Russia Dominated the Paralympics
The 2014 Winter Paralympics came to a close today, and host nation Russia won a ridiculous number of medals: 80. Out of 72 events.
.The 2014 Winter Paralympics came to a close today, and host nation Russia won a ridiculous number of medals: 80. Out of 72 events. Thirty of them gold, which is more than the next five countries' gold hauls combined.
Seriously, look at this medal table:
Most of Russia's medals came from cross-country skiing (32) and biathlon (30) events. It's significantly better than the 2006 and 2010 Paralympics, when Russia won 33 and 38 medals, respectively.
Ukraine won 25 medals overall, one of them a silver in the cross-country relay yesterday. Russia won the gold there, and when its national anthem played at the award ceremony, the Ukrainian team covered their medals in protest. The majority of Ukrainian athletes have done this.
"It is a silent protest, fighting for peace for everyone … because the situation in Ukraine didn't change," a team official told the AP.
In another silent protest, the Ukrainian closing ceremonies flag bearer, Lyudmila Pavlenko, wore a shirt that said "PEACE" on it (pictured left).
While the United States' showing overall wasn't great, the ice sledge hockey team did do what the Olympic hockey teams couldn't: win a gold medal.
Sochi's official Twitter account live-tweeted the closing ceremony, if not with the best choice of words:
The crowd goes mental as, top of the medal table, Russia enters the stadium ahead of the #Sochi2014 #ClosingCeremony pic.twitter.com/W6jZeYJvhb
— Sochi 2014 (@Sochi2014) March 16, 2014Speaking of Paralympians, disgraced London 2012 star Oscar Pistorius was dropped by Ossur, the company that has made his "Blade Runner" prostheses since 2004. The company originally said it was waiting for the outcome of the police investigation into the death of Pistorius' girlfriend before deciding whether or not to drop its sponsorship.