* Most of C$554 million went to capital projects

VANCOUVER, April 15 (Reuters) - The city of Vancouver spent more than C$554 million ($554 million) as host of this year’s Winter Olympics, much of it related to building the athletes village, according to documents released on Thursday.

A report defended the spending since more than C$500 million involved capital projects on Canada’s Pacific Coast that will benefit the city long after the Games.

The Vancouver Olympics in February had a C$1.7 billion operating budget that was largely privately funded, though that did not include the C$900 million in security spending paid for by the Canadian government.

The federal government and the province of British Columbia also paid the C$585 million cost to build and refurbish competition venues in Vancouver, and at the nearby mountain resort of Whistler.

The city budget figures released on Thursday do not include the more than C$500 million in loans it gave the private developer building the C$1 billion athletes village to ensure it would be completed on time.

That loan, needed when the developer’s private financing dried up in the world credit crisis, is expected to be paid off as most of the waterfront housing near Vancouver’s downtown is sold off as high-end condominiums.

The city spent C$300 million on subsidized housing and other civic facilities related to the village and C$26 million on a waste-to-energy heating plant that won praise from environmentalists.

An auditor’s report in 2006 estimated that hosting the Games would eventually cost Canadians taxpayers C$2.5 billion, including related infrastructure projects such as highway and transit upgrades.(Reporting Allan Dowd; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Whereas hundreds of broadcasters measured their Olympic coverage in hundreds of hours - in some cases filling the airwaves 22 hours a day - just over two dozen companies are left in Vancouver for the Paralympics, and they are counting their hours here by fives, 10s and 50s. And that's the total for the entire 10 days of the Games.

But as far as the Vancouver Organizing Committee and the International Paralympic Committee are concerned, that's not necessarily a bad thing, given it's a vast improvement over past Games.

"Is it good or bad? Well, it is better than what they've had in the past. There wasn't anything for the last two [Paralympics], I think, in this country," said Terry Wright, Vanoc's executive vice-president of Games operations. "We've certainly had an improvement. I think in general broadcasters see the importance of showing something."

But there's no denying Paralympic television coverage is on a vastly different plane from the Olympics, where broadcasters spend hundreds of millions of dollars for rights in the expectation of generating multiple more millions from advertisers. At the Paralympics, broadcasters pay just $25,000 to $50,000 for territorial rights, given viewer demand is so much less.

The goal of Vanoc and the IPC is simply to have broadcasters at the Games; nobody expects to make money off them.

"To be honest, we'd like to get something," Wright said. "Anything we can get, we try to get an improvement on what they paid the time before, just to help the IPC with their long-term goal. But for us the most important thing is to try and get exposure. For all intents and purposes, we were trying to get them to give us a minimum number of hours broadcast. That was almost more important."

Baby steps

The disparity between the hours of coverage is significant.

The Canadian consortium led by CTV, for example, broadcast more than 2,200 hours of coverage during the Olympics, but for the Paralympics it has devoted 57 hours: 30 in French and 27 in English.

The only live broadcasts in Canada will be of sledge hockey games involving Canada, as well as the medal rounds. In B.C., live coverage will air on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific, with the exception of the March 16 Canada-Norway game (which will be live on TSN), and the gold-medal game, which CTV will broadcast live March 20.

Friday's opening ceremony won't be broadcast live, but will be repackaged Saturday afternoon into a four-hour block with a replay of the first Canada-Italy sledge hockey game.

Packaging the broadcasts that way does have some benefits. Vanoc and the International Paralympic Committee will get a large block of important Saturday viewership that will help give the Paralympics exposure, Wright said.

The numbers may be small, but they are still important.

"I think the part we focus on is that we are getting 50 hours more than the last Games," Wright said. "That's what you would call an almost astronomical percentage increase."

Overall, Paralympic broadcast rights have been sold to 10 international consortia or broadcasters. One of the consortia, the European Broadcasting Union, involves 23 companies that cover most of Europe.

Wright said most broadcasters will take daily highlights packages assembled from coverage provided by Vanoc's in-house service, Olympic Broadcast Service Vancouver.

The International Paralympic Committee expects Vancouver to generate more than the 285 hours broadcasters devoted to the 2006 Turin Paralympics, but it hasn't set a firm number of hours, according to Alexis Schaefer, the IPC's senior manager of marketing and broadcasting.

Some European broadcasters plan to cover the opening ceremony live, but most are doing tape-delayed coverage or highlights, he said.

Live-streaming options

The IPC is also significantly boosting its online coverage at paralympicsport.tv, where it will broadcast 150 hours of live and tape-delayed events. It broadcast half that amount in Turin. Live-streaming will begin with the opening ceremony.

"It is going to be a very significant portion, a very significant improvement. Of course we want to drive as many viewers as we can to the coverage," Schaefer said.

Vanoc, which took over broadcast rights from the IPC shortly after getting the Games, is paying the committee $4 million for them. It estimates the incremental cost of putting on the Paralympics over the Olympics at $88.1 million, of which $32 million is coming from the federal government. B.C. is providing $20 million.

Wright said Vanoc doesn't expect to fully recover the remaining amount, which will be paid out of its general operating budget. However, ticket sales will go some ways towards covering the deficit.

As of Monday, Vanoc had sold out a number of high-value events, including the 6,000-seat closing ceremony in Whistler, all of the Canadian sledge hockey games and the gold-medal game, as well as the gold-medal game in wheelchair curling. Many of the alpine sit-ski events have also sold out.

Caley Denton, Vanoc's vice-president of ticketing, also expects all of the roughly 40,000 tickets to Friday's opening ceremony to be gone shortly.

"We've still got a decent number of tickets, but they are going very quickly," he said. "We expect to sell out many of them."

Tickets are still available online and at the Vancouver and Whistler ticket centres, but Denton said he doesn't think Vanoc will erect its fan-to-fan ticket resale website.

A check of online resale sites shows a demand for sledge hockey tickets, but prices are not like what they were for the Olympics, with opening ceremony admissions going for less than face value.

jefflee@vancouversun.comRead Jeff Lee's blog at vancouversun.com/insidetheolympics

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The second half of these Winter Games has been very productive for this nation. We were successful each and every day with Canadian athletes reaching their full potential.

We won six golds in the last 48 hours of the games. In all respects the "Own the Podium" program instituted by the Federal Government back when Vancouver/Whistler were awarded the Games has become a huge success.

Thanks to our gold today by our men's hockey team, Canada has set a games record for the most gold medals ever won.

Back to hockey and the men's gold medal game. We won but we made it hard. The nation didn't want to see it go into overtime. In hindsight it was the best way to win it. The entire nation was transfixed by this game. Early reports have estimated that roughly 65% of Canadians tuned in to watch this game.

It didn't hurt that the opponent was the US. This game will be remembered here in Canada for years to come. If you ever visit Canada and want to make small talk with any local just mention this game and you will instantly make a friend. The winning goal will be replayed over and over.
 
I just finished watching the closing ceremonies. I was very moved to see just how passionate we actually are. The pre-ceremony telecast showed nothing but Canadians flooding the streets all across Canada. They were all wearing red and white sweaters with the maple leaf proudly displayed on the front.
 
During the closing ceremonies, John Furlong, CEO of Vanoc talked about how these games made our nation "stronger, more united, and how Canadians are more in love with their country than ever. These games allowed Canadians from coast to coast to come together and show how much national pride we have. We always had it we just needed a reason to show it.
 
We have lived for a long time in the shadow of the States. These games and especially the events from the past 24 hours have allowed Canadians to show the world that we are truly a country in our own right.

We proved not only to ourselves but to the rest of the world that we are a great nation. These games started off as an athletic spectacle and finished off by highlighting our nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

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The 27-year-old became the all-time most successful U.S. winter Olympian on Day 9 after winning his seventh career medal, breaking former speed skater Bonnie Blair's mark of six. A little more than a week later, Ohno reset his own record by claiming medal No. 8.

Ohno is also the most decorated short track speed skater in history.

Ohno began his Vancouver 2010 journey on Day 2 by winning the 1500m silver medal in a controversial finish. Two South Koreans crashed at the final turn to allow Ohno and fellow American J.R. Celski to grab the second and third spots. After the race, South Korean Lee Jung-Su said that Ohno was swinging his arms during the race and skated too aggressively.

"Ohno didn't deserve to stand on the same medal platform as me," Lee said.

A week later, Ohno won the 1000m bronze medal to break Blair's record. And, six days after that, Ohno had a mixed evening of racing on the final day of short track.

He capped the session with another bronze medal, this time with the 5000m relay team. But earlier at the Pacific Coliseum, Ohno was disqualified during the 500m finals after he put his hand on another skater's hip as they rounded the final corner.

Eight medals instead of nine medals ... what matters most is that Ohno won three medals in Vancouver and skated his way into the history books.

Reutter hits her marks
Katherine Reutter arrived in Vancouver as a favorite to win multiple medals for the U.S. team. She departed the city on March 1 with two. Mission accomplished.

The 21-year-old Reutter earned the 3000m relay bronze medal with her teammates after South Korea was disqualified in the final, and closed out her debut Olympics with the first individual medal of her career - a silver in the 1000m.

"I feel complete," Reutter said later that night. "I don't plan on taking off the medal or the flag for three days."

Reutter hails from Champaign, Ill., the same town that produced Blair. The pair was never close friends, but Blair has encouraged Reutter over the years and even gave her some advice before Vancouver.

"She told me, 'Don't forget your credential. You'll have people coming at you from all sides, so don't be overwhelmed," Reutter said. "‘And just remember, these are the same girls you've been racing against,'"

Celski comes full circle
The other U.S. star of the Games was Celski, who was close to not even competing in Vancouver. He fell during the Olympic Trials last September and as he slid along the ice, his right skate blade sliced into his left thigh.

Bloor poured onto the ice as Celski grabbed his leg in pain. He was rushed to the hospital and had emergency surgery on the wound. Dr. Eric Heiden, a former U.S. long track speed skater who won five gold medals at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, worked with Celski on a rehab plan. Heiden molded him back into racing shape throughout the fall and first part of the winter.

The rehab worked, and Celski skated in Vancouver at what he said was "90-95 percent." At the conclusion of the Games, Celski was two bronze medals richer after placing third in the 1500m and the 5000m relay.

-Jason Devaney

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Vancouver (AFP) - Joannie Rochette thanked the public for their support in a gala finale which featured gold medallists Kim Yu-Na and Evan Lysacek and brought the curtain down on two weeks of Olympic figure skating on Saturday.

Rochette, 24, skated a Celine Dion-themed tribute "Vole (Flight)" for her mother Thérèse who died just days before her bronze place finish in Vancouver.

Wearing dark mauve, the Canadian bronze medallist again earned an ovation from the home crowd, as she bid farewell to the Pacific Coliseum rink which has been the scene of the most painful and memorable moments of her life.

The 12 medallists from the four disciplines - men's, women's, pairs and ice dancing - performed during a two-and-a-half hour show alongside top-placed finishers, children and up-and-coming Canadian skaters.

South Korean superstar Kim took to the ice to the chants of "Yu-Na" from her many fans.

The fact she missed her opening jump didn't matter, as the 19-year-old's rivalry with Japan's Mao Asada was forgotten in her skate to Jules Massenet's "Meditation from Thais."

Silver medallist Asada, introduced to the public as the "Queen of the triple axel", skated to Paganini's "Caprice" while teammate Miki Ando chose the classical "Requiem" by Mozart.

"It's sad that it's come to an end, it's been a dream," said Lysacek, who performed to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

"Tonight we skate freely, without rules and show our technical skills and passion for performance. The greatest skaters in the world are skating as one.

"I haven't got much sleep since (his gold medal performance), I just want to stay awake to enjoy the whole experience."

Canada's first ice dance gold medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir received a rousing reception for their comical routine "Everyone Dance Now" where she plays the ballerina in a black tutu to his Canada ice hockey fan.

Russia's Yevgeny Plushenko, the deposed men's champion, skated to the French song "Je suis malade" by Serge Lama, while Japan's Daisuke Takahashi performed to Okawari's "Luv Letter."

China's acrobatic pairs skaters were well represented, led by gold medallists Shen Xhe and Zhao Hongbo, who skated to Andrea Boccelli's "Io Ci Saro" before a spectacular display of fireworks brought the event to a close.

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VANCOUVER '€” Now the real work starts. With the Olympics over and the Paralympics yet to take place, some of the venues no longer needed are starting to be cleaned out and returned to the public.

But don't expect to get back on to ski slopes or into hockey rinks and community centres too soon, with the exception of weather-plagued Cypress.

The decommissioning process for the venues not needed for the Paralympics will take anywhere from a month to several months, according to the Vancouver Organizing Committee and venue owners.

And in some cases, once the Paralympics are over, decommissioning will trigger a much larger construction and renovation process that will leave venues closed for much longer.

Venues that will remain closed until after the Paralympics include the UBC Thunderbird Sports Centre, Richmond Oval, Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre (Hillcrest), Vancouver and Whistler athletes' villages, BC Place Stadium, Forum at Hastings Park, Whistler Creekside, Whistler Paralympic Park and the Vancouver LiveCity sites.

Although the Paralympics doesn't include speed skating, the $178-million oval remains closed because it also houses the anti-doping lab. Ted Townsend, Richmond's communications manager, said the oval will be converted over the summer to its community centre layout. Some programs, such as the fitness centre, could open as early as mid-April, but the majority of the oval isn't expected to reopen to the public until the fall.

The first sporting venue to reopen to the public is Britannia Rink, which will reopen March 5. It was used for Olympic ice hockey practice.

The Agrodome at Hastings Park reopens March 8. The Mount Strachan side of Cypress will reopen on March 9, according to Jan Damnavits, Vanoc's manager of city venues.

Most of the parking lots will be reopened within a week.

On March 12 the Pacific Coliseum will hold its first public event, a Vancouver Giants game. The Forum will remain closed to the public until after the Paralympics as it is being used for Vanoc accreditation and volunteer management.

The new $15.9-million Trout Lake rink, used for figure skating practice, and the $14.9-million Killarney rink, used for short-track speed skating, will now both undergoing retrofit and are scheduled to be reopened to the public in May.

The brand new $85.45-million Olympic/Paralympic Centre at Hillcrest, built for curling and wheelchair curling, won't reopen until the summer, when the new aquatic centre is christened. But it won't fully open until the summer of 2011, when construction of a library, community centre and new curling club is finished.

The $47.8-million Thunderbird Sport Centre at UBC will be the main base of operations for the International Paralympic Committee. It will not be reopened until May 1.

Some portions of the Vancouver athletes village is being released shortly to the city, Damnavits said. The rest will be used for the Paralympics. In Whistler, the village will be used for housing Paralympic athletes as well as staff, according to Dick Vollet, Vanoc's manager of mountain operations. By summer, both villages will be turned over to their future owners.

Vollet said public skiing at Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Park, in the Callaghan Valley, reopens March 1. But the core venue area including all roads, parking areas, trains, ski jumps, Daylodge and biathlon range will be closed until the summer because of the large amount of complicated decommissioning.

GM Place, site of Olympic ice hockey, will be returned to its owners within a week, Damnavits said.

BC Place stays closed until Paralympic opening ceremony and will reopen briefly to the public in April for the Auto Show. After that it will closed to allow deflation and removal of the Teflon roof and installation of a new, rigid retractable roof. That process will take at least until 2011.

A portion of the new Vancouver Convention Centre, called VCC West, remains in use as a broadcast centre for the Paralympics. It will reopen April 1 with the Pacific Dental convention its first major event. The VCC East (five sails) convention centre is back in operation in mid-March for the Globe 2010 convention.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

Blog: www.vancouversun.com/insidetheolympics

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VANCOUVER '€” School'€™s out and the marks are in. Here'€™s a look at how we felt the various Canadian sports performed at the 2010 Olympic Games. The Own the Podium 2010 funding is for the 2009-10 season:

ALPINE SKIING:

What was expected: Medals are hard to get in alpine because there are so many talented skiers chasing them. Canada came in with a number of skiers hurt, but still, on the home hill, was one medal too much to ask?

What was delivered: Not much. Except for Erik Guay and Britt Janyk, they really didn'€™t come close. Nobody got to the podium. Guay came fifth in the downhill and the super-G, while Janyk, the hometown girl who grew up on the Whistler slopes, was sixth in downhill.

OTP: $3,474,503.

Expected grade: B.

Final grade: C-minus.

BIATHLON:

What was expected: Head coach Geret Coyne said before the Games that he felt his team could get one medal. It didn'€™t. But you could hardly fault any of them for failing to hit the podium in a sport where they are huge underdogs.

What was delivered: Jean Philippe Le Guellec was the star of the team. He finished sixth in the sprint, the best Olympic result ever in the event by a Canadian man. He added an 11th in the pursuit and a 13th in the individual event. The men'€™s team was 10th in the relay.

OTP: $310,000.

Expected grade: C.

Final grade: C-plus.

BOBSLED

What was expected: The Canadian sledders were expected to deliver a medal in each event. The two women'€™s sleds, Kaillie Humphries with brakeman Heather Moyse and Helen Upperton/Shelley-Ann Brown were both solid. Lyndon Rush had overtaken legend Pierre Lueders on the World Cup circuit, but that just gave Canada two men'€™s medal threats.

What was delivered: The women were stellar with Humphries and Upperton driving to the gold and silver medals, respectively. Pierre Lueders showed his age finishing fifth in the men'€™s two and four, but Rush pulled out a bronze in the four-man after crashing in one run and ending up 15th in the two.

OTP: $2,194,061 (shared with skeleton).

Expected grade: B

Final grade: B-plus.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

What was expected: We expected close in a few events, but no cigars. This isn'€™t the women'€™s hockey team after all. There was some hope that someone would pull a rabbit out of a hat the way Chandra Crawford did in 2006 in Turin, but nobody was expected to get a medal.

What was delivered: A spectacular effort. There were a number of top-10 finishes including one of the unsung Games highlights . . . the three top-10 finishes in the men'€™s 30-kilometre pursuit by Ivan Babikov (fifth), George Grey (eighth) and Alex Harvey (ninth). Devon Kershaw and Harvey finished fourth in the team sprint '€” and, on the final day, Kershaw was fifth '€” missing the podium by a little more than a half-second '€” in the 50-km mass start.

OTP: $1,183,280.

Expected grade: C

Final grade: A-minus.

CURLING

What was expected: At every Olympics two medals in curling are pretty much expected from the Canadian men'€™s and women'€™s rinks. It'€™s a lot of pressure, but it'€™s also a pressure-packed competition just to get the nod to represent Canada.

What was delivered: Gold and silver and it should have been gold and gold. Kevin Martin earned his gold, Canada'€™s 13th at these Games. Cheryl Bernard let the Swedes score two to tie it in the 10th and force an extra end. Sweden won in the 11th.

OTP: $1,078,500.

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: A.

FIGURE SKATING

What was expected: Two medals were a reasonable expectation. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were a near certainty in the ice dance, but Patrick Chan had been fighting injuries all year, the pairs weren'€™t really medal ready and Joannie Rochette was capable but in tough against Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada and a strong field.

What was delivered: Consistency and gold from Virtue and Moir and a remarkable performance by the amazing Rochette, who somehow managed to win a bronze medal days after her mother Therese had died of a heart attack while in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate. Rochette carried the flag in the closing ceremonies. Is anybody else thinking that Manon Perron should get consideration as coach of the year?

OTP: $716,000.

Expected grade: B.

Final grade: B-plus.

FREESTYLE SKIING

What was expected: Canadians were expected to do well in moguls and perhaps add a medal in men'€™s aerials. Jenn Heil was among the pre-Games favourites to deliver the first-ever gold medal on Canadian home soil after the shutouts in 1976 in Montreal and 1988 in Calgary.

What was delivered: A strong showing. Heil didn'€™t get the gold. She got silver but a day later, on Sunday, Feb. 14, Alexandre Bilodeau delivered that first golden moment, winning the men'€™s moguls and lifting the piano off the backs of every other Canadian athlete at these Games. No medals in aerials, but three Canuck men '€” Steve Omischl, Kyle Nissen and Warren Shouldice '€” made the 12-man final. Nissen finished fifth.

OTP: $2,076,000.

Expected grade: B.

Final grade: B-plus.

ICE HOCKEY

What was expected: Two gold medals. And anything less would be heartbreak.

What was delivered: In a women'€™s tournament that could be the last one of the Olympics because of its competitive imbalance, the Canadian women swept to gold. The only time they were challenged was when they were caught partying at centre ice after everyone else had left the building. The men scared the bejeebers out of the country, allowing the tying goal with 25 seconds left in the third, but Sidney Crosby won it in overtime for Canada'€™s 14th gold of these Games, more than any country had ever won at the Winter Olympics.

OTP: $2.6 million.

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: A.

LUGE

What was expected: Like their cousins in skeleton and bobsled, Canada'€™s lugers were supposed to have a home track advantage at the Whistler Sliding Centre and deep down there were hopes that an Alex Gough or a Regan Lauscher might somehow find a way to the podium.

What was delivered: A tragedy not a medal. A young slider died in a crash. The course was altered to reduce speed. Any Canadian home hill advantage disappeared. The women had a harder time dealing with it than the men. Lauscher led with a 15th-place finish. Sam Edney was seventh, a Canadian Olympic best. The Moffats, Chris and Mike in doubles, were also seventh.

OTP: $680,000.

Expected grade: C.

Final grade: C-plus.

NORDIC COMBINED

What was expected: Are you kidding? At last season'€™s World Cup in Whistler, the Canadian team stayed with friends and hitchhiked to and from events in the Callaghan Valley.

What was delivered: Canada had one man in this guy'€™s only event '€” Jason Myslicki. He did about what you'€™d expect in a sport that gets next to nothing in funding. Let'€™s spare the details and say he finished near the bottom of the 46-man field.

OTP: $35,000.

Expected grade: D.

Final grade: D.

SHORT-TRACK SPEEDSKATING

What was expected: If Canada was going to own the podium, this sport had to step and deliver. But people who follow the sport knew that the Koreans, Chinese and Americans were all good and getting medals at the Pacific Coliseum would be no stroll in the park.

What was delivered: After a slow start, by the men in particular, the short-trackers finished strong. Charles Hamelin earned a gold in the 500 and helped the relay team capture gold a few hours later. The women picked up a silver from Marianne St-Gelais in the 1,000 and a silver from the relay team.

$2,467,796 (shared with long-track).

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: B.

SPEEDSKATING

What was expected: See above. Same deal. For Canada not to dis-own the podium, there'€™d need to be medals galore at the Richmond Olympic Oval. And though there was no skater capable of delivering five medals like Cindy Klassen did in 2006, the team was strong, particularly on the women'€™s side.

What was delivered: There were glitches. Denny Morrison didn'€™t medal in either the 1,000 or 1,500. The women'€™s team pursuit, No. 1 in the world, missed the podium. Christine Nesbitt took home gold in the 1,000, but missed the podium in the 1,500. Kristina Groves skated to a silver and bronze in the 1,500 and 3,000, respectively, and the remarkable Clara Hughes, in her swan song, earned bronze in the 5,000. Morrison and the men surprised with gold in the team pursuit.

$2,467,796 (shared with short-track).

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: B.

SKELETON

What was expected: Canada expected at least one medal in the men'€™s and women'€™s event. Mellisa Hollingsworth was the top slider on the 2009-10 World Cup circuit and Jon Montgomery, Jeff Pain and Mike Douglas were all capable on the men'€™s side. They also had a big home track advantage at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

What was delivered: At first it was disappointment. Then came triumph. Hollingsworth finished fifth and apologized to the country. Then Montgomery lit up the nation with a gold-medal run. He fist-pumped. He jumped onto the podium. Then he led the nation on a beer-fuelled walking tour through the streets of Whistler. One of the Games'€™s magical moments.

OTP: $2,194,061 (shared with bobsled).

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: B-plus.

SKI CROSS

What was expected: It'€™s hard to have expectations in a brand new sport making its Olympic debut, but let'€™s take a shot. With Ashleigh McIvor leading a strong women'€™s team and her boyfriend Chris Del Bosco leading a strong men'€™s team, four medals weren'€™t out of the question. A year before the men had swept the World Cup Olympic test event on the same Cypress course.

What was delivered: In a blizzard, McIvor delivered the gold. But that was it. The men failed to reach the podium as Del Bosco finished fourth.

OTP: $1,190,000.

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: B.

SKI JUMPING

What was expected: The nation pines for the days of Horst Bulau. Nobody in their right mind would have expected a medal from Canada'€™s ski jumpers and they delivered right on queue.

What was delivered: They did the best with what they had. Let'€™s face the truth. Without funding, without facilities, without much support, it'€™s unfair to ask athletes in sports like ski jumping and Nordic combined to deliver. Stefan Read led the way, with a 46th on the large hill. Canada placed 12th in the large hill team event.

OTP: $82,500.

Expected grade: D.

Final grade: D.

SNOWBOARDING

What was expected: A big mess at Cypress? Well of course, but somehow the severely challenged venue managed to stage all its events without moving any of them to Whistler, Mont-Tremblant or Kathmandu and Canadians fared remarkably well. Halfpipe, with the strength of the Americans, presented a challenge, but medals were expected in snowboard cross and parallel giant slalom.

What was delivered: Quite a bit. Between snowboarding, freestyle and ski cross, Cypress served the Canadians well. Maelle Ricker won gold in the women'€™s snowboard cross. Mike Robertson earned a silver in the men'€™s event and then Jasey-Jay Anderson, in his fourth Olympic Games, finally stepped onto the podium by winning the men'€™s PGS.

OTP: $1,959,300.

Expected grade: A.

Final grade: A.

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3. Ice hockey scores top marks at Games problems mount

Snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Que., won gold in men's parallel giant slalom Saturday at Cypress Mountain.

Anderson overcame a 0.76 second deficit to beat Austria's Benjamin Karl in the final Saturday, amidst wet, foggy conditions. France's Mathieu Bozzetto won bronze.

"I had the better course and my style of riding requires a better course. When it's rough, I always get those mistakes in there and they break up the momentum.'€

Despite being one of the most successful racers in World Cup history -- with 26 career wins -- Anderson had never reached the podium in three previous Olympics.

"It was definitely surreal," Anderson said of crossing the finish line victorious.

"So many Olympics have eluded me, and this one at one, I can't even describe it. There's so much support and so much love and happiness. It's just the perfect moment."

========

Six gold medals for snowboarding will be won over the course of the six days of competition.

Team Canada for snowboarding is:

The full schedule for snowboarding competitions is (all times are in Pacific Standard Time Zone):

Mon Feb 15, 2010

Tue Feb 16, 2010

Wed Feb 17, 2010

Thu Feb 18, 2010

Fri Feb 26, 2010

Sat Feb 27, 2010

Snowboarding events are being held on Cypress Mountain, in West Vancouver in an area known as 'the North Shore.' Unseasonably warm temperatures have eroded the snow base at this venue, and event crews covered some spots with hay to prevent more melt. Snowmakers and trucks of snow from neighbouring mountains were also brought in to develop the venue.

1. Snowboard: Canada’s Anderson wins parallel giant slalom
2. Snowboard: Sauerbreij wins parallel giant slalom gold
3. Sauerbreij takes gold for Netherlands in women’s parallel giant slalom snowboard final

Do svidanya (goodbye) Vancouver. Do vstretchi (see you) in Sochi.

As the Vancouver Olympics come to a close, the focus turns across the world to Russia's first Winter Games in 2014 - taking the Olympic movement to a new territory and a new set of challenges.

"We are next," Sochi organizing chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said. "The bar has been well and truly raised."

The Russian city's first big moment in the global spotlight comes during Sunday night's closing ceremony, with the Olympic flag handed from the mayor of Vancouver to the mayor of Sochi.

The world will get a first taste of what Sochi has to offer during an eight-minute segment featuring Russian sports stars, music and dance performers and giant glowing spheres called "Zorbs."

"This is a historic event for Sochi," Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov said. "We understand it is a huge responsibility for Sochi and for Russia and we can't let anyone down."

After the showbiz, the hard work will continue back home as organizers continue to prepare for an event that has the prestige of Russia and its leaders - including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - on the line.

Ever since Sochi was awarded the games by the International Olympic Committee three years ago, questions have been raised: Can Sochi complete its massive construction projects on time? Will the funding hold up? Will the games be safe in a city near the separatist Abkhazia region in neighboring Georgia?

Putin, Russian president at the time, was instrumental in Sochi securing the games when he traveled to Guatemala City in 2007 and personally lobbied IOC members. He and current President Dmitry Medvedev remain centrally involved in making sure the games are a success.

"It's so important for Russians that they will not allow it to fail," senior Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said. "Whatever has to be done will be done."

Sochi, established as a summer resort under Joseph Stalin, is a city of about 500,000 people in Russia's Krasdonar region. Olympic organizers hope the games will serve as a catalyst in turning the area into a year-round world-class destination for Russians and foreign tourists alike.

Organizers say the games will feature the most compact layout in Winter Games history, with a cluster of ice arenas situated along the Black Sea coast and snow and sliding venues a half-hour away in the Krasnaya Polyana mountains. A new rail line is being built to connect the two clusters.

"You can swim in the warm Sochi sea, and after 24 minutes on a train, you can change clothes and go skiing in the mountains," Pakhomov said.

First, Sochi has to build virtually all of its Olympic facilities from scratch. "Literally from nothing," Chernyshenko said.

All venues are now under construction, with 16,000 workers busy on "what is probably the biggest construction site in the world."

Sochi promises that all venues will be ready two years in advance to allow for the holding of Olympic test events. The first trial run will take place a year from now with a European Cup event in Alpine skiing. More than 70 test events are planned in 2012 and 2013.

Related to this article

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  Vancouver's Olympic experience

  Olympic excitement fills the streets of the host city.
  

• Best of the Olympics: Part 4
• Best of the Olympics: Part 3
• Best of the Olympics: Part 2
• Best of the Olympics: Part 1
• Inside the Olympic Village
• Canadian pride floods the streets

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• Russia looks to Sochi after Vancouver flop
• Sochi in Bjoerndalen's sights
• After silver, Davis eyeing Sochi 2014
• Plushenko ready to compete in Sochi
• Russia stars want NHL shutdown for Sochi in 2014
• Sochi 2014 promises all venues will be ready
• Sochi 2014 unveils new logo
• Rogge pleased with Sochi

The cost of the Olympic infrastructure project is put at $7 billion.

"All the money is allocated and we don't see any risk for a shortage of finance," said Chernyshenko, who has a separate operating budget of $1.8 billion.

Russia is also spending billions more on other non-Olympic projects, including renovation of the Moscow-Sochi railway line.

Despite the global economic downturn and fluctuating oil prices, Sochi has managed to raise record sponsorship revenues, surpassing $1 billion in domestic deals so far. The IOC has closely monitored Sochi's preparations and is happy with the progress, although Jean-Claude Killy, who heads the IOC's coordination for Sochi, has repeatedly warned there is no time to waste.

The construction and design of Sochi's boblsed and luge track will be under scrutiny following the high-speed training crash that killed Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the day of Vancouver's opening ceremony.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has written Chernyshenko asking him to ensure the track is safe. The Russian said plans already called for the track to be 10-15 kph (6-9 mph) slower than Whistler's.

"We will learn from this tragedy," Chernyshenko said. "We will do all we can do guarantee the safety factor."

Security is also an issue on a wider front. Sochi is located in a volatile region, just north of the border with Abkhazia, where Russia has thousands of troops. Russia defied the West by recognizing Abkhazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia, as independent after its war with Georgia in 2008.

"Sochi has been the safest city in the country, the summer residence for the president and prime minister," Chernyshenko said. "This is a rather calm city. The government is doing everything to protect this region from any risk."

Sochi brought a team of 150 observers to Vancouver to watch and learn. One key lesson so far: Have contingency plans in place for the type of weather problems that caused havoc at the snowboard and freestyle venue at Cypress Mountain.

"We are already thinking seriously about Plan B if the weather doesn't cooperate," Chernyshenko said, citing plans for new technology and snow making techniques.

Another priority for Sochi is recruiting volunteers. Vancouver organizers brought in about 25,000 volunteers, who won rave reviews for their smiling hospitality. Russia doesn't have a tradition of volunteerism, but is recruiting volunteers from all over the country.

"The games are about people and the human factor," Chernyshenko said.

The biggest challenge might be in replicating the way Vancouver celebrated these games, with festive crowds in the streets and arenas packed with cheering fans. IOC officials said it's the best Winter Olympic atmosphere since the magical 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

"The Canadian atmosphere here is electric," Chernyshenko said. "That is exactly what we want to reach in Russia. We will do it with a Russian touch, a Russian look without the stereotypes."

Sochi organizers can only hope for improved performances from Russian athletes, who bombed at these games with just three golds and 15 total medals going into the final day. The Russians stood 11th in the gold medal table - the only time they have been out of the top five since the Soviet Union first competed in the Winter Games in 1956.

Canadian athletes thrilled the host nation by winning the most gold medals in Vancouver, although the U.S. clinched the most overall medals.

The Russian medal flop here may be an explanation for the absence of Medvedev, who had been expected to come to Vancouver for the final days of the games. His plans apparently changed after the Russian men's hockey team - expected to make Sunday's final - was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Canada.

Before the Olympic flag left Canada on its journey to Russia, Vancouver's organizing committee offered a word of advice to the next hosts.

"Develop a good thick skin and don't shy away from criticism," said spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade, "because it's healthy and it makes you better at what you do."

1. Holcomb readies Night Train for golden run
2. New trees and wetland plants turn Olympic Park from brown to green

VANCOUVER -- Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk captured gold in a photo finish Saturday in the women's 30 km, Mass Start Classic.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen won the silver and Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen grabbed the bronze medal.

Canadians Sara Renner and Madeleine Williams finished 16th and 46th, respectively.

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The remaining schedule for cross-country skiing is (all times are in Pacific Standard Time Zone):

Sun Feb 28, 2010

Ski jumping, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and nordic combined skiing events are held at Whistler Olympic Park. The park consists of two ramps and a landing zone for the ski jump, as well as 15km of biathlon and cross-country tracks. The location is approximately 115km from the centre of Vancouver in the Callaghan Valley, a region renowned for brown bears and the ideal setting for snow sports at an altitude of 840 to 930m.

1. Kowalczyk wins women’s 30K cross-country
2. Olympic cross-country sprint: Russia’s Panzhinskiy finishes first in men’s cross-country semifinal
3. Olympic cross-country: Sweden wins gold