The Canadian Olympic Committee sent a total of 263 athletes, 130 men and 133 women, to take part in 28 sports. This was the nation's smallest delegation to the Games, since the nation boycotted the games in 1980. This had become a result of the COC changing its qualification standards, after a reduced medal showing at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, with the aim of sending fewer athletes but focusing its energy on those who have the best chance at winning medals. It has been suggested that the "logical response" of winning fewer medals was diverting funding away from sports where Canadians struggled (track and field) to ones where Canadians excelled (kayak and diving). Athletes that qualified for the Olympics would not be sent to Athens unless they had finished in the top twelve worldwide, a policy that was widely criticized as numerous Canadian Olympic medallists in past Games would have been excluded by such criteria, plus it was seen as a cynical ploy for the COC to save costs. Over 50 Canadian athletes, including two-time Olympian marathoner Bruce Deacon, did not make the COC's draconian "top 12" cutoff despite achieved the international qualifying standards in their respective sports. After 2004 the COC scrapped this policy but still maintains additional hurdles beyond international standards to ensure that athletes are in shape for the Olympics.