Toward that end, the Canadian Olympic Foundation has raised more than $61 million since 2007 to help this country’s Olympians. The most high-profile of the fundraisers is Gold Medal Plates held across 10 cities pairing award-winning chefs with medal-winning and aspiring Olympians.
Victoria, home base to several national teams, houses a disproportionate number of Canadian Olympians and is an obvious choice for a Gold Medal Plates event. It takes place tonight at the Victoria Conference Centre.
“You throw a stick in Victoria, and you hit an Olympian,” quipped 2008 Beijing gold-medallist rower Adam Kreek.
More than $1 million is raised annually from the Gold Medal Plates functions, through ticket sales and by bids on donated items during the auction portion of the evening. Net proceeds go to the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which under the direction of Own the Podium, disperses it to high-performance programs in coaching, sports medicine, sports science, training and competition.
Silver-medallist and four-time Olympian Dave Calder of Victoria, to be among the gathered Olympians tonight, said the funding helped him immensely.
“So much state-of-the-art training wouldn’t have been possible without it,” he said.
“Things like being able to travel for altitude training would not have been attainable for us.”
Calder described these sort of community fundraising events as: “That touchstone moment when you know you’re not alone out there in the cold . . . that there is community support. When rowers are out there three times a day on Elk Lake working their butts off, they don’t always see how much the community is behind them. When they see it at an event like this, it is really powerful.”
Among the athletes joining Calder tonight will be a mix of Olympians, both past greats and those currently training for Rio 2016. They include rowing medallists Kreek, Andrew Byrnes, Cameron Baerg, Will Crothers, Doug Csima, Rob Gibson, Malcolm Howard, Conlin McCabe, Dominic Seiterle, soccer medallist Melissa Tancredi, figure skating medallist Tessa Virtue, synchronized-swimming medallist Michelle Cameron-Coulter and rugby stars Magali Harvey and John Moonlight.
Master of ceremonies is Olympic cycling medallist Curt Harnett with Kreek assisting. Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo is among those providing the music.
“It’s important to support Canadian athletes because by doing so, you are supporting Canadian culture,” said Kreek.
“It’s important to celebrate members of the community who are working hard, and not only just in sports. It’s important for us as Canadians to celebrate excellence in all fields, and sports is one of the most visible ways to do so. And business has stepped up for this cause.”
The chairman for the Victoria Gold Medal Plates is again Bruce Courtnall.
“We sold out again with over 400 tickets [at $350 each],” said Courtnall, whose brother, former NHLer Russ Courtnall, was a Winter Olympian at Sarajevo in 1984.
“This is a good push toward Rio for our Olympians. There are so many events out there, but our community has again found a will and a way to help out our athletes.”
