Canada will be hoping for a repeat performance of its success at the last Winter Games – Vancouver 2010 – when the nation broke several medal records on home soil, including winning the most golds at a single Winter Olympics, with 14, one more than the previous record of 13 set by the former Soviet Union at Innsbruck in 1976 and Norway at Salt Lake City in 2002.

It also made history by claiming the most gold medals of any host country at a Winter Olympics, breaking the previous record of 10 set by Norway at Lillehammer  in 1994 and the United States in 2002, and the team of 206 athletes across all 15 sports surpassed their previous medal best with 26 medals, including its first golds on home soil and in ice hockey.

Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh/skeleton/luge, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating with all benefit from the Harper Government investment to the Sport Support Programme, which helps national sport federations (NSF) and centres.


"On behalf of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the athletes, coaches and National Sport Federations that we serve, I would like to thank the Harper Government for its steadfast support of our Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes," Marcel Aubut, COC President, said.

"Today's announcement of $31 million (£20 million/€23 million) dollars for 11 winter NSFs means that more of our top athletes will be able to fine-tune their training well in advance of Sochi."

Canada is currently ranked the world's third nation in overall Winter Olympic sport World Cup medal totals as the athletes enter the World Championship and Sochi 2014 test events.

The nation's Paralympic athletes also currently sit third overall in the World Cup standings and are on track to reach their 2014 goals.

Ozzie Sawicki, recently confirmed as Canada's Sochi 2014 Paralympic Chef de Mission by the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), also welcomed the news and explained how things are shaping up for the team ahead of the Games.

"We are extremely proud of our winter athletes' achievements thus far as the winter international season gets underway," said the veteran alpine skiing coach.

"We are seeing very competitive results from several of our Sochi hopefuls, and this sets us quite well leading into the Paralympic Games year.

"Our objective is to finish top three in gold medal count for Sochi, continuing the tradition from Vancouver 2010.

"Our athletes and coaches have embraced the challenge, and we will work with our sport partners at ensuring optimal training environment for our athletes to compete at their best in 2014."


The Government of Canada is the single largest contributor to sport in the country and a further $6.9 million (£4.4 million/€5.1 million) is due to be provided through the Athlete Assistance Programme in 2013 to assist the nation's winter sport athletes with training and living expenses.

"Our Government is proud to support our high-performance athletes as they prepare for Sochi," said Bal Gosal, Canada's Minister of State for Sport.

"Along with all Canadians, I look forward to cheering on our athletes next winter at the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games."

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