Canada to top medal standings: Economics prof Moose Jaw native crunches the Olympic numbers By BOB MACKIN, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER - Canada will own the podium at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics, according to the medal forecasts of a Canadian-born economics professor at Colorado College.

“If Canada performs as expected, given what we’ve done over the last 56 years, then Canada is expected to win 27 medals, five of them gold,” said Daniel Johnson in a telephone interview from Colorado Springs.

The Moose Jaw, Sask., native who was raised in Vancouver and Ottawa recorded a 94% accuracy rate over the last five Olympics using five non-sports variables: per capita income, population, climate, political structure and proximity to the host country.

“I honestly don’t know the name of a single athlete performing this year,” Johnson said. “I’ve deliberately kept myself in a news blackout because I don’t want to be swayed.”

Should Johnson be correct, Canada would be the top medal winner for the first time in Olympic history.

Johnson predicts the United States will also win five gold medals, but fall one short of Canada’s overall total with 26. Norway (26) and Austria (25) will have four gold each, but eight of Russia’s 23 medals will be gold, he said.

Johnson’s prediction of 17 Canadian medals at Beijing 2008 was one below the actual total. He expected Canadians to win no gold medals, but they instead brought home three.