Switzerland's Loïc Meillard competes in the second run of the men's slalom alpine skiing event on Monday.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
In the men’s Olympic slalom event on Monday, in Bormio, there were 96 entrants. Not one of them was Canadian.
The entrants came from all over the global map. Besides the usual suspects from snowy countries such as Norway, the event included athletes from Morocco, Jamaica, Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and San Marino, a microstate surrounded by Italy.
But none from the biggest, snowiest country of them all (that would be Canada; the Russians athletes in the Milan Cortina Games are not allowed to compete under their flag). How can that be?
Blame the quota system. Also blame the lack of depth among Canadian men in the “technical” Alpine events – slalom and giant slalom – where turning ability through tightly spaced gates separates the men from the boys. The Canadian lads, among them Jack Crawford, are better at the flat-out speed events – downhill and super-G.
Let’s start with the quota system.
Each country, big or small, tropical or frigid, is subject to a quota system for its Winter Olympics athletes. The quotas are in good part based on the track record of the skiers; the better they are, the greater their chances of landing a racing ticket at the Olympics. In practice, most National Olympic Committees are allowed to send athletes, regardless of their talents, as long as they comply with the Olympic rules. Hence the proliferation of racers from small, snowless countries in the slalom and other Alpine sports.
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According to a spreadsheet from FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation), Canada this year was allotted 13 Alpine athletes for Milan Cortina – eight women and five men. In total, from all countries, 153 men and 153 women nabbed spots.
The five Canadian men in the Alpine competitions qualified for the downhill and the super-G, not the slalom and giant slalom. If Canada’s Alpine men’s quota had been greater than five, and Canada had produced better slalom and giant slalom skiers, making the cut for those two races would have been easy.
Only one American made the slalom start list and he did not make it into the second round. The U.S., like Canada, used its quota, or most of it, for the Alpine speed events.
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The bigger story is the Canadian men’s waning expertise in the Alpine technical races, partly the outcome of funding shortages. Support from the federal government has not climbed in about 20 years, according to Therese Brisson, the Alpine Canada CEO who was a member of the women’s gold-medal-winning hockey team in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“We need to rebuild our strengths in the men’s technical events,” she said. “It’s a work in progress.”
By the way, the winner of Monday’s men’s slalom was Loïc Meillard, 29, of Switzerland. It was his third medal, having won silver in team combined and bronze in giant slalom. Austria’s Fabio Gstrein took silver and bronze went to Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway.
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