Russia at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Russia participated at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Contents

• Alpine skiing
• Biathlon
• Cross country skiing
• Womens tournament
• Figure skating
• Freestyle skiing
• Mens tournament
• Group play
• Final rounds
• Snowboarding
• Speed skating
• References

In summary, the country's participants earned 15 medals: 3 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze. The 3 gold medals was the worst ever result for Russia since competing after the breakup of the Soviet Union, while the 15 total medals were the country's second lowest output after the 2002 Winter Games. This was seen as a national humiliation considering that Russia would host the next Winter Games at Sochi.

In contrast to the 2002 team where the public blamed Russia's disappointments on biased judges and officiating, athletes from the 2010 team were criticized for performing below expectations, particularly after the men's hockey team was eliminated 7–3 in the quarterfinals. There was some controversy over judging at the men's skating competition, where Evan Lysacek of the United States defeated Evgeni Plushenko; Lysacek skated a cleaner long program but did not have a quadruple jump compared to Plushenko.

According to Dr. Maxim Titorenko, a Russian psychoanalyst and anthropologist,"the reasons for failures were to a large extent psychological. By receiving advance rewards [from the government] for something they were expected to do in future, the sportsmen lost all psychological incentive for further achievements.” The comparatively poor result generated a "chorus of criticism" in Russia, and President Dmitry Medvedev demanded the resignation of Russian Olympic officials and ordered an audit. Corruption and lack of training infrastructure, as well as cronyism and apathy of Russian sports managers, was criticized. It was later learned that Russia's performance at the Olympics followed widespread misspending by sports officials and a dysfunctional bureaucracy, according to government auditors. Russia spent $186 million for the games, including preparations. The audit cited dozens of examples of money being wasted, saying the figure ran into millions of dollars.

By contrast, Russia performed well at the Paralympics, also hosted in Vancouver, the following month. This led the media to highlight the contrast between the achievements of the country's Olympic and Paralympic delegations, despite the greater attention awarded to the Olympics.

With Sochi being the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, a Russian segment was performed at the closing ceremony.