Canadian results at London Olympic Games are dividends of investments made by Own the Podium

August 3, 2012 at 3:39 p.m.

The evidence is in the results.

Throwing heaps of cash at problems doesn't always create solutions. But the money Own the Podium has spent on Olympic sports has made a difference at the London Games.

Athletes and parents agree the investment made by OTP is paying dividends in London. The money has paid for training, coaching and new technological innovations.

"Without that investment there is no doubt in my mind it would be a much bigger challenge for athletes and coaches to be in the position to realize a podium finish,'' Anne Merklinger, OTP's chief executive officer, told Yahoo! Canada prior to the Games.

[Photos: Rowing in London]

"That's the mandate of the organization, to make sure that there is a very focused investment on sports that have the potential to be on the podium.''

Rower Dave Calder said OTP has changed the way sport federations and athletes approach an Olympics.

"Own The Podium has been unbelievable for us," Calder, a silver medallist in Beijing who reached the men's double final in London, told The Globe and Mail. "It makes sure we have the cutting-edge science and the access to top sports physiologists across the country.

"This sort of regimented, studied structure [of how to prepare and recover] didn't exist four years ago. So can you imagine what happened 12 years ago? We were on our own to figure out how to prepare. Now we just know."

Canada's men's and women's eight crews both won silver medals at the Games.

Canadian divers have won two bronze medals in London and there's the chance to add to that total when Alexandre Despatie competes in the three-metre springboard.

Mitch Geller, technical director for Diving Canada, said OTP has paid for a sophisticated high-speed digital camera system that allows coaches to analyse a dive from board to entry on a deck-side high-definition screen.

Diving Canada has also acquired data-management software so the biomechanical information from practice and competition dives can be matched with performance.

"It's a bit like diving Moneyball," Geller said. "I think we can say we're out ahead of other countries with this stuff."

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OTP was created in 2005 to help Canadian athletes lead the medal count at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Canada finished third in the standings with 26 medals, but the country's 14 gold was the most won by any country at a Winter Games.

In 2006 the program was expanded to include summer sports. OTP distributes about $70 million in federal government funding. Over the last four years the program has directed about $36 million a year in federal funding to summer athletes. That's up from $12 million a year leading into the 2008 Games.

Part of Merklinger's job is to lobby the federal government for money. She then helps decide how much money each sport federation receives. That funding is determined by the sport's potential to win medals.

Judy Armstrong, the mother of shot-putter Dylan Armstrong, said prior to OTP her son had to shovel of snow and de-ice his throwing circle as he trained in the winter in his hometown of Kamloops.

Last winter Armstrong and his coach Anatoly Bondarchuk spent time in Arizona. Leading up to the Games Armstrong trained in Portugal. Armstrong has also used OTP to gain access to medical services and massage therapy to prevent and treat injuries, including a sore elbow that has bothered him.

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"It's wonderful,'' said Judy Armstrong. "Dylan's been able to do what he needed to do to compete as a world-class athlete.

"Without (OTP) he just wouldn't be able to do this. They've certainly done the right thing in my eyes by having that program."

Swimmer Ryan Cochrane's Olympic preparation involved a team of biomechanists, physiologists, sports trainers and psychologists.

Allan Wrigley, a biomechanist at Victoria's Canadian Sport Centre Pacific, spent months studying Cochrane's races. He compared them with world record holder Sun Yang of China, then determined how many strokes Cochrane needed to reach the podium in the 1,500-metre freestyle.

Karen Cockburn, who has won a bronze and two silver medals in trampoline at three previous Olympics, laughs when she compares her London preparation to Sydney in 2000.

[Video: Prince Harry watches Games with Canadian athletes]

The trampoline team now has money for specialists in Pilates, ballet, performance psychology, and strength and conditioning. A biomechanist uses Dartfish video software to overlay a performance of a Canadian athlete with one of a competing trampolinist on the same screen.

"The difference between then and now is actually hilarious," said Cockburn. "Before Sydney we had no massage specialists. The athletes just massaged each other. We had no medical staff. We paid for everything ourselves.

"Now we have all this extra stuff. Total 180. I'm a little spoiled now."

More Olympics coverage on Yahoo! Sports Canada:
• Watch: Ryan Lochte talks about his best friend Carter
• Slideshow: Underwater photos from Olympic pool
• Canada women's basketball into quarter-finals in London