With the 2010 Winter Games happening in Canada, the nation is primed for a huge injection of inspiration.

Photos courtesy VANOC/COVAN

The Olympic Oval in Richmond, British Columbia.

If you're a regular IMPACT reader, there's a good chance you're a competitive athlete. You put in a lot of hours of training to achieve your goals. After all of the sweat, pain, and sacrifice, you are just looking for some kind of victory to make it all worth it. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, "Why am I doing this? What makes me want to pursue sport?" Oftentimes the answer is hard to express, and for many athletes it comes down to one thing: inspiration. For some, it's the inspiration to be fit and healthy; for others, it's the inspiration to be the best or pursue excellence. The common thread for most people is feeling motivated-you think "If that person can do it, so can I."

One of the biggest catalysts for this kind of athletic stimulus is the Olympic and Paralympic Games. With the 2010 Winter Games happening in Canada, the nation is primed for a huge injection of inspiration. More than any other legacy-such as state-of-the-art facilities or expanded sport programs-the legacy of inspiration will be the most important to Canada post-2010. Without excited people eager to play sports and get active, there is no use for the venues or the programs. As past Games have shown, the huge event is known to "flip the switch" towards sport, doing tremendous things for the health, productivity, and mental well-being of the host nation. A survey conducted by Decima Research after the Athens  2004 Olympic Games says nearly one-fifth (eighteen per cent) of all Canadians were more inclined to try a new sport, and thirteen per cent were more inclined to participate in sport. More than half (fifty-five per cent) of those who indicated they were more inclined to participate had not been involved in sport over the previous twelve-month period. With the Games now happening at home, expect those figures to increase significantly come 2010.

So far, most of the talk surrounding the Games to date has centred on planning, protesting, and publicity. Many people have used the Olympics as a platform to argue their point or call out the government for cutting funds to programs in order to throw a huge party. Nevertheless, the Games remain the ultimate athletic competition. Take Beijing, for example: all of the press before the 2008 Games focused on pollution and the political climate in China. Yet, as soon as the Opening Ceremonies began, the event became what it should be-a competition between the best athletes in the world. This will also happen in Vancouver, as all of the brouhaha will give way to the outstanding achievements of the athletes on the biggest stage in the world. Families will come together at the events or at home in their living rooms to watch history in the making.

Kristi Richards, a young kid during the 1988 Games in Calgary and now an Olympian herself, remembers lying on the floor in her parents' house, watching the moguls event on TV. "Watching the Olympics, I can't forget the moment when Jean-Luc Brassard came down and won that Olympic gold," she recalls with a big smile. "Wow! It was so amazing and so inspiring as a kid. I had just joined the freestyle team, and at that moment I turned to my mom and I said, that's what I want to do. I want to be an Olympian and do it in mogul skiing. And now here I am, an Olympian, and I'm looking forward to 2010. It's amazing that it can spark from that moment."

The "Children of Calgary," or the local Albertan kids who were turned on to sport after seeing the Games take place in their city, are evidence of the "Legacy of Inspiration." In a recent article in the Calgary Herald, journalist Allen Cameron lists off ten Canadian athletes who consider the 1988 games as one of their main motivators. Chandra Crawford, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist in cross-country skiing from Canmore, directly relates her success to the Calgary Olympics. "I gave the legacy of the 1988 Olympics full credit for my gold medal at one point," she tells Cameron. "My mom said, ‘That's not right, I think you had something to do with it.' But I really feel the legacy had a huge effect on me. Being able to drop in to this facility [the Canmore Nordic Centre] and be exposed to high-level races, I am absolutely a product of that wonderful legacy."

Cameron's list also includes Hayley Wickenheiser, Michelle Kelly, John Kucera, Pierre Lueders, and Clara Hughes-among others-as athletes who strongly recognize the 1988 Games as one of their main reasons for pursuing sport. Now that the focus has moved west to Vancouver and Whistler, talk has begun about the Children of Calgary's successor, the "Children of 2010." However, this time, kids and adults alike are expected to have a lot more to get excited about.

Speed Skater Denny Morrison Leading a Youth Sport Camp.

Along with more medals to wow Canadians, there will also be way more media coverage to feed our nation's ever-growing thirst for information. The CTV Olympic Consortium (the host broadcaster for 2010), will provide unparalleled coverage in English, French, and multi-languages on numerous platforms such as ten television channels, more than forty radio stations, a national newspaper, and several Web sites. This doesn't even count the various social media sites repeatedly updated by each of these organizations daily.

"You can't open up a Globe and Mail or turn on CTV without seeing huge profiles on Canadian athletes with great expectations," Jackson remarks. "CTV will be launching over  240 more individual athlete profiles ... there will be an extraordinary national promotion of sport and encouragement for all kinds of people, whether it's young athletes, volunteers, provincial or national association members. There will just be a marvellous, positive opportunity for promoting sport."

Wendy Pattenden, President of Canadian Sport Centre Pacific, realizes sport organizations will have a lot to deliver after the Games. "Canada is poised to be the top medal-producing nation right here in our backyard during the 2010 Games, thanks to unprecedented financial investment made by Own the Podium, 2010 Legacies Now, the Province of B.C., and the Federal Government," Pattenden explains. "While medals matter, the true legacy of these Games will be the inspiration-the impact that watching an event or meeting an athlete will have on the 'Children of 2010.' It is now our job to deliver on the promise of the Games-to ensure the sport system in B.C. is armed with a plan supported by expertise and infrastructure that will breed excellence for generations to come."

So with a huge percentage of Canadians pumped on sport and potentially running out the door to try something new, how can Canada-and specifically B.C.-handle this boom? Paul Shore, Manager of Marketing and Business Development for Whistler  2010 Sport Legacies, knows this challenge well. He is one of the people in charge of ensuring the three Whistler Venues-the Whistler Sliding Centre, Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park, and the Whistler Athletes' Centre-don't become unused relics after the Games. Their mandate, Shore says, is "to operate the Olympic legacy venues to advance high-performance sport development and recreational sport participation, in a manner that ensures economic, environmental and social sustainability." Shore says the ball has already begun rolling, with thousands of people pouring through the venues eager to check things out.

"We've already seen the Games impact sport participation rates before 2010 has even taken place," notes Shore. "Whistler Olympic Park has been open for two years, this is the third season for cross-country skiing, and we've seen something like 18,000 paid skier visits up there. And this is in an area with a pretty limited cross-country skiing fan base." The park also entertains people interested in biathlon, Nordic combined, and ski jumping. Contrary to rumours, the ski jump facilities will also be available after the Games.

"The ski jumps are not temporary," Shore explains. "That is a common misconception. The real question is, can a ski-jumping community develop in this corridor so that kids can eventually jump off those big jumps? We have built some small jumps at the base of the big jumps the past couple of winters, and we'll keep doing things like that, so that there is a way for kids to get active and be involved."

A similar plan is in place for the Whistler Sliding Centre once it opens to the public in the winter of 2011. Skeleton and bobsleigh rides will be available to paying customers, mimicking the services available in other resort towns such as St. Moritz.  According to Shore, 670 kids have already been able to try luge last winter and more are being given that opportunity this winter.

With the infrastructure firmly in place, another crucial part of supporting the "Children of  2010" is the readiness of the sport system. Organizations will have to be prepared to handle an influx of people eager to participate. Ian Bird, Senior Leader at the Sport Matters Group, an association of people collaborating to advance sport and public policy, says our systems have learned from past mistakes. "We've got stories from 1988 in speed skating when there was such a big boost, but it was half way through the season so clubs didn't have their registration process up and running," he explains. "But, of course, that was when all of these people had watched Catriona Le May Doan and Susan Auch and they wanted to go skate right then. But this time around I know speed skating has some plans, along with a lot of the other winter sport organizations.  I'm optimistic that our sports are ready for this."

For now, the ability of most sport organizations to prepare for a post-Games flood has been hindered by the global economic downturn. With funding cuts running rampant in all sectors, sport associations are going to have to be creative in order to support additional interest and even uphold their current capacities. Nevertheless, Canadians can rest assured there are many people such as Roger Jackson, Paul Shore, Wendy Pattenden, and Ian Bird out there fighting for sport in our country. A lot of funding decisions will be made in the months surrounding the Games, hinging most importantly on the success of Canadian athletes. In the end, ensuring the "Children of 2010" have the chance to make their inspirations a reality will undoubtedly be the most enduring legacy of the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"The Legacy of Inspiration" first appeared in the Jan/Feb Olympic Issue of IMPACT Magazine.