Russian Athletes Feel Heat of Expectation
Russia's Winter Olympians face intense pressure to perform at their home Sochi Games from a public hungry for success to prove the country remains a sporting superpower over two decades after the collapse of the USSR.
But it remains to be seen whether the relatively inexperienced teams will be able to satisfy the weight of public expectation, with sport in Russia still suffering from the disappearance of the sports system that vanished along with the USSR.
Russia endured a near-debacle at the 2010 Vancouver Games, coming back with just three gold medals and facing angry questions from a public brought up on the crushing victories of the Cold War years.
There was talk in the years up to the Games that Russia would instigate an "own the podium" program similar to that which saw Canada win 14 medals at their home Games in Vancouver.
In the end, Russian sports officials saw the danger of setting targets that might never be met.
But in a sign of the pressure they are under, Russian athletes at the Games have yet to give a single major news conference.
"Ahead of the Games there are some nerves in the team but this does not mean that they are closed up," said Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko.
"We have a very young team and as they go through the Olympics they will become more open," he told reporters, adding that the average age of the women's team was just 21.
Russian athletes failed to win any medals on the first day of competition, with Anton Shipulin coming closest with fourth place in the biathlon sprint and berating himself for the missed target that cost him a medal in the ski-and-shooting discipline.
"I am upset to the point of tears," he said in emotional comments that revealed the pressure Russian athletes are under.
"Before my last shot I saw the medal and missed it. My dream of many years was decided. What more can I say?"
President Vladimir Putin had made clear to athletes ahead of the Games what Russia was expecting from them, saying: "We are really counting on you."
Given Russia still has little pedigree in alpine sports or the new snowboard and freestyle events, huge pressure is on its Nordic skiers, biathletes, figure skaters and sliders to come up with the goods.
But the greatest pressure is maybe on the men's ice hockey team, the former "Red Machine" whose event is seen by many in Russia as the blue riband event and who flopped spectacularly in Vancouver.
Their exit was followed by a campaign of vilification in the media that even its U.S.-based NHL stars have never forgotten. The team only arrived in Sochi after the opening ceremony in a bid to avoid the media glare.
Worryingly for Russia, much of the pressure will be on some usual suspects, none more so than 2006 gold medalist and skating icon Yevgeny Plushenko, 31, who has helped make Russia a favorite in the team competition.
He may deliver the goods on Sunday in the team event with Russia leading going into the final day.
Other old timers seen with a serious chance of medals include luger Albert Demchenko, 42, bobsleigh pilot Alexander Zubkov, 39, who carried the Russian flag at the opening ceremony, and speed skater Ivan Skobrev, 31.
Young stars may break through, like Irina Avvakumova, 22, in the women's ski jumping.
But if a surprise package is to win the country's hearts it could come in the shape of the women's team in curling, a sport that was barely known in Russia a decade ago.
One of its members is Nkeirouka Ezekh, a Muscovite born to a Russian mother and Nigerian father who is a rare symbol of multi-cultural diversity in the Russian team.
"The Olympic Games are always something unique and special and impossible to repeat. You could be at your tenth Olympics and it would still be like the first time," she said.
Great things are also expected from the short track speed skating legend once known as Ahn Hyun-Soo from south Korea who now races for Russia under the name Viktor Ahn after a fast-tracked citizenship.