April 18, 2004 – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) wrapped up its three-day Congress weekend in Montreal today with a celebration of Greece and the athletes who will be representing Canada at the Olympic Games in Athens, as well as an official “passing of the baton” from the Chef de Mission of the Pan American Games last year to the Chef de Mission for the Canadian Team in Athens this summer.

“As we celebrate 100 years of Canadian team participation at the Olympic Games this year, I want to wish our Canadian team great success this summer in Athens, the birthplace of the Olympic Games,” said COC President Michael Chambers. “This weekend has been a great opportunity for our Board members and the high performance sport community to come together to discuss excellence in sport and to move forward on several major COC policy decisions.”

During the weekend, the COC held its Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame gala on April 16, three sport workshops featuring a high-profile group of international speakers and a celebration of Quebec sporting excellence on April 17, and Annual General Meeting and Athens celebration on April 18. At the semi-annual Board of Directors Meeting on April 16, several key

proposals were approved:

The Board of Directors – which comprises representatives

from all 51 Olympic and Pan American National Sport Federations – formally endorsed the COC as the official advocacy voice for high performance sport in Canada. Building on the recent successes of the COC's federal government advocacy initiative, this endorsement gives the COC the authority to continue to advocate on behalf of high performance sport with the federal

government and other funding partners.

The Board approved the COC's Strategic Plan for 2005-2012 which builds on the COC's vision of seeing Canada among the top performing sporting nations in the world and in engaging Canadians in the Olympic Movement and sport in Canada. The overall mission statement for the COC, as outlined in the strategic plan, is: to achieve podium success at Olympic Games and to advance the Olympic Movement in Canada. The plan outlines key objectives and strategies on how the COC will achieve its

mission over the eight-year period.

The Board approved a new funding model that

integrates all of the COC's current funding programs under its Canadian Olympic Excellence Fund and invests the largest portion of funds into sports having demonstrated podium and Top 8 potential at Olympic Games, consistent

with the COC strategic plan.

The Board approved an amendment to the COC's

doping policy that adds an additional sanction to the two-year period of ineligibility for a first serious doping violation under the World Anti-Doping Code by precluding the banned athlete from competing in the next Pan American, Olympic Summer and Olympic Winter Games.