Russia Wins First Gold Medal in Sochi

(ATR) Russian President Vladimir Putin witnessed his country winning its first gold medal of the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Sunday.

Russia won the first team figure skating event in Olympic history with 75 points, followed by Canada with 65 and the United States with 60 at the Iceberg Skating Palace.

"After the flower ceremony, we all came out to pick up our skates and all of a sudden we saw Vladimir Putin," said Ekaterina Bobrova, who competed in the ice dancing short program with partner Dmitry Soloviev on Friday. "And he came personally to congratulate us. It was a great surprise and was a great pleasure to see him."

According to protocol, reporters could not be informed that Putin was in the house. Before the event, his security checked all of the camera positions to make sure he was not in view.

Bobrova said Putin also put some pressure on the skaters. "He thanked us, but then he said, please remain focused because you have individual programs to deliver."

She said it was extremely important for the skaters to make the first contribution to the medal count and hoped it would inspire other Russian athletes.The gold was Russia’s first in figure skating since 2006.

"Russian figure skating is coming back," said ice dancer Elena Ilinykh. "That’s the message we want to send to the world."

Evgeny Plushenko, the 31-year-old veteran, and Yulia Lipnitskaya, the 15-year-old phenom, won the men’s and ladies long programs to go along with the Russian pairs victory on Saturday night.

"It’s the first medal for Russia this Olympics. I love being first," said Plushenko, who became the first man to win four skating medals since Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden (1920, 1924, 1928 and 1932).

Plushenko won the men’s singles gold medal in 2006 and silver medals in 2002 and 2010. He skated to music called, "The Best of Plushenko," but chose to do only one quad to cut down on risk. His charisma made up for the watered-down difficulty.

"When he skates like that, he radiates power and he radiates a sense of beauty," said his coach, Alexei Mishin. "The majority loves him. Minority? Jealous."

Plushenko is supposed to compete in the individual event this week, but complained of back pain and said he needs to rest and talk to his doctors. He had back surgery last year.

Lipnitskaya is the youngest female figure skater to win a gold medal since Maxi Herber of Germany won in pairs in 1936.

Besides Putin, other dignitaries included Princess Anne of Great Britain, an IOC member, and some of the most famous names in Russian arts and culture. The 12,000-seat Iceberg was packed.

However, there was no doubt of the outcome after the ladies singles, with Russia, Canada and the U.S. cementing their 1-2-3 status before the ice dancing competition.

"I didn’t do a whole lot of the math myself," said U.S. skater Charlie White, who won the ice dancing with partner Meryl Davis.

"I think we feel like it’s very drama-filled from start to finish, but from a numbers standpoint, it’s really hard for us to evaluate. I think this was a really great first Olympic team event, something that will go down in history and one we’re proud to be a part of. But. who knows, maybe they’ll tweak it a bit. We’ll see."

Written byKaren Rosenin Sochi

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