Olympic Gold Medal? Here’s Your Gold Car

ABC's Alexander Marquardt reports from Moscow: The Olympics finished two weeks ago but Russia is still licking its wounds from its team’s dismal performance in Vancouver. The sixth place finish in the overall medal count was the worst since anyone can remember, the three gold medals it won the least ever. But for a moment Monday afternoon, Russia celebrated the medals its Olympians did bring home. And what goes better with an Olympic medal than a car of the same color? Russia’s 22 Olympic medalists walked out of the Kremlin gates following a presidential ceremony to find gold, silver and bronze Audis lined up on Red Square’s cobblestones.  One’s place on the podium not only determined color, but which model you received as well, with gold medalists hopping into hulking Q7s and bronze medalists into the cozier Q4s. “We are fulfilling the mission given to us by the Russian President and passing on to you the cars which are the gifts of the President,” said the secretary of the Presidential Council on Sports. “We wish you new heights – in sports and human.” Not everyone was happy with their new toys.  Men’s figure skating silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko, who after the competition ended repeatedly insisted he should have won gold, revealed to website Gazeta.ru that he would be trading it in. Speed skater Ivan Skobrev was also disappointed. “I dreamed of having a Q7 and I got a Q5. Q5 is more a car for women,” he said. The haul doesn’t stop there. The Olympians will be receiving Omega watches as well as the equivalent of $137,000 for gold, $82,000 for silver and $55,000 for bronze. Russia’s leadership has been furious with the lack of results for the $117 million it spent preparing its athletes.  The day after the games ended, President Dmitry Medvedev called for resignations and two days later the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee stepped down. Despite the grand honors (Plushenko was awarded the Order of Merit for the Motherland) and shiny cars, it was clear the black cloud of Russia’s failure in Vancouver hung over the ceremony. Gazeta.ru reports that senior sports officials were not invited and Plushenko said he complained to the president about funding failing to reach the training budgets. Just when Russia would probably like to turn around and focus on the next winter games at home in Sochi, the United Nations issued a report Tuesday saying that construction of the site is harming the area’s pristine environment.