British Columbians On Olympic Performance

Vancouver, BC -- A new Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of 2010 LegaciesNow and PacificSport BC, reveals that the majority of British Columbians believe that it is important for Canadian athletes to perform well at international sporting events, whether the events are held abroad or right here at home. Nearly seven-in- ten (68%) British Columbians say it is important to them that Canada's athletes perform well at international sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Similarly, two-thirds of BC residents (66%) say it is important to them that Canada's athletes perform well in Vancouver when it plays host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The poll that was conducted one week after the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens came to a close, also shows that British Columbians have mixed reactions to Canada's overall medal performance. Nearly four-in-ten (37%) BC residents say they are satisfied with Canada's overall 2004 Olympic medal performance, while one-in-three (33%) are dissatisfied with the number of medals won during the August 13-29 Games in Athens. The remaining three-in-ten (30%) were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with Canada's performance.

According to Dave Pierzchala, Associate Vice-President for Ipsos-Reid, "These results indicate that while Canada's Olympic performance is important to British Columbians, they believe the engine that drives Canada's high performance sport system is more in need of a tune-up than an overhaul."

Results from another Ipsos-Reid study conducted online during the same time frame - Voice of BC InterActive Forum: Sports in Canada and BC - demonstrate that BC residents polled online have three clear entities in mind when they think of funding for BC's high performance sports system. When given the opportunity to select three organizations from a list of possible funding sources, the three that clearly rose to the top were the Federal Government (68%), Corporate Sponsors (65%) and Provincial Government (54%).

"It is clear that a majority of British Columbians expect all levels of government and the private sector to play a leading role in helping to achieve a stronger and healthier sport sector," says Marion Lay, President and CEO of 2010 LegaciesNow.

The performance of Canada's athletes at the Olympics impacts the lives of British Columbians in many different ways. To that end, when provided a list and asked to select the three ways in which the Olympics impacts their lives, online BC residents stated that Canada's performance at the Olympics impacts their sense of national pride (68%), it inspires youth to perform at their best (48%) and it inspires youth to participate in sport (40%).

2010 LegaciesNow began as an initiative of the Province of British Columbia and the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. Today, it is the lead organization for sport in British Columbia and it works in partnership with community-based organizations to develop and support participants and athletes from Playground to Podium. 2010 LegaciesNow is also working to develop vibrant volunteer sectors, healthy and active communities and diverse arts and cultural activities.

For more information visit www.2010legaciesnow.com.

PacificSport BC consists of two Canadian Sport Centres (Victoria and Vancouver) and eight regional sport centres (Fraser Valley, Interior BC, Okanagan, Northern BC, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Victoria and Whistler). As BC works together to create a dynamic environment for sport performance, PacificSport is doing its part by delivering Three Waves of excellence - world-class athlete services, coaching excellence and long-term sport development programs - for podium performance at all levels in collaboration with regional, provincial and national sport organizations.

For more information visit www.pacificsport.com.

Methodology
The telephone results are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between September 8th and September 13th, 2004 among a representative cross-section of 800 British Columbia adults. These data are statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional, age, and sex composition reflects that of the actual BC population according to 2001 Census data. With a provincial sample of 800, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results are within 1773.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult BC population been polled. The margin of error will be larger for population sub-groups.

Ipsos-Reid's Voice of BC InterActive Forum is an online platform (or website) that houses a database of 1100+ British Columbians that have been pre-recruited to participate in online surveys. The online data for this study (consisting of 6 poll questions and 1 discussion forum) was collected between September 10th and September 17th, 2004. A total of 412 online forum members responded to one or more questions. Although forum participants are randomly recruited through telephone surveys, this data is not weighted and therefore, Ipsos- Reid views the results as exploratory and directional in nature, rather than statistically based.

To learn more, visit www.ipsos-reid.com/VOBC

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Dave Pierzchala
Associate Vice President
Ipsos-Reid Corporation
604.257.3200
[email protected]

Daniel Fontaine
Director of Communications
2010 LegaciesNow
604.659.1379, 604.551.7523
[email protected]

Stephane Delisle
Communications Coordinator
PacificSport BC
604.710.8298
[email protected]

About Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos-Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader and the country's leading provider of public opinion research. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos-Reid employs more than 300 researcher professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in Canada, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and on- line panels. Ipsos-Reid's Canadian marketing research and public affairs practices are staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, offering the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada--including the Ipsos Trend Report, the leading source of public opinion in the country--all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Ipsos-Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.
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