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CALGARY -- John Kuceras career was shorter than he wanted but he leaves alpine ski racing knowing he achieved two firsts for Canada. The first Canadian man to win a world downhill championship and the Canadian skier to stand atop the World Cup podium in Lake Louise, Alta., announced his retirement from ski racing Thursday. Kucera won the mens downhill title in Val-dIsere, France, in 2009. He earned three career World Cup medals in super-G, including gold in Lake Louise in 2006. "Im just really proud I managed to take a very short career and do big things with it," the 29-year-old Calgarian said at Alpine Canadas headquarters in his hometown. "It was a great ride. It really was. "I did some things in this country that I was the first to do and Im really proud of that." Kuceras first four years on the national team were successful and promising. But a broken leg followed by a frustrating inner ear condition sidelined him for four of the last five seasons and also kept him from competing in two Winter Olympics. Vestibular neuritis -- an inner ear condition causing dizziness and nausea -- struck during a training camp in Chile last September and made it impossible to race through gates at 130 kilometres per hour. Kucera wasnt able to get back on skis to race at the Winter Games in Sochi in February. The symptoms still linger and the uncertainty over how long theyll remain, combined with an opportunity to join the coaching staff of the national development team, steered Kucera towards retirement. "Truth be told, Im not 100 per cent yet," he said. "I think my body just told me it was time to start doing something else. "This vestibular neuritis is tough because there is no time line. I could be good by July, but I could be good by next July and really, nobody can give me that answer. Who wouldve thought the thing that would have finally took me out was waking up dizzy one morning?" Super giant slalom, or super-G, is shorter than downhill but there are more gates on the course. The discipline requires a combination of speed and technical ability. At five foot nine and 185 pounds, Kucera wasnt as beefy as the top downhill racers early in his career, so he excelled in super-G. But on Feb. 7, 2009, he bested such heavyweights as Hermann Maier of Austria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and American Bode Miller to win on Val-dIseres difficult slope. "Val-dIsere was a course that obviously played into a lot of my strengths, very technical, very steep," Kucera recalled. "That being said, I felt like every year I was becoming a better and better downhiller. "I just hit the right track, the right conditions and the right time of my career to become a champion there." Kucera was the first Canadian to win in 26 years of World Cup racing at Lake Louise when he captured super-G gold in 2006. He drew the No. 1 start bib, so after crossing the finish line, the 22-year-old stood nervously in front of television cameras watching as skier after skier came down the mountain. "I remember being really cold. I think it was -35 C that day," Kucera said. "Coming down, having that great run, freezing, watching a lot of the people I looked up to growing up and me beating them, it was pretty exciting." Kucera dedicated that victory to his former coach and friend, Jason Lapierre, who was hit by a car while biking and died earlier that year. Kuceras successes coincided with those of teammates Erik Guay, Manny Osborne-Paradis and Jan Hudec. The "Canadian Cowboys" have given the national mens downhill team depth it hasnt had since Steve Podborski and Ken Read headlined the "Crazy Canucks" of the 1980s. Guay won the mens downhill title again for Canada in 2011, while Hudec took silver in 2007. Guay passed Podborski as Canadas most decorated World Cup racer with 22 career medals. Guay also won the overall super-G title in 2010. Osborne-Paradis collected nine World Cup medals, including three gold, between 2006 and 2010. Hudec tied for third and won Olympic bronze in super-G in Sochi. "As a group, now with Jans medal at the Olympics, weve really done it all," Kucera said. "The only thing I guess you could say we havent done is we dont have an Olympic champion yet. "As a group, we pulled off some special things. Weve kind of superceded the Crazy Canuck era and did something great. Weve set the bar pretty high for the next group coming up, but I think thats where it needs to be." Kucera won two World Cup medals at Lake Louise -- he took silver there in 2008 -- but the mountain was disastrous for him in the first race of 2009-10. He badly broke his left leg in the super-G and erased his chance to race in Whistler, B.C., at the 2010 Winter Games. Rehabilitation and subsequent setbacks kept him off his race skis for the next three seasons. "Obviously the last four years hadnt gone exactly gone the way I would have liked them to, but that being said, I felt the time was right to step away now," Kucera said. "Ive had a good run as an athlete. "Im walking away relatively healthy. Thats a good thing. Im excited and passionate about the next group, the guys Im going to be working with because Im going to be working with a pretty exciting group of 17- to 19-year-olds." Kuceras parents, Jan and Zdena, emigrated to Canada from the former Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s before John was born. Jan worked with the ski patrol at nearby Nakiska. John and his brother James began skiing at an early age. 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Mueller III said in a report that the NFL failed to investigate the Ray Rice case properly and that he found no evidence the league received a video of the Ravens running back knocking out his fiancee on a casino elevator.Here are some of the key excerpts from the 96-page report released Thursday following a four-month investigation:— On the NFLs investigation into the case: There was substantial information about the incident that should have put the league on notice of a need to undertake a more thorough investigation to obtain available evidence of precisely what occurred inside the elevator. Had the League done so, it may have uncovered additional information about the incident, possibly including the in-elevator video prior to its public release.— On an Associated Press report that a law enforcement official sent a copy of the in-elevator video to the NFL: We found no evidence that anyone at the NFL had or saw the in-elevator video before it was publicly shown. We also found no evidence that a woman at the NFL acknowledged receipt of that video in a voicemail message on April 9, 2014.— On the steps taken by the NFL to pursue evidence in the case: Our investigation identified a number of investigative steps that the league did not take to acquire additional information about what occurred inside the elevator. League investigators did not contact any of the police officers who investigated the incident, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office, or the Revel to attempt to obtain or view the in-elevator video or to obtain other information. No one from the league asked Rice or his lawyer whether they would make available for viewing the in-elevator video they received as part of criminal discovery in early April. And, after the initial contacts with the Ravens in the immediate aftermath of the incident, league investigators did not follow up with the Ravens to determine whether the team had additional information.— On the accuracy of the reports findings: We reach these findings without the benefit of all possible information. The Associated Press and ACPD did not provide certain information we requested. For example, had the Associated Press provided us with a phone number associated with the disposable phone used by the AP source, or the sound of the females voice at the league (for use with voice comparisons), our conclusion might have been different. We made several offers to the Associated Press to receive such information without identifying its source, including an offer to search our telephone data for any portion of the sources disposable cellphone number. Those offers were declined. Similarly, had ACPD provided information about certain officers handling of evidence, we might have reached a different conclusion. We made several requests to ACPD for information, face-to-face interviews, and written responses to our questions. Those requests were declined.— On security chief Jeffery Millers unsuccessful attempt to obtain in-elevator video: Also on February 20, Miller attended a previously scheduled lunch meeting with senior officials from NJSP_officials who had worked with the League in the rrun up to the Super Bowl at the Meadowlands.dddddddddddd Miller recalls that, during a brief discussion of the Rice incident, he told the officials that the league knew there was video from outside the elevator and that he suspected there was video from inside the elevator. Miller recalls asking the officials if they could confirm whether an in-elevator video existed or describe to him what the video showed. There is a dispute about what Miller said at the luncheon, but there is no dispute that Miller did not obtain information as a result of any request made during the luncheon.___Reaction from around the NFL and elsewhere:— NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: We have all learned a great deal in the past months and expect to be judged by how we lead going forward on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault.— New York Giants owner John Mara: This matter has tarnished the reputation of the NFL due to our failure to hand out proper punishments. It has been a wake-up call to all involved and we expect the changes that have been made will lead to improvements in how any similar issues are handled in the future. It is clear to us that Commissioner Goodell was forthright in the statements he made to the owners about this matter, and we have every confidence that Roger Goodell is the right person to lead the league as we move forward.— Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on approval of Goodell: I can understand the criticism. I would hope that certainly something like this report would accentuate the transparency that the commissioner wants and that the owners want. These are complex issues, not just domestic violence but other social issues that we have to have a responsibility to in the NFL. What Im concerned about more than anything are doing things that reduce the numbers of victims and that can impact families and victims way away from the NFL. To me, that could be our greatest role.— Associated Press Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll: We have reviewed the report and stand by our original reporting. The Mueller team did ask us for source material and other newsgathering information, but we declined. Everything that we report and confirm goes into our stories. We do not offer up reporters notes and sources.— Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney on meeting with Goodell about the findings: There was resounding support for Roger ... Theres a very strong confidence in Roger going forward in terms of him being the commissioner of the league.— Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice-president of football operations: All of the off-field events of 2014, including the Mueller investigation and subsequent report, have served to make the NFL better. Because of these events our entire leadership team is more informed and better prepared to address these important conduct issues. We listened, learned and acted. 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