New funding announced for the Sport Institute Network

On Tuesday, the Government of Canada announced new funding that could help fuel present and future Olympians.

An injection of more than $15 million was made to the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network. This group consists of Canadian sport centres and institutes that span most of the country with seven training and resource centres that have become invaluable to most of Canada’s Olympic athletes.

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Canadian Institute of Sport (CSI)

Attendees at the January 2015 announcement of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network.

The latest funding comes after $3 million was given to this network by the Canadian Olympic Foundation in January, as part of a new partnership to improve Canada’s medal tally at the Olympic Games.

Back at the January announcement in British Columbia, athletes were clear what these institutes mean to them, with Olympic medallist Brent Hayden highlighting that the future looks much brighter with the evolution of the institute than it was for athletes of his generation.

John Moonlight

Rugby Canada sevens captain John Moonlight benefits from the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network.

The funding – broken down by region – sees the institute’s Pacific home in Richmond, BC receive the highest amount at over $4.5 million. The sport institutes of Québec (in Montreal) and Calgary follow with $3.9 and $3.6 million each. Ontario, where the training centre is based out of the new Pan Am Sports Centre in Scarborough, is the next highest recipient with $2.3 million. Centres in Halifax, Winnipeg and Saskatoon round out the funding with another $1.3 million in total.