Alex Bilodeau during the finals of men's freestyle moguls event at the Sochi Winter Olympics February 10, 2014. Toyo Tires has announced that they will sponsor the Canada’s freestyle mogul team for the rest of their season.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
No matter how well athletes in amateur sports perform at the Olympics, the struggle to find funding for training and other competitions resumes as soon as the flame is extinguished.
Such is true for Canada's freestyle mogul team. Despite winning four medals in Sochi, athletes faced a budget shortfall that would require them to fund their own travel expenses to the final three FIS World Cup events this month in Japan, Norway and France.
Toyo Tires stepped up, funding the flights through the remainder of the FIS World Cup schedule. It was an unusual gesture, as the value of sponsorships is perceived as diminishing significantly after a Winter Olympic Games.
"Everybody comes to bat before the Olympics, but nobody comes to bat after," said David Scheklesky, the national marketing manager for Toyo Tires. "There's still an emotional high, and these guys have worked so hard, that's why we made the decision."
Scheklesky added that a company like Toyo Tires can make more of an impact during non-Olympic events, when their support isn't overshadowed by larger sponsors. "Our dealers are also located in rural markets where amateur sports are quite popular," he said. "We thought it was a good fit. ..."
It's not just the cost of travel for athletes and support staff between competitions that challenges the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. The B.C.-based organization also runs two World Cup programs in Canada as well as a number of smaller competitions year-round, provides development and training programs for athletes as well as coaches, and employs a full-time staff of 10 administrative workers and 14 coaches.
About 80 per cent of the CFSA's budget is funded through government sources. .
"Own the Podium was supporting the preparation for Sochi, up to and including the games, but the money from OTP isn't really accessible to us in a post-games atmosphere," said Bruce Robinson, CEO of the CFSA, adding that flights for the eight athletes competing in the FIS World Cup Circuit alone cost approximately $30,000.
"If it weren't for my personal corporate sponsors, I probably would have been forced out of the sport long ago," B.C. native Eddie Hicks, who missed the Sochi Games due to injury, messaged by email from Japan. "Not only do we have to travel a lot during the competitive season, but we have to travel to find snow as well in the off season. Forget having a job on the side, that's not an option. Sponsors make it possible."
Robinson added that before Toyo Tires stepped in, the CFSA wasn't expecting to bring aboard new corporate sponsorship this season . "They're the first mover right now, and hopefully other corporations will follow their lead," he said.
The mogul team skied with the Toyo Tires logo on their uniform at the EFS World Cup in Inawashiro, Japan earlier this month , and will continue to represent the company and their country at FIS World Cup competitions in Voss-Myrkdalen, Norway on March 15, and La Plagne, France on March 22.
"The national sport organizations play such an important role in providing programming to the athletes, but if the national sport organizations aren't supported financially, if we can't continue to provide the services and programs and people to support the athletes ... then those achievements won't be there in the future," said Robinson.
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