Sports Services at the University of Ottawa has partnered with Own the Podium (OTP), GO Kingfish swim club and Swim Ontario to create a high performance regional training centre for swimming and triathlon on the University of Ottawa campus.
This partnership will help to provide a world class daily training environment for Ottawa area high performance swimmers and triathletes. At the new regional high performance centre, identified high performance athletes will have access to increased coaching services as well as access to the pool and dry land equipment to assist them in reaching the podium in 2012 and beyond. This initiative is supported through a three year agreement between OTP and the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport focused on providing enhanced competition and training opportunities for high performance athletes in Ontario.
"Athletes burn significant energy travelling to various locations each day to access the resources they need to be fully prepared to win," said Anne Merklinger, director of summer sport, Own the Podium. "By partnering with the University of Ottawa, the regional centre will simplify the lifestyle of these high performance student-athletes, while providing them with a better opportunity to pursue excellence in both their academic and athletic lives."
The partnership will also benefit University of Ottawa students, employees and community clients through upgrades to the pool infrastructure.
"This partnership with a strong regional sport club (GO Kingfish), a provincial sport association (Swim Ontario) and Own the Podium is an exciting opportunity for Sports Services and the University of Ottawa. It enables us to become part of an expanding network of high performance centres located across Canada," said Sports Services' athletic director Luc Gélineau.
For more information about the regional training centre, please contact:
Luc Gélineau
Director, Sports Services
University of Ottawa
gelineau@uOttawa.ca
613-562-5800 ext. 4336
Chris Dornan
Own the Podium
chris.dornan@ownthepodium.org
281-703-4394
Media inquiries:
Julie Tam
Assistant Director, Communications and Marketing
Sports Services, University of Ottawa
jtam@uOttawa.ca
613-562-5800 ext. 6753
About Sports Services at the University of Ottawa
Sports Services provides more than 50,000 University of Ottawa students, employees, alumni and the general public with a variety of athletic and recreation programs and services including intramurals, fitness and wellness, varsity sports and competitive club programs. More than 2,000 students use the sports facilities daily. Visit www.geegees.ca for more information.
About Own the Podium
Own the Podium is a national sport technical initiative that was created in 2005 to help Canada become the number one nation (total medal count) at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and to place in the top-three nations (gold medal count) at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. The initiative has also set a goal for Canadian athletes to have a top-12 placing at the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games and to be in the top-eight nations in gold-medal count at the 2012 Paralympic Summer Games. Both of these initiatives reflect what Canadians want from Canada's high-performance athletes and helps advance the "excellence" goal of the Canadian Sport Policy. Own the Podium's largest contributor of funding is the Government of Canada with additional funding provided by the corporate community and the Canadian Olympic Committee through its Canadian Olympic Foundation.
For a full summary of Own the Podium initiatives and programs, including breakdown of support and services by sport, please visit us at www.ownthepodium.org on the Internet.
