Olympics: Putin's Sochi games to close, Russia top medals

Russia guaranteed top spot after a clean sweep of the men's 50km cross country race thanks to Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov.

 

The hosts then hammered home their supremacy when Alexander Zubkov claimed his second gold in Sochi by leading the four-man bobsleigh team to victory.

 

Russia ended their own Games with 13 golds and a total of 33 medals, topping the table ahead of Norway.

 

Canada had the honour of claiming the last gold when they comfortably defended their ice hockey title with a 3-0 win over Sweden in the final.

 

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach added to Russia's feel-good factor by describing the 2014 Games as "great", saying the response from the athletes was "overwhelmingly positive".

 

"These were excellent Games that may lead to the reversal of some criticism" of the Russian organisers that preceded the Olympics, Bach added at a news conference.

 

Closing Ceremony Sochi 2014:

 

 

But in a reality check ahead of the closing ceremony, which is due to start at 1600 GMT, Games officials revealed that a fifth competitor had failed a drugs test.

 

Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr, who had been due to take part in the men's 50km, tested positive for blood booster EPO in a pre-competition test in Austria on February 16, organisers said.

 

Duerr was the fifth athlete to be excluded over a positive doping test from the Sochi Games, where the IOC has been carrying out more tests than ever, with a new emphasis on pre-competition tests.

 

The Austrian took part on February 9 in the skiathlon, finishing eighth. 

 

But he tested positive for EPO a week later in Obertilliach, Austria.

 

Duerr told Austrian ORF television after arriving back home that he had "disappointed so many people... with my stupidity".

 

"I have nothing to say other than to apologise to everyone, to my family and my wife."

 

Ukrainian cross country skier Marina Lisogor, Latvian men's ice hockey player Vitalijs Pavlovs, German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Italian bobsledder William Frullani all failed tests at the Games.

 

Despite the late flurry of doping shocks, Russian officials are keen to bask in a 16-day showpiece that passed off relatively unscathed.

 

"The ice of the scepticism towards the new Russia has been broken," said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

 

"The Games have made the country, the culture, and the people a little closer and more understandable for the world."

 

The IOC's executive director for the Olympic Games, Gilbert Felli, said that the Sochi Olympics have been "of a very high level".

 

"What the bid committed in 2007 has been delivered," he added. 

 

Ahead of the handing over of the Olympic flag to 2018 hosts Pyeongchang, Canada clinched the final gold in ice hockey.

 

Sidney Crosby scored on a breakaway in the second period as Canada claimed a record ninth gold and the first on European soil in 62 years.

 

Jonathan Toews and Chris Kunitz also scored and goaltender Carey Price posted the shutout for Canada.

 

It was the second-straight gold medal game where Canadian captain Crosby rose to the occasion.

 

"We played solid and we didn't give anything up in the last few games --we played the way we needed to and it's great to see everyone get rewarded," said Crosby.

 

Crosby, who clinched gold for Canada with an overtime winner in Vancouver in 2010, had been contributing on defence but wasn't being rewarded for his efforts on the scoresheet in the Sochi Games.

 

He had just two assists heading into the gold medal game.

 

Crosby scored on a backhand deke to give Canada a 2-0 lead with 4:17 left in the second period after stripping the puck off Sweden's Jonathan Ericsson at the Canadian blueline.

 

He raced in alone on net and gave Swedish netminder Henrik Lundqvist a shoulder fake one way, then deked the other way and scored.

 

-Sapa-AFP