Is Team Canada Underperforming in Beijing?

I’ve been on vacation this past week and have just been passively watching the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Games more than you can imagine but my first family vacation as a mother just had to take priority.  Besides, I was pretty confident that my country was holding up just fine.

You can imagine my shock, then, when before boarding the plane this afternoon, I saw that Canada had yet to earn a single medal, the Canadian male gymnastics team, including Kyle Shewfelt, had failed to qualify and even the kayaking had alluded us.  Yes, I realize that it is early in the Olympics and I also understand that we are probably better with winter sports than the summer events but we share a continent with the United States (who are leading the medal count), we watch most of the same programming, eat most of the same food and have similar pastimes.

I would love to hear from you – what do you think accounts for the difference?  Funding?  Facilities? Canadians are less competitive?  Are we less supportive of our athletes?