Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Russia at the
2014 Winter Olympics
IOC codeRUS
NOCRussian Olympic Committee
Websitewww.roc.ru (in Russian)
in Sochi
Competitors232 in 15[3] sports
Flag bearers Alexandr Zubkov (opening)[1]
Maxim Trankov (closing)[2]
Medals
Ranked 2nd
Gold
10
Silver
10
Bronze
9
Total
29
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Soviet Union (1956–1988)
 Unified Team (1992)
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018)
 ROC (2022)

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.

Bobsledder Aleksandr Zubkov was the flag bearer of the Russian team in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony.

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]

  1. ^ "Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony - Flagbearers" (PDF). olympic.org. Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony - Flagbearers" (PDF). The International Olympic Committee (IOC). 23 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Athletes - Russia". XXII Olympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  4. ^ "MCLAREN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT - PART II". wada-ama.org. 9 December 2016.
  5. ^ Ruiz, Rebecca R. (9 December 2016). "Russia's Doping Program Laid Bare by Extensive Evidence in Report". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Ostlere, Lawrence (9 December 2016). "McLaren report: more than 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping conspiracy". The Guardian.
  7. ^ a b "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivers its decisions in the matter of 39 Russian athletes v/the IOC: 28 appeals upheld, 11 partially upheld" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  8. ^ "IOC sanctions two Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. July 14, 2021.
  9. ^ "IOC sanctions four Russian athletes and closes one case as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. July 14, 2021.
  10. ^ "IOC sanctions four Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. July 14, 2021.
  11. ^ "IOC SANCTIONS FOUR RUSSIAN ATHLETES AS PART OF OSWALD COMMISSION FINDINGS". 24 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  12. ^ "IOC sanctions five Russian athletes and publishes first full decision as part of the Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  13. ^ "IOC sanctions three Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. July 14, 2021.
  14. ^ "IOC sanctions three Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. July 14, 2021.
  15. ^ "IOC sanctions six Russian athletes and closes one case as part of the Oswald Commission findingsdate=December 12, 2017". olympic.org. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  16. ^ "Russian bobsledder banned over doping". France 24. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017.
  17. ^ "IOC sanctions 11 Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  18. ^ "Decisions Rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Appeal Arbitrations between Russian Athletes Olgo Vilukhina, Yana Romanova and Olga Zaytseva, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  19. ^ "IBU anti-doping hearing panel renders verdicts on Sleptsova and Ustyugov". Biathlon World. International Biathlon Union. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  20. ^ Sochi 2014 Biathlon 4x7.5km relay men Results