Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai from 7 to 23 February 2014 and was the top medal recipient at those Games. As hosts, Russia participated in all 15 sports, with a team consisting of 232 athletes.[3] It is Russia's largest Winter Olympics team to date.
In preparation for the Games the Russian Olympic Committee naturalized a South Korean-born short-track speed-skater Ahn Hyun-soo and an American-born snowboarder Vic Wild. They won a total of 5 gold and 1 bronze medals in Sochi.
Russia's medal count in 2014, 33 (before doping disqualifications), was its highest ever in the Winter Olympics, improving on the 1994 Games, when the Russian team earned 23 medals overall, and also beating the Soviet Union's best-ever medal count at the Winter Olympics.
Following the Games, it was discovered that Russia's performance has been aided by a wider state-sponsored doping program. On December 9, 2016, Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren published the second part of his independent report. The investigation found that from 2011 to 2015, more than 1,000 Russian competitors in various sports (including summer, winter, and Paralympic sports) benefited from the cover-up.[4][5][6]
At the end of 2017, IOC disqualified 43 Russian athletes and stripped Russia from 13 Sochi medals, but Court of Arbitration for Sport nullified 28 out of 43 disqualifications citing insufficient evidence and returned 9 out of 13 medals.[7] In particular, on November 1, 2017, cross-country skiers Evgeniy Belov and gold and silver medalist Alexander Legkov became the first athletes to be disqualified for doping violations after an investigation was completed.[8] Four more were disqualified on November 9, 2017, when Maksim Vylegzhanin, Evgenia Shapovalova, Alexei Petukhov, and Julia Ivanova were sanctioned.[9] The total was brought to ten when gold medalist Aleksandr Tretyakov and bronze medalist Elena Nikitina were banned along with Maria Orlova and Olga Potylitsina who were all skeleton racers.[10] On November 24, 2017, the IOC imposed life bans on bobsledder Alexandr Zubkov and speed skater Olga Fatkulina who won a combined of 3 medals (2 gold, 1 silver).[11] All their results were disqualified, meaning that Russia lost its first place in the medal standings. On November 27, 2017, IOC disqualified Olga Vilukhina, Yana Romanova, Sergey Chudinov, Alexey Negodaylo, and Dmitry Trunenkov, and stripped Vilyukhina and Romanova of their medals in biathlon.[12] Three athletes who didn't win medals (Alexander Kasjanov, Ilvir Huzin, Aleksei Pushkarev) were sanctioned on November 29, 2017.[13] Biathlete Olga Zaitseva who won silver in a relay was disqualified on December 1, 2017. Two other athletes, Anastasia Dotsenko and Yuliya Chekalyova, were also banned.[14] On December 12, 2017, six Russian ice hockey players were disqualified.[15] On 18 December 2017 the IOC imposed a life ban on bobsledder Alexey Voyevoda.[16] Eleven athletes were disqualified on December 22, 2017. Among them, silver medalists Albert Demchenko and Tatiana Ivanova who were stripped of their medals in luge.[17] On 1 February 2018, nine medals were returned after a successful Russian appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[7] On 24 September 2020, one more medal was returned after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[18] On 15 February 2020, the International Biathlon Union announced that because of a doping violation, Evgeny Ustyugov and Russian men's 4 x 7.5km relay team had been disqualified from the 2014 Olympics.[19] The International Olympic Committee results affirm the decision, but medals have not been reallocated yet.[20]
Based on their performance at the 2012 and 2013 Biathlon World Championships Russia qualified 6 men and 6 women.[22] Irina Starykh originally qualified, but she withdrew from the team after testing positive for doping and was replaced by Olga Podchufarova.[23] On 15 February 2020, the International Biathlon Union announced that because of a doping violation, Evgeny Ustyugov and Russian men's 4 x 7.5km relay team had been disqualified from the 2014 Olympics.[19] The IOC results affirm the decision, but medals have not been reallocated yet.[20]
Russia qualified a maximum of 20 quotas (12 men and 8 women). For the first time since 1956, Russia (previously Soviet Union) failed to win a medal in women's cross-country skiing.
Evgeni Plushenko and Yulia Lipnitskaya after winning the team event
As hosts, Russia was guaranteed a skater in each event.[24]
Russia captured the inaugural gold medal in the team event.[25]Yulia Lipnitskaya, at 15, became the youngest Russian Winter Olympic medalist[citation needed], while Adelina Sotnikova won the first ever Russian ladies figure skating gold medal.
Russia qualified a maximum of 26 athletes (14 women and 12 men). Among them, Maria Komissarova had qualified to compete, but was seriously injured at the start of the Games during training, in a fall that left her paralysed below the waist.[26]
As hosts, Russia automatically qualified a women's team.[27] The men's team qualified as being one of the 9 highest ranked teams in the IIHF World Ranking following the 2012 World Championships (and would have qualified automatically as hosts if it didn't qualify through rankings).[28]
E. Malkin P. Datsyuk I. Kovalchuk I. Kovalchuk P. Datsyuk I. Kovalchuk P. Datsyuk I. Kovalchuk
12 min
Penalties
10 min
34
Shots
31
A Russian goal scored late in the third period, which would have given the team a 3-2 lead, was disallowed after referees ruled that the net was moved when the goal was scored. The decision resulted in the score remaining 2-2. USA went on to win the game in a shootout, which resulted in Russia playing a playoff qualification game while USA received a bye to the quarterfinals. The decision was criticized by many Russian politicians, TV hosts and commentators. Following the game, protesters led by the Kremlin party's youth group held a demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to protest the decision. In response to the controversy, Konstantin Komissarov, the referee supervisor of International Ice Hockey Federation, officially confirmed that the decision by the referee was correct, citing the appropriate use of video review in assessing the play.[31][32]
On December 12, 2017, six Russian players were disqualified for doping violations and all results of the team were annulled.[15]Tatiana Burina and Anna Shukina were also disqualified ten days later.[17]
Roster
The following is the Russian roster in the women's ice hockey tournament of the 2014 Winter Olympics.[33]
Head coach: Mikhail Chekanov Assistant coach: Yuri Novikov
As hosts, Russia have been given the maximum 5 men and 5 women to compete.[34] On 10 February 2014, Viktor Ahn won the bronze medal in the 1500 m short track speedskating event. He won the first short track speedskating medal that Russia has earned while competing as Russia.[35] On 15 February 2014, Ahn won the first Russian gold medal in short track at the 1000 m event, leading the first Russian 1-2 finish in short track, with Vladimir Grigorev winning silver. At 31 years and 191 days, Grigorev also became the oldest man to win a short track Olympic medal, with that silver.[36] On 21 February 2014, he won the gold in the 5000 m relay, upping the oldest shorttrack male athlete record for both medals and gold medals.[37]
Russia qualified a total of 15 athletes (11 men and 4 women). Vic Wild won two gold medals, which became the first ever gold medals for Russia in snowboarding. Alena Zavarzina won a bronze medal in giant parallel slalom.
^a Russia earned the max quotas (ten women and ten men) for speed skating,[38] but only eight women competed. Viktoriya Filyushkina was a reserve for ladies' 3000 meter[39] and Lada Zadonskaya was a reserve for ladies' 5000 meter.[40] Both women qualified and were included in the Russian speed skating squad but did not get to compete by the decision of the Russian speed skating federation.
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2020)
In December 2014, German public broadcaster ARD aired a documentary which made wide-ranging allegations that Russia organized a state-run doping program which supplied their athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.[41] In November 2015, Russia's track and field team was provisionally suspended by the IAAF.[42]
In May 2016, The New York Times published allegations by the former director of Russia's anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, that a conspiracy of corrupt anti-doping officials, FSB intelligence agents, and compliant Russian athletes used banned substances to gain an unfair advantage during the Games.[43] Rodchenkov stated that the FSB tampered with over 100 urine samples as part of a cover-up, and that at least fifteen of the Russian medals won at Sochi were the result of doping.[43][44][45][46]
In December, 2016, following the release of the McLaren report on Russian doping at the Sochi Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced the initiation of an investigation of 28 Russian athletes at the Sochi Olympic Games. Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported the names of 17 athletes, of whom 15 are among the 28 under investigation.[47][48] The Russian team potentially could be stripped of up to 12 Olympic medals.
Three ladies artistic skaters were named as being under investigation. They are Adelina Sotnikova, the singles gold medalist, as well as pairs skaters Tatiana Volosozhar and Ksenia Stolbova. Volosozhar and Stolbova won gold and silver medals, respectively, in pairs skating. Both also won gold medals in the team event, which also puts the other eight team medalists at risk of losing their golds.
^ESPN (21 February 2014). "Results Fri, Feb 21". Sochi 2014 Olympics. ESPN Winter Olympics. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
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