Russia sports minister contests national team's Olympics failure

Russia's sports minister disagrees that the national team performed poorly at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Canada's Vancouver.

Russia had a disappointing Olympics, winning only three gold medals, four silvers and six bronzes. The Kremlin has been appalled by Russia's "dismal" performance at the Vancouver Olympics.

"I do not consider the sixth place at the Olympics as a failure. The Canadians set a [medals'] counter basing on the overall number of won medals and not on the gold," Vitaly Mutko said.

Basing on the overall number of medals, Russia finished the Olympics in the sixth place with a total of 15 awards, however, basing on the number of gold medals, the Russian team with its three gold medals finished in the 11th place.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that the officials responsible for the preparation of Russia's Winter Olympic team must submit their resignations.

He called for a drastic change in the system of athlete training, saying "colossal money was being invested" in the development of sports, but as Vancouver had shown, "money cannot do everything."

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also said last week that Russia's disappointing performance at the Vancouver Olympics must be thoroughly analyzed before the Sochi 2014 Games, indicating that heads could roll.

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti)