Russia's Olympic Committee on Tuesday accepted the resignation of its head Leonid Tyagachev over the country's poor showing at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Tyagachev turned in his resignation on March 3, two days after President Dmitry Medvedev said senior sports officials should quit over the country's poor performance at the Winter Olympics.
The election of Russia's new Olympic chief has been scheduled for May 20, Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation and a member of the Russian Olympic Committee executive body, told RIA Novosti.
First Vice President of the Russian Olympic Committee Igor Kazikov has been named the acting president until the committee convenes.
Russia took a disappointing 11th place in the overall medals table, winning three golds, five silvers and seven bronzes. Its hotly-tipped ice-hockey team was also knocked out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage by eventual winners Canada, going down 7-3.
Tyagachev, the former sports and tourism minister, has held his Olympic Committee post since 2001.
Medvedev said on March 1, "Those who bear responsibility for the Olympic preparations...should make a courageous decision and submit their resignations immediately."
The Olympic failure was the second major blow that Russian sport, which had been experiencing its most successful post-Soviet period, has had to endure in the last four months.
In November, the national soccer side, surprise semi-finalists at Euro 2008, failed to make this summer's World Cup finals, losing in a play-off to tiny Slovenia.
That defeat saw unproven accusations that the players had been out drinking and partying on the eve of the first leg in Moscow, and even allegations by certain members of parliament that the team had thrown the game.
Russia's ice-hockey humiliation at the hands of Canada has already seen similar claims of misbehavior, but these have been angrily rejected by coach Vyacheslav Bykov.
Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi is due to host the 2014 Winter Games.
MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti)
