BY SOOTT
HADDOW
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) showed its commitment to
winning when they hired two-time Olympic champion Alex Baumann
as the new executive director for their Road to Excellence
program in September.
Baumann, a Sudbury native, moved to Australia in 1991, and has
served as executive director of the Queensland Academy of Sport
since 2002 among various other high level athletic posts within
the country.
"It feels great," said Baumann about the appointment. "I'm
really looking forward to it. There's a lot of support there
and the whole attitude towards high performance sport has
changed and the culture has changed."
Baumann will begin his duties in Ottawa in January, which
includes trying to bring Canada to the Top 16 in the 2008
Olympic Summer Games, which will be held in Beijing, China and
a Top 12 finish at the 2012 Games in London.
As executive director, Baumann will be responsible for
developing and implementing the Road To Excellence business,
strategic and operating plans, as well as issuing
recommendations on the most effective methods to allocate its
resources to a variety of stakeholders.
Baumann is best remembered for his brilliant performances at
the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games, in which he won two
gold medals in swimming - 200-metre and 400-m individual
medleys. They were both world records.
He was also selected Canada's Male Athlete of the Year by
Canadian Press in 1984 and was made an Officer of the Order of
Canada. He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame
in 1985, followed by induction into Canada's Sports Hall of
Fame in 1987.
Baumann was also inducted into the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame
in 1983.
