olympians
Philanthropy through the Olympic Lens
Posted March 1st, 2010 by Gena Rotstein
What would happen if we looked at philanthropy through the lenses of the “Own the Podium” campaign?” This campaign has been the center of much controversy; but as the Olympics culminate tonight, with a gold in Men’s Hockey, I think it’s safe to say much of this campaigns controversy has dissipated. Overall I think all of us are proud of everything our Olympians accomplished, but did the campaign put too much pressure on Canadian athletes? Can we really call this Olympics a failure? How can we as Canadians say we didn’t reach “our” goal? First of all who’s goal is the Canadian Olympic Committee talking about? These Olympians reached a goal that many of us only dream about – they made it to the Olympics. However you look at it, Canada did not only make it to the Olympics, but – today – holds a world record with a count of 14 Gold medals and is third over all. If we approached philanthropy with this all or nothing mentality, wouldn’t we all want to just give up at first sight of trouble? Wave the white flag in defeat like the COC did at the half way point during the Olympics.
