8/12/2019 CAN_EJ

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/canej 1/1

C A M C O L E

SOCHI, RUSSIA — The dan-ger in holding your Olympicwrap-up news conferencebefore the final day’s eventsis that your arithmetic is aptto be wrong.

Marcel Aubut’s was.Knowing even before he

spoke Sunday morning thatCanada’s athletes would notequal the 26 medals they wonin Vancouver four years ago— let alone exceed that count

by even one, as Own The Po-dium had hoped — the CEOof the Canadian Olympic

Committee put the best pos-sible spin on the results andhe wasn’t wrong.

Or he wasn’t wrong at thetime.

“We always said that thisgoal was ambitious and weknew that only a couple ofmedals would make thedifference. And this wasprecisely what happened,”Aubut said.

“We came closer than ever

to the top. We improved onthe situation in Vancouver,which was a great Games for

us, where we were 11 medalsfrom the top. We are talkingabout four here.

“But there is a new real-ity and that reality is a verycompetitive landscape.No country dominated themedals. In Vancouver, theU.S. just ran away and theywere just flying on their own.Here, the top five or six na-tions are separated by just afew medals.

“It could change everyhour.”

He had that right. Within

an hour, the Russians sweptthe podium in the final cross-country ski event, the 50-kmmass start and the numberwasn’t four any more. Twohours later, they won theirfinal medal of the Games,gold in four-man bobsleigh.

Russia, heavily criticizedat home after winning just15 medals — only three ofthem gold — in Vancouver,took an astounding 13 gold

medals and 33 overall in So-chi to win its home Olympicsgoing away.

Canada was third in goldmedals with 10 and wasfourth in total medals with25, just one behind Norwayand three behind the U.S..

“The landscape haschanged at a speed you can’timagine,” Aubut said. “Butone thing I will say is thatwhen you invest, you seethe results right away. We

did it in Vancouver and theRussians have done it here,just four years later.”

“There’s zero disappoint-ment,” he said in falling onemedal short of Canada’s totalin Vancouver. “I am thrilledby what I saw. We could endup potentially with 10 gold.And we are not at home, weare in Russia. And Russiashowed how they could doat home.”

 Se e C OLE p age A2

‘Closer than ever to the top’

E S TA B L I S H E D 1 9 0 3  B re ak i n g n e w s a t e d mo nt on j o u rn a l .c o m M O N DAY , F EBRUARY 2 4 , 2 01 4

TODAY’S WEATHER

 HIGH -14 LOW -29 DE TA IL S D6   INDEX

Arts & Life ........................B1City & Region ..................A3Classifieds ......................C11Comics ............................D5

Contact Us ......................A2Family & Fitness ........... .. D1Horoscope .....................C13Letters ........................... A12

Lotteries ..........................A2Movie Listings .................B3Obituaries .....................C14Opinion .......................... A12

Puzzles & Games ............ B5Sports ............................. C1Sudoku ............................B5TV Listings ......................B4

0   55829 00050   2

GYMS PREPARE FOR POST-GAMES SURGE IN CUSTOMERS FAMILY & FITNESS/D1

Vigilmarks

Ukraineturmoil Mood solemn in wake of killings 

DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

 Canadian figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond, top right, and speedskaters Denny Morrison, bottom left, Gilmore Junio top left, and William Dutton, bottom right,

parade during the closing ceremony of th e Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on Sunday. Complete Olympics coverage / C1-C6

CANADIAN OLYMPIANS BID ‘SO LONG’ TO SOCHI 

 JEA N LE VAC/P OST MED IA NE WS

Team Canada players celebrate their hockey gold-medal win against Sweden on Sun day.

 Hockey fans up early for final game. A5 

 How our local athletes fared. A5 

B I LL MA H A N D

OTIENA ELLWAND

 Edm ont on Jour nal

Dozens of Ukrainian-Can-adians stood in the bittercold Sunday at Edmonton’s

Churchill Square, but theirthoughts were half a worldaway on IndependenceSquare in Kyiv.

“It is cold but it’s noth-ing compared to the thingsthat happened in Ukraine,”said Katya Rutkovska, whomoved to Edmonton fromKyiv four years ago.

She held a photographof a Ukrainian slain byauthorities.

“It’s the least I can do tostand here. If I was there, Iwould be on the Maidan aswell,” Rutkovska said, re-ferring to the tumultuoussquare in the Ukrainiancapital where her grandpar-ents have joined the protestmovement.

Many in the crowd heldUkrainian flags, candles andphotographs of the fallen in arally organized by the com-munity to honour protesterskilled in Ukraine. The crowdprayed, sang Ukraine’s na-tional anthem and tossed billsinto a box to help support thefamilies of the dead.

The mood was solemn,with no sign of celebrationdespite the takeover of the

capital by protesters, theflight of President ViktorYanukovych and the prom-ise of new elections.

“The purpose of today’sevent is to show supportfor the people who died afew days ago when theywere shot,” said Ivan Lypo-vyk of the Ukrainian Can-adian Congress Edmontonbranch.

“We can’t celebrate yetbecause all those involvedin those crimes, they haveto be punished.”

 See UKR AIN E p age A 2

Calm returns, but questions linger. A9 

Canada third in gold, fourth in total medals 

THIS MEANS ROAR

MARK YOURTERRITORY

SPRINGSALESEVENT

2014 JAGUAR F-TYPE#J40173

PER MONTH*

PRICEINCLUDESGST$890

LEASEAT 2.9% APRFINANCINGFOR39MONTHSWITH$5,000DOWN

MSRP $81,368 + GSTLIMITEDTIMEPRICE$74,800+GST

*12,000KM/YEARADDITIONALMILEAGE$0.30/KMO.A.C.VEHICLESMAYNOTBE EXACTLYASSHOWN.

FIRST2 PAYMENTSWAIVED

JAGROVEREDM.COM   |   17820STONY PLAIN ROAD  |  1.877.607.9256

Clean

Efficient

Powerful

Get the TDI® Clean Diesel bonus on select Audi TDI® models.

southgateaudi.ca

1235-101StreetSW   780.462.2834

SouthgateAudi

12Audi TDI® |upto$8,000bonusO ff ersexpireFebruary28, 2014.See dealerfor details.

STK#2611

Rethink diesel.

EDM00611080_1_1

EDM00606727_1_1