The Canadian Olympic Committee, which recently went on record as aiming for 35 medals and first place at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is going to have to assemble an all-star cast of athletes to meet such lofty expectations.
Some brainy executive leadership during the next five years is going to be required, too.
Enter Brian Richardson, an affable, 55-year-old Aussie hired two months ago, away from his job as head coach of the national rowing team, to fill the new COC position of director of international performance.
"He has a compassionate leadership style," says Allan Roaf, executive director of Rowing Canada, when asked to describe Richardson's way of doing things. "He has high standards and he's able to move people to step up to the plate to achieve those standards."
Richardson listens as much as he talks, which fosters constructive discussion and fills the decision-making process with positive vibes.
"He's a wonderful man to work with," says Roaf. "The national team's success, a lot of that was due to Brian's leadership.
"He was able to get intense people to work together and stay on target. The camaraderie within the national team was, in large part, due to his leadership."
Richardson is staying in touch with his rowing cohorts. He lives in Victoria, where Roaf runs the national office and where the national team trains at Elk Lake. But now his vision is extended to all sports in Canada.
"I don't have any doubts he'll do a very effective job," says Roaf. "He has a lot to offer sport."
Richardson grew up in Adelaide, where his father was a building contractor and his mother a model who later opened a coffee shop. Max Richardson was a successful rower in Australia so his son was well aware of the sport by the time he was old enough, at age 10, to be a coxswain for a crew at the private school in which he was enrolled.
He rowed in Australian boats at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, finishing fifth both times.
One of the most exciting experiences of his life was the 1983 America's Cup yacht races. One of the syndicate owners, looking for physically and mentally strong athletes, had been impressed by Australia's Olympic oarsmen and recruited Richardson. The crew won the coveted trophy.
Richardson moved into industrial relations with a major automobile manufacturer in Melbourne. But he wanted to coach rowing, too, so he quit, became a school teacher, and began coaching the school's crews.
"I found that I really enjoyed it and was reasonably good at it," he explains.
He soon advanced beyond the local level and became a full-time paid rowing coach in 1990 in the employ of Victoria Institute of Sport.
Rowing Canada hired him to lead its crews into Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics, and the team won the points title when it earned medals in six events - one-quarter of Canadian medals in all sports.
He returned to his homeland to guide Australian crews into the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and afterwards resumed his Rowing Canada head coaching role. The one-medal showing in Athens was a big disappointment but he didn't rant and rave. He analysed what went wrong, and he was one of those asked by the COC to be on a panel.
"In that process, as we evaluated the various sports across the country and the degree to which they have devised programs that are going to push kids to the top, Brian brought a lot to the table," says Chris Rudge, the COC's chief executive officer. "Plus his credentials in the international rowing community and his intimate understanding of what they've done in Australia and why they've been successful there, that all led us to believe he could be a great strength in what we want to do as an organization.
"His credentials are outstanding. He's a good listener. He's a good team builder. He brings great knowledge to the table and he works well with people. He inspires confidence.
"We think he's a great addition to our team. It's, strategically, where we have to go to change our organization. We can't do what we've always done. We have to do some things differently."
The lure of the Australian model is strong. It's a country with fewer people than Canada, yet it excels at sport _ generous government funding being a primary reason why. If there is going to be an attempt to copy it, having on board an astute Aussie who knows that system inside out is a logical step.
"We can learn a great deal from the Australian system," says Richardson. "It's a pretty amazing sport system for a country that is smaller than Canada."
But the likelihood of Canada's federal government offering funding remotely comparable to that in Australia is remove, and Richardson knows it. So, he hedges his comments.
"You'd never adopt it across the board," he says. "You learn from it rather than just purely adopt it."
Regardless, a lot has to change in the Canadian system - as Rudge says.
"The sport system in this country is long overdue for change in terms of where it can go and what the potential of the athletes is," says Richardson. "But I feel there is a mood in the air for change to make the system more successful.
"That's important. If there wasn't that feeling (in the air), maybe I wouldn't be interested in this job. But I can sense that it is there.
"The athletes are certainly there. I've always had tremendous faith in Canadian athletes. It's a matter now of building the environment to help them be successful."
As Richardson talked from his Victoria residence, it's the first time he's been home in three weeks. The new job entails extensive travel.
"I'll be consulting sports groups and helping them to improve," he says. "That requires a lot of face to face meetings . . . because people resist change. They believe they already do things the right way.
"I'm not an expert in all sports but I think I can offer help to people who want it."
So, why would somebody running a swimming or fencing program listen to a rowing expert?
He accepts that there will be resistance in some quarters.
"I'm not going to position myself as an expert in all sports," he says. "It's not my style to claim to be an expert.
"But if somebody from outside can come in . . . he can help that sport in making a change. I'll offer support and help. I won't be confrontational."
The 35-medal challenge of Vancouver 2010 is what is driving the COC's yearning for change.
"That has created this opportunity," says Richardson. "We've become famous as a host country never to win gold medals.
"The whole 2010 situation is driving us to be better. It's going to be a very exciting time for British Columbia and for Canadians.
"The team will be strong and very exciting to watch."
That's a promise and, if anybody can deliver, it is Richardson.