction with Canada's hosting status of the Vancouver 2010
Winter Olympic Games. The requirements to train and compete at the international level
have become more demanding both in terms of financial resources and time commitment.
The need to financially assist athletes with their training and competition costs has been
an important topic of debate over the past decades (Beamish & Borowy, 1987;
Gatehouse, 2004; Macintosh, 1996; Munro, 1970; Owens, 2004).
Two sources of fiinding for high performance athletes in Canada are the Athlete
Assistance Program (AAP) provided by the Federal Government and the Canadian
Olympic Excellence Fund provided by the Canadian Olympic Committee. The
importance of these fiinds for athletes has been discussed in various forums (Ekos, 1992,
1997, 2005; Priestner Allinger & Allinger, 2004; Thibault «& Babiak, 2005). However,
alternative sources of funds for high performance athletes have never been the object of
research. As such the purpose of this study was to describe a group of athlete applicants
from the time period of November 2004 to April 2006, and to contextualize these
applications within the development of the Charitable Fund for Athletes.
