Mavericks with medals

Associated press Shaun White

As Johnny Spillane the first medal in the Nordic combined U.S. on the third day of the Winter Olympics, won his victory was propagated as the payoff for old school Olympic team building: a patient to grass roots effort to establish a u.s. presence in an obscure winter sports. But since that early surprise most of the biggest names of the winter were members of Team USA in name only, Mavericks notable for training on your own, often in unconventional ways.

2007 Bode Miller, who his first Olympic champion in men's earlier this week combined won, such as the unprecedented step stop the U.S. ski team took to his own team America, consisted of a mobile home and his personal Entourage before returning to us this season. Lindsey Vonn, the women won exit worked outside the American infrastructure, trained by her husband, Thomas Vonn, a former American racer. The games biggest star, Shaun White, developed two-time defending champions gold medalist in the halfpipe and perfected his signature tricks - double Cork and double McTwist 1260 - on a secret half-pipe, built by sponsor Red Bull in Silverton, Colorado

Speed skater Shani Davis, who won gold in the 1,000 metres and silver in the 1500 meters, which also operates more outside the mainstream. An African Americans on the South side of Chicago, Mr. Davis the U.S. speed skating chosen from the "athlete agreement", would have provided him a modest stipend. He chose, instead, to look for its own sponsors. It's eye-catching way promotional materials absent from the team's and mum are official team in particular on the theme of your largest stars. Short track star not more eye to eye with the powers to Apolo Ohno that his sport seen. And, of course, figure skating is the ultimate individual effort, with skaters such as 15-year-old Allison Reed Republic Georgia by Warren, n.j., going so far to citizenship change to compete.

Contrast of this rather rough-and-ready approach for the development of the athlete with Canada's methodical, Government-sponsored Olympic performance program. At a price of 112 million Canadian dollars ($ 105.6 million) has "own the podium" only 17 medals than the early Friday, well behind the pace of Turin produced four years when the Canadians 24 collected. Medal with 32 sat us on the top of overall.

This may seem, at first, to privatise the development of Olympic athletes as a compelling argument for complete. The reality is more complicated than that America's Olympians at relatively low levels financed their international competitors the U.S. Olympic Committee dealt out $ 58.2 million over four years to national bodies of individual sports around half of what Canada expenditure of. There is a Shannon Bahrke started mogul skier, their own coffee line to your education pink haired, bronze medal for every Shaun White and that helping your team-mates. Or the American speed katers who comedian Stephen Colbert, 300,000 for the team after its main sponsor, DSB Bank, turned to increase went bankrupt. The bottom line is simple: we will not put a dent in the national deficit with the money we are spending now on our Olympic athletes.

Only companies like Red Bull is relying on it either. Sponsors are on finding safe to throw an immediate return on your investment and money things. Mr Davis, Ohno and white secured large approval treated because, as defending gold Medalists, they were sure that attract media attention, win or lose.

As Canada has learned the hard way, the production of Olympic champion is a long-term issue. Lack of funding could be a mature athlete distract his best performance, but throw money at a modest talented competitors will not put him on the podium.

The first part of the road to future Olympic gold is now underway. This week, will each 10-year-old in the United States Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn or even Bill Demong, which competed in Nordic combined individual large hill. The first task is the U.S. Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of individual sports, the resources so as possible so many of these children provide to try this sport in the hope that one in a million is the next Bode Miller.

Then comes the hard part, the long slog between talented youngster and grizzled gold medal contenders. The USOC has to realize that your goal to churn out only competent athletes of dozens but to identify and maintain a few adult genius. And genius often March to the beat of their own drums. Early in his career, for example, Mr. Müller first use was shaped skis while his coaches fired as a gimmick for recreational skiers. Defied conventional wisdom and the first woman who was race - and win - stiffer, Mrs Vonn, at the urging of her husband, longer men skis.

For all your talent and charisma are the heroes of Vancouver also rugged individualists, which their sports collision with trainers who see their way things not reinvented, sometimes. It is not hard to imagine an alternate reality in which many of you got fed up with bucking the system and landed on the television watching, less talented but more compatible former team-mate finish a respectable 12th.

An American version of "own the podium" might look like a cross between a school voucher program and venture capital funding. The USOC and individual sports associations should provide seed capital to promising young athletes and then have the foresight step back and their maximum freedom to believe - train - outside the box. If learned a lesson from this magical Olympic Games, it is the only what more important than the immense talent discover to common sense to stay can have out of the way.

-Mr wrote by the numbers column for the Wall Street Journal and is a frequent contributor to SKI Magazine.

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