June 8, 2006 – In an effort to increase podium results at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Canada’s summer sport federations, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) today released the Road to Excellence Business Plan, which sets the vision and strategy for Canada to improve its performance at the upcoming Games.

The plan targets a top 16 placing for Canada at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and a top 12 placing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The goal for the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games is for Canada to place amongst the top five nations at each event. Similar to the Own the Podium 2010 winter sport initiative, the Road to Excellence plan targets sports with the ability to achieve success at upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“In many sports, the difference between finishing first and fourth usually comes down to a few one-hundredths of a second,” said Anne Merklinger, Director General of CanoeKayak Canada and member of the Summer Sport Steering Committee which guided the plan’s development. “The Road to Excellence Business Plan provides Canada’s summer sport federations with an overview on how we can close and eliminate this gap in order to help us achieve greater podium success over the next six years.”

“I’m very optimistic about the future of Canadian summer sport after seeing the Road to Excellence Business Plan,” said Iain Brambell, a two-time Olympian in rowing and chair of the COC’s Athletes’ Council. “We’ve seen the success Canada’s winter Olympians and Paralympians had in Turin and certainly this program has the potential to help more summer athletes reach the podium in both 2008 and 2012.”

The business plan, authored by Dr. Roger Jackson, CEO of Own the Podium 2010 and a gold medallist in rowing at the 1964 Olympic Games, was developed with the input of Canadian and international sport experts, with a view toward establishing a more coordinated and effective Canadian sport system to better support athletes. The plan is also devised to build effective partnerships with governments, sports and associated organizations, delivering world-class programs, policies and financing.

The plan outlines the need to generate additional federal and corporate funding of $58.8 million annually to support high performance programs for Olympic and Paralympic targeted summer sports. It also identifies an additional $29.6 million of annual support from provincial sources to augment junior and senior national athlete development, with the overall goal being to ensure sustainable funding up to and beyond 2012.

“The landscape of international high-performance sport is evolving at an aggressive rate,” said CPC Chief Operating Officer Brian MacPherson. “Countries from around the world are using every advantage at their disposal in order to provide their athletes with the ideal training environment. The Road to Excellence Business Plan will help Canada increase its number of medallists while also ensuring that those athletes continue to have access to the very best training resources available.”

“With the initial success of the Own The Podium 2010 initiative, I am confident in the sport community’s ability to develop and execute a similar initiative to help Canada’s summer athletes and coaches reach the podium,” said COC Chief Executive Officer Chris Rudge. “The Road to Excellence Business Plan provides a blueprint for how we can provide Canadian summer sport athletes with the essential tools and resources necessary to achieve success.”

The development of the Road to Excellence Business Plan marks the first time Canada’s summer sport organizations have come together with their sport partners to map out a comprehensive plan for podium success. The plan would give Canadian athletes the required financial and technical support to help them be competitive at the highest level in preparation for the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.