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Support the Sport System
Capacity Building
Culture
Sport Science and Innovation
Support to Non-Targeted Sports
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Historical timeline of Own the Podium.
Own the Podium is a national sport technical initiative designed to help Canada be the number one nation (total medal count) at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and to place among the top-three nations (gold medal count) at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
In 2005, winter sport federations and funding partners came together to launch Own the Podium. Corporate supporters matched federal contributions of $11 million in annual investments targeted at performance, for a total of $110 million over five years. In 2006, Own the Podium was extended to support the nation’s targeted summer-sport organizations.
During the program’s first three years, our focus was on the development of world leading sport organizations, ensuring quality coaches, technical leaders along with world-class daily and competition environments in addition to providing sport medicine and sport science services for athletes.
At the 2008 Games, thanks to the introduction of Road to Excellence in 2006, Canada made progress on its Olympic initiative, moving from 19th in 2004 to 15th based on total medal count. However, Canada’s gold medal Paralympic ranking declined from 3rd to 7th.
Increased investment saw Canada improve from fifth overall at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games to being the number one nation in gold medal ranking in 2010. Canada’s Olympians won a record number of 14 gold medals (26 overall).
Canada’s Paralympians advanced from sixth place to third in the gold medal count with 10 victories at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games (19 medals overall). This was another all-time best achievement for Canada.
In 2011, “Top Secret” was rebranded as “Innovation for Gold” establishing a sustainable, world leading applied sport sciences research and innovation program that has a direct impact on multiple podium performances at both summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic games.
In 2012, Own the Podium was incorporated and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the COC to define roles, responsibilities, and funding commitments in support of Canada’s quest to become a world leader in high-performance sport at the Olympic Games.
This national partnership between the COC and OTP has had a significant impact on developing more successful high performance programs for Canada. The creation of our Team Sport Strategy was designed to have an impact on the number of teams qualifying for Olympic and Paralympic Games, then reaching playoff round and ultimately contending for a medal. In 2015, Own the Podium signed a partnership agreement with Canadian Tire Financial Services to uplift our data analytics focus. This partnership lasted until 2024.
In 2016, as part of a strategic shift in priorities, Own the Podium announced that core sports would have a four-year funding commitment, revealed core sport support for upcoming and subsequent Games, performed specific analysis related to the Next Generation initiative, placed greater emphasis on evidence of future medal potential, and linked evidence to athletes’ podium pathways.
At the 2016 Games, Canada improved from 14th in Overall Medal Rank to 10th, and saw a significant increase in top-8 performances.
In 2017-18, the Coaching Enhancement Program (currently known as the Pursuit Program) was created to support and enhance Canada’s high-performance coaches in their pursuit of excellence in Olympic and Paralympic sport.
Additionally, Own the Podium continued to improve its role as a performance partner, extending reach to support non-targeted sports. The organization also implemented required changes outlined in “Review of Targeted Approach” in collaboration with Sport Canada and other partners.
NextGen funding of $10m per year was introduced, driving support further down the pathway for national sport organization’s high-performance plans (demonstrating evidence of medal potential eight years out from Games).
In 2020, the COC and OTP extended their partnership through 2028, demonstrating the COC’s sustained commitment to the targeted excellence strategy in Canada. Investing over $15,000,000 per year, the COC’s investment delivers the critical resources Canada’s medal potential athletes and sports need in their quest to achieve goals.
In 2021, Canada fielded a record six team sports at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The following year, the Coaching Enhancement Program was rebranded to Pursuit, and expanded to include technical leaders.
In 2023, Own the Podium’s Board expanded to include two Directors recently retired from Olympic and Paralympic competition, with full voting privileges. In 2024, Own the Podium created its Athlete Advisory Committee and an internal Data Analytics Team to support the needs of national sport organizations and other partners.
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