LONDON -- Sergej Gontcharov sums up the status of Ukraines bid for the 2022
Winter Olympics in one word: uncertain.
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Ukrainian city of Lviv was among the five contenders that submitted applicant
files to the International Olympic Committee by Fridays deadline. With Ukraine
engulfed in political crisis and its strategic Crimean peninsula under Russian
control, its unclear whether Lviv will be able to keep pursuing its Olympic
campaign. "Obviously so much is connected to what is going on in the country,"
Gontcharov, the CEO of the Lviv bid, told The Associated Press in an interview
Friday. "As of now, there are more urgent and more important things that have to
be clarified." Competing with Lviv for the 2022 Olympics are Almaty, Kazakhstan;
Beijing; Krakow, Poland; and Oslo. The five delivered their applicant files to
the IOC this week, outlining their vision and concept for the games, in the
first phase of the bid process. The IOC executive board will decide which cities
go through to the final phase at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July
7-9. The full IOC will select the host city on July 31, 2015, in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. "We did our job by submitting the files to the best of our ability and
now we have to wait and see," Gontcharov said. "Hopefully the situation calms
down quickly and is resolved peacefully. Then we will enter into more detailed
and more concrete talks with the new government." Beijing, which hosted the 2008
Olympics, is seeking to become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter
Games. Oslo hosted the 1952 Winter Games. Krakow would hold some ski events
across the border in Slovakia. Almaty is a strong contender, bidding for a
second straight time after failing to make the cut for 2014. Lvivs bid has been
buffeted by the upheaval in Ukraine, including the anti-government protests and
outbursts of violence that led pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee
last month. Russian troops have since moved into Crimea, where the public will
vote Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and become part of Russia. How
long Lviv remains in the race is anyones guess. "Im not here telling
fairytales," Gontcharov said by telephone. "Of course, its very uncertain. The
concept itself is based on great demand and potential. Whether we will be able
to realize it now is unclear at the moment, too uncertain." Gontcharov was in
Lausanne on Thursday to meet with IOC officials and confirm the bid files had
arrived by shipment. Just getting that far was an achievement. "We worked very
hard to complete the applicant file," he said. "Its all been a very big
challenge. So many times we had to cancel some events that were planned in
promotion of the bid, such as the logo launch and different social events. Every
time when we thought the situation has calmed down, there was a new escalation."
While most bid cities work hard to promote their case, Lviv is keeping a low
profile while Ukraine remains in turmoil. "All the nice words and slogans and so
on that we have prepared, theres no sense in it," Gontcharov said. Lviv is
located in western Ukraine, where much of the population favours ties with the
European Union. Many in eastern Ukraine have closer economic and traditional
ties to Russia. The Lviv bid also has offices in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
The offices, located near Independence Square, were closed for two days during
last months deadly clashes between demonstrators and police. "We came back to
our offices and found three bullets," Gontcharov said. "It was very difficult to
concentrate on the project." A key requirement for any Olympic bid is government
backing and financial guarantees -- something that has been thrown into doubt
for Lviv by the changes and instability in Ukraine. "Of course (the bid) depends
on the government highly, and right now the government has other priorities,"
Gontcharov said. An IOC panel will examine the files of the 2022 bid cities and
submit a report to the executive board before its decision in July on the short
list of finalists. "It is a short time frame but if you have followed the events
in Ukraine, from one day to the other there can be so many things happening,"
Gontcharov said.
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Montreal Canadiens aim to extend their impressive start on the road this season
as they visit the Minnesota Wild for Friday nights encounter.Its been a hell of
a rise for Zach Collaros and Bo Levi Mitchell. Each entered the league and
played sparingly in 2012, got an opportunity and showed their potential in 2013,
entered the year as starters for the first time this season, and now are playing
for the Grey Cup in just their second career post-season starts. Theyre flying
through many a players career goals list. The league has seen a changing of the
guard at their most prominent position of late. Five of the leagues nine teams
entered the year with quarterbacks in just their first or second year as
starters. And the young guys are having success as well. Of the five new
starters, only Winnipeg and Drew Willy failed to make the playoffs. And the QBs
in the Eastern and Western Finals had a combined two career playoff starts,
gained just the week before in the Division Semi-Finals. Heading into last years
Grey Cup, the quarterback comparison pieces were very different. Darian Durant
was in his fifth year as full-time starter for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and
about to start his third Grey Cup game. Not to be outdone, Hamilton had 14-year
veteran Henry Burris and his two Grey Cup rings leading the Ticats into the big
game. But then Ticats head coach and general manager Kent Austin took a chance
in the off-season, signing Collaros and letting Burris walk, and its paid off
nicely for the Black and Gold. While Collaros wasnt a finished product like
Burris, at just 25-years-old to Burris 38, he offered a shot at more sustained
success. For the Stamps part,, they took a bit of a chance with Mitchell as
well.
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them to the Grey Cup just a year earlier, Calgary left steady veteran Kevin
Glenn unprotected in the expansion draft, and started Mitchell over the more
experienced but slightly less enticing Drew Tate. Much has been made of the
Ticats rough 1-6 start, but that fairly closely coincided with Collaros stint on
the six-game injured list. Since his return on Labour Day weekend, the
unofficial start to the CFL season, the Ticats are 9-3 (including playoffs),
almost as impressive as the Stampeders 8-2 record during that time. A
head-to-head comparison reveals similarities as well. While both Collaros and
Mitchell missed some regular season time due to injury, they finished with
comparable stat lines. Mitchell had a better touchdown to interception ratio,
22: 8 compared to 15:9, and finished with more passing yards (3,389 to 3,261)
but Collaros had a higher per-game yards average and was more accurate (65.8
percent to 63.3 percent). The comparables in their first games as post-season
starters begin and end with the W. While Collaros played the role of game
manager, finishing with a clean and mistake-free 200-yard performance, Mitchell
exploded for 336 yards and four touchdowns. Its a new era in the CFL with a
growing number of young quarterbacks taking the helm and making names for
themselves across the country. One of Collaros and Mitchell may get a head start
on the rest of the pack with their first Grey Cup win on Sunday.
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