Now that Olympic athletes are returning from Beijing and Canada can start to look ahead to the Winter Games in 2010, this country's medal performance is under renewed scrutiny.

Some people believe Canada can do better than 18 if more money is made available for athletes. But others aren't so sure.

Those that say more funding is needed, point to the fact that Olympic athletes train for up to seven hours a day, seven days a week, making it difficult for them to find another source of income.

"With the amount of hours they have to put in, it can be hard for them to hold down a job," said Angela Gorren, who helps to raise money for the Canadian Athletes Now Fund.

"It's a lot of work for them, and the funding is not there."

Harry Bains is the Olympic critic for the B.C. New Democratic Party.

He says the answer may lie in studying how other countries fund and train their athletes, especially the top five.

"We have to have programs that can help people at an early age, until the point where they're ready to compete at world level."

Others disagree. Maureen Bader, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, says Canada is already spending $166 million on high performance athletics this year alone.

"At the same time, VANOC [The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee] is spending millions on bonuses for its top guys. Is that what the Olympics is all about?"

Bader feels grassroots support can have more of an impact on our medal count.

"Instead of forcing taxpayers to pay for everything, we need more people at the community and volunteer level to make an effort as well."

As for athletes like Krista Guloien, a Canadian Olympic rower, she just wants to focus on the next Olympics.

" Not many people will get the chance to do what I'm doing, so I'm not going to complain about anything right now!" she said. Guloien received sponsorship money from a Vancouver Film studio.

Without that money, Krista's quest to compete in Beijing would have been difficult, said mom Dawna.

With a reports by CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber and Sarah Galashan.