November 29, 2004 – To improve Canada’s performance at the Olympic
Games, particularly to achieve its goal of being the top medal-winning
country at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver/Whistler, the Canadian
Olympic Committee (COC) has set ambitious performance and medal targets for
upcoming Games and is embarking on a bold new plan to achieve them.

The COC’s goal is to place among the top three nations at the 2006 Olympic
Winter Games in Turin (25 medals), among the top 16 countries at the 2008
Games in Beijing (18 medals) and first at the 2010 Games in
Vancouver/Whister (35 medals). These goals are part of the COC’s strategic
plan, which was unanimously endorsed by the organization’s Board of
Directors at its semi-annual meeting in Toronto this weekend. The COC Board
includes representation from all of Canada’s summer, winter and Pan American
sport federations as well as Olympic coaches and athletes.

“The COC believes that Canada’s athletes are among the best in the world but
they need and deserve additional support to achieve international podium
success,” said COC President Michael Chambers. “We want to give Canadians
something to cheer about at upcoming Olympic Games, particularly our home
Games in 2010. Our goal of improving Canada’s Olympic performance is
achievable with the support and collaboration of our sport partners.”

These partners include athletes, coaches, national sport federations,
Canadian Sport Centres, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010
Olympic Winter Games, the Calgary Olympic Development Association and
business and private supporters. The COC also recognizes the need to
partner more effectively with all three levels of government to generate the
additional funding required to properly fund high performance sport in
Canada.

“It’s important for the COC to be the collective voice for the sport
community in Canada to advocate for increased funding and support for
Canada’s Olympic hopefuls,” said Olympian and COC Board member Diane Jones
Konihowski. “It is a tremendous honour to compete for Canada at the Olympic
Games and I believe this new plan, with the proper support and funding, will
lead to more Canadian athletes reaching the Olympic podium.”

As part of its strategic plan, the COC is restructuring itself to focus more
on engaging athletes and coaches in its activities, advocating for increased
funding and changes to the current sport system, fundraising, international
training and preparation programs for athletes, holistic athlete support
programs and educational programs. Specific initiatives include:

* Organizing high quality team preparation and training programs as
part of the COC’s newly established “Excellence Series” to better prepare
Olympic hopefuls, coaches and sports for upcoming Olympic Games;
* Conducting a pre-Games, on location training camp for athletes and
coaches prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing;
* Engaging the COC’s newly restructured athlete advisory body, the
Athletes Council, into all high performance planning initiatives;
* Building on a similar initiative with winter sports, to work
collectively with Canada’s summer sports to set future performance targets
and plans to achieve them, with the assistance of international sport
experts;
* Expanding the COC’s athlete and community relations programs geared
to increasing awareness of the Olympic movement in Canada, ultimately
leading to increased funding for high performance sport;
* Creating a new Canadian Olympic Excellence Foundation to raise funds
to support high performance sport;

The COC, a private, not-for-profit corporation, is the largest private
supporter of high performance sport in Canada. It is responsible for all
aspects of Canada’s involvement in the Olympic movement, including Canada’s
participation in the Olympic and Pan American Games and a wide variety of
programs that promote the Olympic Movement in Canada through cultural and
educational means. For more information, see the COC website:
www.olympic.ca <http://www.olympic.ca> .