The Canadian Olympic Foundation raises funds to support high performance athletes and sports with the greatest potential to reach the podium at world and Olympic events. Our current priority programs for funding include:
Own the Podium
The Canadian Olympic Foundation’s highest funding priority is to support Canada’s high performance athletes by allocating funds to our country’s national sport organizations. In order to maximize Canada’s podium results, the distribution of this allocation is executed based on strategic recommendations from an organization called Own the Podium (OTP).
OTP is an innovative and collaborative initiative without precedent in Canadian sport. It was created to bring together the key parties involved in leading and funding excellence in Canadian sport, with specific emphasis on achieving excellence at Olympic and Olympic Winter Games. OTP determines the funding allocations for each sport, prioritizing those with a higher potential for podium results. This funding has made it possible for sports to hire world-class coaches and technical support staff and has given our nation’s best athletes access to world-class sport science and sport medicine personnel. OTP then closely monitors and evaluates the progress of targeted Olympic sports through regular interactions and consultation with OTP’s high performance advisors and the national sport organizations.
Games Preparation & Podium Performance
The programs funded under Games Preparation and Podium Performance provide the Canadian Olympic Team with critical support in the final months leading up to the Games, and ensure there is a world class at-Games environment that will maximize an athlete’s performance. Pre-Games, a series of seminars and programs are implemented to help educate, motivate and inspire athletes, coaches and support staff, in order to build a cohesive environment that ultimately will produce the best Games results.
During the Games, Canada’s Olympic Team is provided with the best health services available by a team of care specialists, state of the art performance technology equipment and support, and a superior training environment in order to help alleviate external concerns and to provide services that increase Canada’s podium standings. These programs are delivered by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC).
Athletic Excellence
The Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athletic Excellence programs provide Olympic athletes, across all sports, with financial incentives to achieve podium success.
Top 5 World Standing: A financial award, valued at $5,000 is given to any athlete who finishes in the top five at a World Championship or Olympic Games.
Olympic Medal Winner Program: A monetary award is given to all Canadian Olympians for each individual medal they win at the Games: $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.