|
 Canada claimed the last, most coveted title of the Games by
sweeping aside Sweden 3-0 to retain their men's ice hockey crown,
but two more victories for Russia gave them an unassailable lead
with 13 golds to Norway's 11.
Sweden's misery was compounded by news that forward Nicklas
Backstrom had failed a doping test.
Team officials were furious at the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) because they were only told two hours before the game. The
team doctor said the stimulant was contained in a pill the athlete
had taken for many years to treat a sinus condition.
"That was one of the worst games we've ever seen, not because of the
outcome and the way the team played, but because Nicklas couldn't
compete in the game," said Swedish team manager Tommy Boustedt.
"This is one of the toughest days for me and Swedish hockey, and all
because of the IOC."
One top Swedish official accused the IOC of putting politics ahead
of sport and jeopardizing the future participation of National
Hockey League players at the Olympics.
On a happier note, at the Sanki Sliding Centre, Alexander Zubkov
added the four-man bobsleigh crown to his two-man title, while in
the cross-country, Alexander Legkov grabbed the 50 km race in a
Russian medals sweep.
Those wins ensured Russia was the most successful nation at the
Games, emulating the Canadians who topped the rankings on home turf
four years earlier.
"People kept asking me whether I believed Russia could do as well as
Canada did in Vancouver ... and I didn't believe it," 30-year-old
Legkov said.
"Now this is our pride, it's wonderful. What could be better than
ending the Olympics with a gold medal and helping Russia top the
medal table?"
Underlining the sense of national pride, a packed Fisht Stadium
erupted in cheers as the Russian team marched past during the
athletes' parade at the closing ceremony.
Organizers will be delighted that athletic achievement has gone
hand-in-hand with a generally well-run Games, so far untouched by
violence at the hands of Islamist militants opposed to President
Vladimir Putin and his pet project.
Voices of dissent over Russia's human rights record, particularly
regarding legislation that critics say discriminates against gays,
have occasionally crashed the party, but attention has largely
focused on sport.
RUSSIA PROVES CRITICS WRONG: BACH
IOC President Thomas Bach said the Russian hosts had proved their
critics wrong.
"Tonight we can say: Russia delivered all what it had promised," he
told 40,000 people at the closing ceremony and millions more
watching on television.
"What took decades in other parts of the world was achieved here in
Sochi in just seven years."
Addressing the army of volunteers who helped guide athletes,
reporters and visitors to their destinations, he added:
"Through you, everybody with an open mind could see the face of a
new Russia: efficient and friendly, patriotic and open to the world.
We arrived with great respect for the rich and varied history of
Russia. We leave as friends of the Russian people."
Bach then formally declared the Sochi Games closed.
The Olympics had more than 2,800 athletes from 88 countries — both
records — and featured 12 new events to attract younger fans and
more broadcasters than ever before.
However, the Games have also seen six doping cases, five more than
at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
[to top of second column] |
Early on Sunday Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr, who
placed eighth in the skiathlon, tested positive for
performance-boosting EPO and was excluded from the Games, according
to the Austrian Olympic Committee.
"There's nothing left for me than to apologize to everyone. To my
family, my wife," Duerr told Austrian TV ORF at the airport as he
was leaving.
Bach said the number of cases proved that the system of testing
athletes was working.
"The number of cases for me is not really relevant. What is
important is that we see that the system works," he said, addressing
reporters hours before the closing ceremony.
The show was staged at the Fisht Stadium, one of several gleaming
arenas built in Sochi that helped push the price tag for Russia's
first Winter Games to an estimated $51 billion, a record for any
Olympics.
Only time will tell if the project, on which Putin has staked his
prestige, was worth it, as Russia faces the formidable challenge of
turning Sochi and the surrounding areas into a year-round sports and
entertainment hub.
Bach said Sochi had undergone an "amazing transformation" from
somewhere that looked more like a "Stalinist-style sanatorium city"
in the mid-1990s to an Olympic host city with state-of-the-art
venues.
"It was terrible then. Seeing it 20 years after this transformation
is amazing."
RUSSIAN PRIDE
For now Russian officials are basking in the glory of an event they
believe helped them build bridges with the West, with which Moscow
has had uneasy relations under Putin.
"The friendly faces, the warm Sochi sun and the glare of the Olympic
gold have broken the ice of skepticism towards the new Russia,"
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, also Putin's Olympics organizer,
said at the weekend.
The medals tally was an unexpected bonus after Russia mustered just
three golds in Vancouver four years ago to place 11th in the
rankings.
The only regret for Russian fans was that the men's ice hockey team
progressed no further than the quarter-finals.
Victory gave Canada a sweep of the ice hockey gold medals for a
second consecutive Olympics. The women stormed back from 2-0 down in
the last four minutes against the United States to break American
hearts on Thursday.
The world's gaze then turned to the final act of the February 7-23
Games, the closing ceremony, which painted Russia in far softer
colors than the muscular, assertive opening spectacle.
The show's producers deliberately replicated the embarrassing
technical hitch from the opening ceremony, when one of five Olympic
rings failed to open.
In similar fashion, while dancers in shimmering silver tops formed
four perfect rings, one group remained in a tight formation, and
only opened to complete the symbol when spectators had cheered the
joke loudly.
The sense of national pride at the home team's achievements was
palpable as huge roars erupted for the Russian team as they paraded
past the crowds.
"Well done!" chanted tens of thousands of Russians as Legkov, Maxim
Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov received their gold, silver and
bronze medals won in the Caucasus Mountains high above Sochi earlier
in the day.
After a rousing rendition of the national anthem by a choir of 1,000
children, the ceremony took viewers on a journey through Russia's
rich heritage of visual arts, music, literature and dance.
A deafening volley of fireworks from the stadium's rooftop lit up
the sky, and the Olympics were over.
(Reporting by the Reuters Olympic team in Sochi and Rosa Khutor;
editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
