Are we at the palm that we have to solo foreign donations to fund our Olympic program? The head of Canada?, National Track and Field team prepanng for the upcoming Sydney Olympic Games seam lo dunk so Waterloo resnde nt Brent McFarlane has gone as br afield as Colorado to who! donations for hm team, asking expatriate Pat BowIen, the owner of the Denver Broncos, to lend a help- ing hand, A modern day version of Oliver Twist, McFarlane admits the move was done to embar- rass the federal government about ies lack of commitment to properly fund its Olympic ath- Ides. Some suggested that last week's announcement byDenis Cordeme, the secretary of Mate for amateur spans, would help the current crop of athletes, A boost in funding from $9.1 million to $14.5 million will move some of the carded ath- letes from their near-poverty status to a healthier level of sute sistence, but does nothing help the general health of the ana- dian sports bodies that help manage them. . Cubs win games three and fqur v _ _ In m two om): charm- do», r1,y),ttdoiiirirtesttT,,s,r,ti,is) oriship timi, MWQB'QWWWM rddhredimtktiv. minty raga Marxian Mm: to ,triiFtajt0ljrr?tt, Jab , titituiittrvttlMtrr: .3 ' tiigiiijethrirW)lii,ieitiyirtiit _ In game four, ttel5.lltttihyr Will it be 'Woe Canada' or E; 'O Canada' at the Olympics h _iiiiiliiiesitte,itr/itre+o tdraeiedtkated3"abyLiee There was no substantial wean-gauge.“ - (near Fveepm Huspaal' lundmg [new for the organ» muons [hat tram. clothe and prepare these athletes to com- pete on the nauonal stage One orgamzanon might even go bankrupt as n continues to ttght lawsuits filed by BenJohn- son ior reinstatement But instead of blammg "Ben the Bungler" for thes crtsts state of mm In sports funding, why not blame the real culprit federal government. mg for Waterloo M‘MJD. gehr, swung and Ifikfidlet; Instead of celebrating the golden successes of the Atlanta Games, the federal government is just now mstoring the fund- ing it took away from the ath- letes after those games. And I always thought success was rewarded. It's a pattern the federal gov- erTuttent has established smce 1984, our most successful the games Instead of continuing the funding and continuing the success, our Olympic program ls sull trying to get back to those 1984 levels of support, 1n the meantime, our Olympic athletes are holding dances to raise funds for this yeary team. What's next. charity car washes? Some would argue 11's the reality of modern government where they try to get you to do more with less funding. They argue the pnvale sector should pick up the slack. But that's not happening, according to McFarlane, with only one person answering the more than 800 personal inquiries hey Maybe the games are lav nished with all the scandal sur- rounding the Salt Lake City bid, But do we have to take it out on the athletes who have sacrificed so much in support of our country? We're already to fund a Toronto bid for the 2008 Olympics. never asking whether our athletes will be world-class enough to compete. And dont be surprised if we hear more strains of "Woe Canada," than "O Canada" at this years games. The Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club had two teams crowned national champions at the Bank of Montreal Tomor- row's Champion m Kelowna, Bnush Columbia recently In the Juvenile Dance, Tessa Virtue and Scott Mon placed tuea and an: the national mam plons for 2000. in the Pre-Novice Dance, Danielle Sleeves and Michael Coreno placed hrst and are also the national champions for These events brought together athletes from all 10 provinces in a high level com- petition to indentify future Jating stars. K-W Skating Club dazzks at Tomorrowh Champion on: "" Tunic s),! V ,tiils'i(ji; l; 6 Enioy Total Home " Condo" with a Q Wlrtolt At, Air Condition: t00i. SUMMER COMFORT Other team results included Bronwyn Williams and Kyle Brohman who puced sixth. In singles competition, Erin Scherrer placed lllh In the Pre-Novice Ladies competi- turn, while Lindsay Hunt placed 13tir 1tg,tt'2liiiiii' Auto Bad iaiiiili' Complete Collision and Refinishing Service C430 Albert Street, Waterloo $ltl