The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
This summer marks a milestone in the history of international athletics. The Olympic torch returned to Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The ancient Games were held every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD. The games were staged with the help of wealthy Athenians who donated money to make culture and sports accessible to every citizen. These benefactors were, in a way, the first Olympic sponsors. The games were reborn in 1896 and were hosted, appropriately, in Athens. Now the 2004 Athens Games are here and Canada's elite athletes are realizing their dream. A dream that takes a lot of support and financial help to come true. And these days, corporate sponsors are playing an increasingly important role in the development of world class athletes. Sponsors help pay an athlete's living expenses and defray costs for travel, competition, education, and time away from work. Michael Smith, a former member of Canada's national wrestling team, says corporate support also "shows that there is value in what athletes bring to Canadian culture, and to Canadian pride." Smith is the president of Athletes CAN, the body that represents more than 1,800 of Canada's senior national team members. He says corporations can support our athletes in a variety of ways and that the Bell Athletes Connect Program is a very good example. The program provides a cell phone and airtime, as well as high-speed Internet service to Canada's top amateur athletes. "With many of our athletes training and competing far from home," says Michael Sabia, Bell Canada's CEO, "it means everything to them to stay closely connected to family, friends, coaches and even fans." As a former national team athlete, Smith knows how difficult it is to be away from home for long periods. He says athletes need to focus on their training while maintaining a "lifeline" to their family and friends. "If you do well, you don't want your family to hear about it on the news," he says, "you want to tell them yourself." And if an athlete has a bad day, it's equally important to have consolation and encouragement close at hand. What truly impresses Smith is that the Bell Athletes Connect program is a wide-ranging, seven-year commitment. "Corporations tend to come out of the woodwork when the Olympic Games come around," he says. "They want their fifteen minutes of fame." But Bell Canada will make an annual five-million-dollar donation of cellular and Internet services for athletes competing in Olympic, Paralympic, Aboriginal, Pan American, and Commonwealth Games.
