GMP OVERVIEW | GOALS | 2010 CITIES |
TITLE SPONSORS | CULINARY COMPETITION |
OLYMPIAN AND PARALYMPIAN FEATURED SPEAKERS | ENTERTAINMENT | UNIQUE LIVE AUCTION OPPORTUNITIES | BENEFICIARY: THE CANADIAN OLYMPIC FOUNDATION
GMP OVERVIEW
Gold Medal Plates is the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine, wine, the arts and athletic achievement. Celebrated in nine cities across Canada in 2011, Gold Medal Plates featured superb wines and the premier chefs in each city in a competition to crown a gold, silver and bronze medal culinary team in each city, and subsequently nation-wide at the Canadian Culinary Championships. Founded in 2003, the goal of Gold Medal Plates is to raise substantial funds for Canada's high performance athletes, while celebrating Canadian excellence. Since 2004, this event has received tremendous support and accolades all across Canada, and generated a combined net total of over $5 million for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes!
- Celebrate Canadian Excellence in food, wine, sport, arts and entertainment.
- Develop the finest Canadian culinary competition and feature the best chefs and wines in the country.
- Continue to share the excitement of the incredible success of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games with the entire country and the thrill of our newly discovered patriotism and confidence while looking towards London 2012 and Sochi 2014.
- Demonstrate to our Canadian Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls that Canadians are committed to their development, passionate about their journey, and proud to have them represent us on the world stage.
- Raise funds for the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
| Winnipeg, MAN | Thursday October 27th | Winnipeg Convention Centre |
| Montreal, QC | Thursday October 27th | Windsor Station |
| Calgary, AB | Friday October 28th | The Telus Convention Centre |
| Edmonton, AB | Thursday, November 3rd | Shaw Conference Centre |
| Vancouver, BC | Friday, November 4th | The Westin Bayshore |
| Saskatchewan | Saturday, November 5th | Prairieland Park Trade & Convention Centre |
| Toronto, ON | Wednesday, November 9th | Metro Toronto Convention Centre |
| Ottawa, ON | Monday November 14th | National Arts Centre |
| St. John's, NFLD | Thursday November 17th | St. John's Convention Centre |
| Kelowna, BC | February 10 and 11, 2012 | Gold Medal Plates Finale Canadian Culinary Championships |
| To Reserve Tickets or for Information: 250-469-4344 or ccc@goldmedalplates.com | ||
Gold Medal Plates 2011 was staged in nine major Canadian cities. The top 8-10 chefs from each city or region were selected by a national and regional panel of judges in February 2011 and then competed in the fall in each city for the honour of being the regional Gold Medal Plates champion. All of the competing chefs created their ultimate dish and paired it with a premier Canadian wine or another libation. A team of food and wine critics from each region worked with national critics to determine the top three winning creations and there was a gold, silver and bronze medal winning chef crowned. The gold medal chef now goes on to compete at the Gold Medal Plates Finale – The Canadian Culinary Championship - February 2012 in Kelowna, British Columbia to be crowned the top chef in Canada. (Click here for list of winners)
At each event, Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes share their remarkable stories as featured speakers. Olympian emcees this year included Marnie McBean, Triple Gold and Bronze Medallist, Alexandre Bilodeau, and Olympic Gold Medallist and Catriona Le May Doan. In each city guests had the opportunity to mingle with and sit with Olympic and Paralympic athletes...five in St Johns and 48 in Calgary - overall there were 220 athletes at the Gold Medal Plates events!
Jim Cuddy, lead singer of Blue Rodeo is the Gold Medal Plates national entertainment advisor. This year he outdid himself with inviting some incredible Canadian talent to share the stage with him...singing classic British tunes and some of their own classics. In 2011 entertainment included singers Jim Cuddy, Barney Bentall, Ed Robertson, Alan Doyle, Anne Lindsa, and Kathleen Edwards.
UNIQUE LIVE AUCTION OPPORTUNITIES
Gold Medal Plates incorporates some very unique live auction ideas. Auction items include a five-day rare wine tour of the Napa Valley with Olympic medallist Alexandre Bilodeau; a trip to Tuscany for gourmet cooking classes and cycling with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo and Olympians Marnie McBean, Curt Harnett, Chandra Crawford and Devon Kershaw; sailing trip in the Adriatic with host Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada and Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea. (Click here for a complete listing of these incredible auction items)
ABOUT THE CANADIAN OLYMPIC FOUNDATION - THE BENEFICIARY OF THE EVENTS
The Canadian Olympic Foundation is a national charitable organization created by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) supporting high performance athletes across all winter and summer sports. The Foundation’s Mission is to generate support to meet the technical, scientific, medical and coaching needs of Canada's high performance sport system and assist Canada's athletes in becoming ambassadors for sport, healthy living and the pursuit of excellence across the nation.
Net proceeds from Gold Medal Plates are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support high performance programs such as Own the Podium. To learn more about the Foundation and the programs it funds, please visit www.olympicfoundation.ca.
Own the Podium
Bringing together all of Canada’s winter and summer sport organizations, Own the Podium is responsible for assessing the performance potential of Canadian high-performance sport (both individual and team), for determining Canadian podium targets for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and for making recommendations for the allocation of excellence dollars provided by the national funding parties.
Accordingly, OTP is in the business of recommending the list of sports/events/teams/athletes to be targeted, and the investment strategies to permit them to contribute to the medal targets endorsed by the national funding parties.
OTP’s priority is to provide additional resources and high-performance programming to Canadian athletes with medal potential, coaches and support personnel in their pursuit of the Olympic and Paralympic podium.
OTP works in partnership with Sport Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) – the Funding Parties – the National Sport Organizations and the Canadian Sport Centres (CSCs) in order to execute its recommendations.
OTP also relies on the support from organizations like Gold Medal Plates and the Canadian Olympic Foundation to help raise the remaining needed funds to help Canadian athletes reach the podium.
How Money Helps Athletes
The funding OTP provides to Canada’s summer and winter sports is directed to high-performance programs only, and is an amount above and beyond the traditional sources received from Sport Canada or other funding programs. Through additional funding, OTP has made it possible for sports to hire world-class coaches, technical support staff, and has given our nation’s best athletes access to world-class sport science and sport medicine personnel. In addition, OTP’s Research and Innovation program ensures Canadian athletes take advantage of cutting-edge equipment while employing world-leading training techniques.
Athlete Testimonials
“I can honestly say that I would not have this [gold medal] in my hand without the Own the Podium program.”
Scott Moir, Olympic Gold Medalist, Figure Skating
“ Luckily we had OTP that kicked in for us.”
Jasey Jay Anderson, Gold Medalist, Snowboard PGS
“Well obviously Own the Podium worked. All the funding, giving the athletes a chance and having the Games in Canada-it’s all come around the way people were hoping it would. It’s been amazing.”
Kevin Martin, Olympic Gold Medalist, Curling
“The support that Own the Podium has provided me and Scott has been incredible. It's given us the chance to completely focus on our job as skaters and has made a huge impact on the financial status for our families. We are all so grateful!”
Tessa Virtue, Olympic and World Champion, Figure Skating
“Before the incredibly generous support of Own the Podium, along with its partners, who have graciously invested so much into me and my fellow athletes, our entire luge team could not afford to carry so much as a first-aid kit with us on the World Cup. Having access to the resources needed to win, Canadian luge athletes are edging their way up the international standings and hit the start handles ready to compete against the world’s best.”
Regan Lauscher, World Cup Silver Medallist, Luge
“Own the Podium helped provide access to an apartment in Richmond, B.C. for 17 months before Vancouver, which is crucial for me to have the best possible living environment while training in Richmond. Through Own the podium funding, we are also able to use video analysis much more now than in the past, and it is helped my coach a lot review training video and have us better prepared for competition.”
Clara Hughes, Olympic Summer and Winter Games Medallist, Cycling/Speed Skating
“I think Own the Podium for Olympians and the direction in which amateur sport in Canada is going is fantastic. We will now put our best foot forward and it is not a cliché. I could really feel the effect it was having on my final preparations both mentally and physically heading into the race. OTP provided so much of the funding for our final staging and deserves so much credit here. I don't think it would have been possible without that support.”
Simon Whitfield, Two-Time Olympic Medallist, Triathlon
“Olympic medals are won because of a number of factors: athlete physical gifts, mental ability, family support, and technology. Own the Podium has undertaken the role of technology partner and leader. This leadership has allowed the athletes to shift their energy into the other aspects. The improved technology and improved athlete preparation must create better results and more medals.”
Jeff Pain, Olympic Silver Medallist, Skeleton
"Coming home from Beijing with five gold medals, it is clear to me that the support from OTP has played a key role in making my preparation optimal. It has allowed me to provide myself with the best possible environment, sport experts, racing and training opportunities and reach new level of performances. With the international field getting more and more competitive, OTP’s support was crucial in helping me stay ahead of the pack, and on top of the Podium! "
Chantal Petitclerc, 21-Time Paralympic Medallist, Wheelchair Track