Let The European and North American Olympics Winter Games Begin

Mary Malmros wrote:


the ones who can muster the resources
get the opportunities, and the ones who can do something with those
opportunities get a trip to the Olympics. Everybody else stays home.

Don't I know it. The Kid had to have coaching, two pairs of racing skis
for each discipline to be competitive, and traveled all over the west
for FIS races - general pain in the pocketbook. But I also know pro
forms, manufacture rep gifts, and a host of other tricks to ease the
burden; all unavailable to warm country athletes even when they travel
to Winter to build skills. And as soon (or sooner) as you're selected
for the c-team organized financial aid kicks in; also unavailable to
warm country athletes.

My point was it wouldn't hurt in any way, and it might help to expand
participation in the Games. In any event, I'd think the automatic TV
exposure in warm countries would be a cheap way to expand the ski
holiday base for all those destination resorts facing a declining ski
population. The warm countries usually do have an affluent elite who
would be and obvious potential tourist base.

(BTW, you didn't address the Jamaican Bobsled team being excluded by
financial difficulties. I miss them - they added some fun to the whole
otherwise all to serious Games.)

lal_truckee wrote:

Mary Malmros wrote:


the ones who can muster the resources get the opportunities, and the
ones who can do something with those opportunities get a trip to the
Olympics. Everybody else stays home.


Don't I know it. The Kid had to have coaching, two pairs of racing skis
for each discipline to be competitive, and traveled all over the west
for FIS races - general pain in the pocketbook. But I also know pro
forms, manufacture rep gifts, and a host of other tricks to ease the
burden; all unavailable to warm country athletes even when they travel
to Winter to build skills. And as soon (or sooner) as you're selected
for the c-team organized financial aid kicks in; also unavailable to
warm country athletes.

Unavailable how? Does the C Team look at your zip code and say, "Oh,
sorry, you don't qualify"?

My point was it wouldn't hurt in any way, and it might help to expand
participation in the Games.

_How_??? By picking up kids when they're eight years old (at most) and
transporting them to live permanently in a ski town in Cold Country?
Because that's how you do it; if there's another way, I'd love to hear
you name it.

In any event, I'd think the automatic TV
exposure in warm countries would be a cheap way to expand the ski
holiday base for all those destination resorts facing a declining ski
population. The warm countries usually do have an affluent elite who
would be and obvious potential tourist base.

The "warm country" elite -- AKA the ones who will be first lined up
against the wall and shot at the next change of government -- already
know plenty about skiing, and are probably spending more time in Gstaad
than in their home countries.

(BTW, you didn't address the Jamaican Bobsled team being excluded by
financial difficulties. I miss them - they added some fun to the whole
otherwise all to serious Games.)

Bad word choice; saying that they were "excluded" that makes it sound as
if some kind of special tax was levied against the Jamaicans. The truth
is that they just didn't make the nut. Well, guess what, it ain't just
bobsledding and it ain't just the winter games -- the international
governing bodies in _every_ Olympic sport leave it up to national
federations how they handle their financing. Thus you have some
countries, like Canada, where there is some level of public funding for
Olympic athletes, and others, like the USA, where the national
federations have to come up with the bucks on their own. However it's
done, some countries, individually or collectively, decide that they
want to fund development in these sports, and some decide that they've
got other priorities.

While we're on the subject, what do you think about Strobl's competing
for Slovenia? He couldn't get a start for Austria, so he shuffled off
to some country that didn't have that much of a team, and all of a
sudden he's a star. Maybe Picabo Street should make a comeback racing
for Namibia -- wouldn't that be deeply meaningful?

Mary replied:
Well, hell, Picabo Street's family sure didn't have any $30K a year to
spend on school. For that matter, neither did Bode Miller's.

Marty wrote before she replied:
Unless you live at the base of a ski area, there will be travel involved.

So, they both had that advantage - being very close to skiing - as well
as family that did ski and support their ski racing with some money and
by some money I mean it wasn't cheap.

Marty also wrote before Mary replied:

I think there are ways for the average Joe to see his child to the
elite level if the child is a gifted athlete and really wants it AND
the parent wants it for their child. But, the average Joe will have to
sacrifice a heck of a lot more than the wealthy that can send his kid
to BMA with unlimited funds to fuel the kid to the top.

Janica Kostelic - THE exception to the rule
(http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/sport.html). Which is another
reason why I admire her and her brother and her parents so much.

There are not many exceptions to the rule. However, it's funny how the
exceptions are typically the best.

Ski racing is a money sport. There is no argument against that. There
are a few exceptions, but typically, these exceptions have some other
enabling advantage(s) and some significant amount of money and time to
get the kids what they need to get them recognized.

Big money makes big ski racing much, much easier to attain. Well, in
the US anyway.
--
Marty

Marty wrote:

Mary replied:

Well, hell, Picabo Street's family sure didn't have any $30K a year to
spend on school. For that matter, neither did Bode Miller's.


Marty wrote before she replied:

Unless you live at the base of a ski area, there will be travel involved.


So, they both had that advantage - being very close to skiing - as well
as family that did ski and support their ski racing with some money and
by some money I mean it wasn't cheap.

My impression is that Picabo Street got most of her opportunities as a
result of scholarships, and her family's willingness to move to where
she could have opportunities. I don't know that they were ever able to
muster much in the way of financial support. Dunno about Bode.

Marty also wrote before Mary replied:


I think there are ways for the average Joe to see his child to the
elite level if the child is a gifted athlete and really wants it AND
the parent wants it for their child. But, the average Joe will have to
sacrifice a heck of a lot more than the wealthy that can send his kid
to BMA with unlimited funds to fuel the kid to the top.


Janica Kostelic - THE exception to the rule

AN exception to the rule, not THE exception. There are others who've
done it on the cheap, albeit not in a country at war.

(http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/sport.html). Which is another
reason why I admire her and her brother and her parents so much.

There are not many exceptions to the rule. However, it's funny how the
exceptions are typically the best.

I'm not sure that's the case -- I dunno about the Austrians, for
example, or the Norwegians, or really anybody but the Americans, and the
Americans are very much a mixed bag.

Ski racing is a money sport. There is no argument against that. There
are a few exceptions, but typically, these exceptions have some other
enabling advantage(s) and some significant amount of money and time to
get the kids what they need to get them recognized.

Weeeeelll....I think that living at the base of a mountain with a good
club is a bigger factor than money. That is to say, a kid who comes
from money but who lives far from a mountain with a good club is less
likely to make out well than a kid who lives at the base of the mountain
but doesn't come from money.

"Mary Malmros" wrote in message
news:RkRFf.2051$VX2.979@trndny04...


Marty wrote:

From the article:
"But the challenges facing young African-American ski racers are
daunting. First, there is the cold cash needed to groom a winner: The
NBS says that it takes about $30,000 per year to send a child to an
elite ski academy and pay for travel to races."

Well, hell, Picabo Street's family sure didn't have any $30K a year to
spend on school. For that matter, neither did Bode Miller's.

Maybe his parents didn't pay for it, but Bode attended Carrabasset Valley
Academy.

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
t...
Mary Malmros wrote:


the ones who can muster the resources
get the opportunities, and the ones who can do something with those
opportunities get a trip to the Olympics. Everybody else stays home.

Don't I know it. The Kid had to have coaching, two pairs of racing skis
for each discipline to be competitive, and traveled all over the west
for FIS races - general pain in the pocketbook. But I also know pro
forms, manufacture rep gifts, and a host of other tricks to ease the
burden; all unavailable to warm country athletes even when they travel
to Winter to build skills. And as soon (or sooner) as you're selected
for the c-team organized financial aid kicks in; also unavailable to
warm country athletes.

My point was it wouldn't hurt in any way, and it might help to expand
participation in the Games. In any event, I'd think the automatic TV
exposure in warm countries would be a cheap way to expand the ski
holiday base for all those destination resorts facing a declining ski
population. The warm countries usually do have an affluent elite who
would be and obvious potential tourist base.

(BTW, you didn't address the Jamaican Bobsled team being excluded by
financial difficulties. I miss them - they added some fun to the whole
otherwise all to serious Games.)

And Eddie the Eagle, and whoever that guy was that finished dead last in the
downhill.

On Tue, 07 Feb 2006 00:07:05 +0000, lal_truckee wrote:

Mary Malmros wrote:


the ones who can muster the resources
get the opportunities, and the ones who can do something with those
opportunities get a trip to the Olympics. Everybody else stays home.

Don't I know it. The Kid had to have coaching, two pairs of racing skis
for each discipline to be competitive, and traveled all over the west
for FIS races - general pain in the pocketbook. But I also know pro
forms, manufacture rep gifts, and a host of other tricks to ease the
burden; all unavailable to warm country athletes even when they travel
to Winter to build skills. And as soon (or sooner) as you're selected
for the c-team organized financial aid kicks in; also unavailable to
warm country athletes.

Athletes competing for warm countries get equipment deals too, it costs
very little for the manufacturers when compared to the goodwill and
publicity it generates.

Robert Swindells

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:01:33 +0000, Mary Malmros wrote:

I also have to ask, what's the point of, for instance, Brazil having an
alpine skier in the Olympics? Alpine skiing means nothing in Brazil; it
means something in Austria and Norway and parts of the USA. How
meaningful is "inclusion" when the thing you're being included in just
isn't on your radar scope in the first place?

Pick a different country, Brazil has been building up their ski team for
several years now. They train in the Alps and Chile and race on the FIS
circuit.

Robert Swindells

Robert Swindells wrote:
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:01:33 +0000, Mary Malmros wrote:

I also have to ask, what's the point of, for instance, Brazil having an
alpine skier in the Olympics? Alpine skiing means nothing in Brazil; it
means something in Austria and Norway and parts of the USA. How
meaningful is "inclusion" when the thing you're being included in just
isn't on your radar scope in the first place?

Pick a different country, Brazil has been building up their ski team for
several years now. They train in the Alps and Chile and race on the FIS
circuit.

And, as I said, it wouldn't hurt to have a Olympics connected
"qualifying race" for the "warm country" athletes. Since it would help
keep interest up during the development process.

(And yes, I know those FIS races ARE the qualifying races, but they are
easily overlooked by the average citizen back home [just as they are
overlooked by the average citizen even in the US] while a race even
pseudo-part of the Olympics would be well publicized back home.)

Robert Swindells wrote:

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:01:33 +0000, Mary Malmros wrote:


I also have to ask, what's the point of, for instance, Brazil having an
alpine skier in the Olympics? Alpine skiing means nothing in Brazil; it
means something in Austria and Norway and parts of the USA. How
meaningful is "inclusion" when the thing you're being included in just
isn't on your radar scope in the first place?


Pick a different country, Brazil has been building up their ski team for
several years now. They train in the Alps and Chile and race on the FIS
circuit.

Meh. Name me a Brazilian ski town; that's where you'll find the first
Brazilian kid to score points on the World Cup.