Team Sports Get Cash Top-Up Ahead of London Olympics

Own The Podium hopes to bring in some hardware in rugby, volleyball, field hockey, water polo, and basketball.

Although winter has finally decided to rear its ugly head in many quarters of the country, it's worth remembering that we're just six months away from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. And while Canada probably won't fare as well in London as they did in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, the government – and dozens of top-flight athletes – are hoping a cash infusion will land Canada its first traditional team sport medal since 1936. (Rowing and relay races aren't considered team sports in the traditional sense, but Canada has had some remarkable success with both of them in recent Olympics.) The Own The Podium program that helped Canada bring in a record medal haul in 2010 is now geared toward getting at least one of six teams onto the podium. That means that Canada's teams for women's sevens rugby, men's volleyball, women's basketball, men's water polo, and both men's and women's field hockey have received a total of $5.6 million in the run-up to the Games. Canada isn't favoured to medal in any of those, but hey, there's definitely a good reason to watch the men's volleyball team or whatever this year - your tax dollars are riding on them.