MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
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 MPs 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.
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