Feel the difference

Russian Paralympians won 38 medals

The Winter Paralympics ended in Vancouver, where the Russian team surpassed other competitors from 21 countries in terms of the total number of awards. The Russians have won 38 medals, of which 12 are gold, 16 silver and ten bronze. Although the record number of awards did not allow domestic athletes with disabilities to lead the unofficial team competition, which only takes into account first places, against the backdrop of the failure of the Russian Olympians, their performance looks triumphant.

Four years ago, at the 2006 Paralympics in Turin, the Russians needed 33 medals (13 gold, 13 silver and seven bronze) to rise to first place in the team standings. This time, the main intrigue of the last competition day, where six sets of medals were played out, was whether the domestic Paralympians would be able to repeat the Turin success and whether they would be able to get ahead of the German team again. But, having won eight medals, of which one was gold, our Paralympians lost to the representatives of the Bundesmanshaft. Germany collected 24 medals - 13 gold, one more than the Russians, five silver and six bronze. The hosts of the Games, the Canadians, completed the top three in the overall team competition with ten gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

In total, 64 sets of medals were awarded at the Winter Paralympics in five sports - alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, hockey and curling. Domestic Paralympians set the pace in two of the five events - cross-country skiing and biathlon. Our biathletes with five gold, seven silver and four bronze medals beat the Ukrainians and Germans. And skiers with seven gold, nine silver and six bronze medals were ahead of the athletes of Canada and Germany.

The most titled member of our Paralympic team was Irek Zaripov, who won four golds and one silver in cross-country skiing and biathlon. Kirill Mikhailov received three awards of the highest standard. Maria Iovleva, Anna Burmistrova and national team veteran Sergei Shilov had two each.

Olga ERMOLINA