JOIN USHosts finish with 13 gold medals; Canada claim ice-hockey crown
The Winter Olympics drew to a close on Sunday with host nation Russia on top of the medals table and Canada winning the men's ice hockey final, but news that two more athletes have tested positive for a banned substance dimmed the golden glow.
Canada claimed the last, most coveted title of the Games by sweeping aside Sweden 3-0 to retain their men's 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. Backstrom missed the gold medal game against Canada.
At the Sanki Sliding Centre, Alexander Zubkov added the four-man bobsleigh crown to his two-man title, while on the cross-country skiing track, Alexander Legkov grabbed the 50 km race in a Russian medals sweep.
That win 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 told a news conference. "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?"
‘Excellent Games’
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said the Russian hosts had proved their critics wrong. "We saw excellent Games and what counts most is the opinions of the athletes and they were enormously satisfied," he said.
The Games 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.
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 apologise 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. Bach spoke hours before the closing ceremony at the Fisht Stadium.