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For Canadian NoCo and Jumping, No OTP Funding Closes ‘Every Other Door’
The future of ski jumping and nordic combined in Canada is in limbo after one of the sports’ main funding sources, Own the Podium (OTP), decided to stop funding the sports for the 2014/2015 season. OTP is a sport-support program that makes recommendations for government and private-sector funding based on “targeted excellence” criteria.
FasterSkier learned of the funding cuts in a leaked document that included the proposed numerical amounts of funding for each program OTP plans to support: hockey, freestyle skiing, speed skating, figure skating, ski cross, curling, snowboarding, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, luge, cross-country skiing, biathlon, and skeleton. The document did not include ski jumping or nordic combined.
Both Curtis Lyon, Ski Jumping Canada and Nordic Combined Canada’s chairman and high-performance director, and OTP’s Director of Winter Sport Peter Judge confirmed the funding cut. But how that information was communicated remained unclear after speaking with Lyon and Judge in separate phone interviews.
According to Lyon, OTP did not contact his sports to inform them of the loss of funding. He stated that there had been no communication from OTP since May 16 and that he found out about the cuts by word of mouth and privately shared documents.
“I knew the number of sports getting cut plus there has obviously been leaked information,” Lyon said in a phone interview. “I know what I’ve seen even if it hasn’t been 100-percent official. Other sports have been notified of their dollar amounts so I’m just assuming that they’re not even taking the time to give us the call back.”
Judge said OTP notified Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Canada about the decision to eliminate funding to their sports in mid- to late June. Lyon said he tried to contact OTP repeatedly for official information, without any luck.
Source: http://fasterskier.com
FasterSkier learned of the funding cuts in a leaked document that included the proposed numerical amounts of funding for each program OTP plans to support: hockey, freestyle skiing, speed skating, figure skating, ski cross, curling, snowboarding, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, luge, cross-country skiing, biathlon, and skeleton. The document did not include ski jumping or nordic combined.
Both Curtis Lyon, Ski Jumping Canada and Nordic Combined Canada’s chairman and high-performance director, and OTP’s Director of Winter Sport Peter Judge confirmed the funding cut. But how that information was communicated remained unclear after speaking with Lyon and Judge in separate phone interviews.
According to Lyon, OTP did not contact his sports to inform them of the loss of funding. He stated that there had been no communication from OTP since May 16 and that he found out about the cuts by word of mouth and privately shared documents.
“I knew the number of sports getting cut plus there has obviously been leaked information,” Lyon said in a phone interview. “I know what I’ve seen even if it hasn’t been 100-percent official. Other sports have been notified of their dollar amounts so I’m just assuming that they’re not even taking the time to give us the call back.”
Judge said OTP notified Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Canada about the decision to eliminate funding to their sports in mid- to late June. Lyon said he tried to contact OTP repeatedly for official information, without any luck.
Source: http://fasterskier.com
