Concern for his family, a recent bout with cancer and a surprise job offer convinced Alex Baumann to step down as chief executive officer of Own The Podium.
Canada’s double Olympic gold medallist in swimming in 1984 announced Wednesday he is taking a similar position with High Performance Sport New Zealand.
With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London less than a year away, OTP now has a crucial job vacancy to fill. The organization oversees virtually all aspects of an athlete’s competitive life and it was Baumann who ultimately made the tough choices on which athletes had enough medal potential to receive federal government funding.
Baumann had surgery for prostate cancer last winter, but the 47-year-old from Sudbury, Ont., said he hasn’t suffered a recurrence of cancer.
The procedure was stressful for his Australian wife Tracy and children Ashton and Tabitha, however. The experience made Baumann realize they need the support of Tracy’s extended family in Australia.
“During this time, it really brought back to me to have family close by and unfortunately I don’t have any family here and Tracy has a lot of relatives in Australia,” Baumann told The Canadian Press from Ottawa on Wednesday. “That’s when we started thinking we needed to be a lot closer to her family.”
Ashton and Tabitha, both born in Australia, are nationally-ranked age group swimmers. Ashton’s Ottawa coach moved to Edmonton. Ashton was considering moving back to Australia to train.
The job offer in New Zealand came “out of the blue” six weeks ago, Baumann said.
“I wanted to make sure I kept the family together,” he explained. “That, compounded by the fact these job opportunities don’t come up that often, that’s what made my decision for me.”
The family will move to Auckland where Ashton and Tabitha will train and where they’re a three-hour flight from Australia instead of a two-day trip from Ottawa. Baumann says both his children want to continue to represent Canada internationally.
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Baumann’s bout with cancer was his second as he had surgery for testicular cancer in 1999. He says he’s healthy now and swimming three or four times a week.
He was planning to step down from OTP when his contract ended in December 2012. Circumstances accelerated his departure, but the man who has a Maple Leaf tattoo on his chest says leaving now was not an easy decision.
“It was very difficult,” Baumann said. “What really made the decision for me was when I was in Australia in August and really saw the closeness of the family and importance of family and that was critical for me. I think that put me over the edge and made me think about this position in New Zealand.”
He had discussed his concerns in recent months with OTP board chairman John Furlong, so it wasn’t a complete surprise to Furlong that Baumann decided to step down.
“I know that he was feeling challenged, conflicted and worried,” Furlong said. “He did the right thing. Obviously for Canadian sport and OTP it’s a big loss, but he’s had cancer twice. This was important for him to make a good call here and I think he made the right call for his family.”
Baumann will officially leave OTP on Oct. 1 and will start his new job in Auckland on Jan. 31.
He worked in Australia’s sport system for 15 years before returning to Canada in 2006 to oversee Canada’s summer sport program called Road To Excellence.
The summer sport side eventually united under OTP and Baumann took over as CEO after Roger Jackson stepped down following the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.
Baumann wanted to help run Canada’s sports system 10 years ago, but it took Canada’s poor performance at the 2004 Olympics in Athens for the country to bring him back. Baumann brought an athlete’s drive, some would say ruthlessness, to the position.
“What you want is someone who is going to be prepared to say ‘no’ and to be unpopular and is prepared to stare down an organization that needs to make an about-face and that’s what has been good about Alex,” Furlong said. “We’ve had a lot of things happen under his leadership, but one of his remarkable traits has been his ability to look at a situation and say ‘this isn’t good enough and we need to get better at this.’
“When you have a guy that knows what it takes to get to the top, he’s a harder guy to fool.”
Canada finished tied for 14th in the overall medal count at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing with 18 medals, an improvement on the 12 won in Athens. Canada’s goal for London is a top-12 finish among the 200-odd countries participating.
Baumann’s seconds-in-command at OTP – Anne Merklinger for summer sport and Ken Read for winter – are capable of overseeing the country’s sport system while the search is conducted for Baumann’s replacement, said Furlong.
“We have good people and the programs are strong and solid,” he stated. “London is coming around the corner quickly. Our board is going to have a conversation in the next few days about this, but our goal will try to be to sort this out without allowing it to affect the preparation of the (Olympic) team.”
OTP is responsible for athletes’ training between international events, but the Canadian Olympic Committee looks after them at Olympic Games and prepares them for the Games environment.
“We want to thank Alex for his outstanding contribution to the Canadian Olympic movement,” COC president Marcel Aubut said in a statement. “His leadership has helped create a strong and fruitful partnership between the COC and OTP that will endure.”
Baumann hopes the go-for-the-jugular attitude Canada displayed in winning 14 gold medals in 2010 continues.
“It’s what Australians say ‘you need to have the mongrel in you,'” Baumann said. “I do think we have that.
“You have to keep going down the same path where you don’t compromise on excellence and make sure that it’s a performance-based approach and there’s an accountability for performance without the bureaucracy.”
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