Leading Stars of the Russian National Team at the Sochi Olympic Games

RIA Novosti’s photowire presents the most famous athletes competing for Russia on home soil during the Sochi Olympic Games.

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© RIA Novosti . Ilya Pitalev

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World biathlon star, Olympic and world champion Olga Zaitseva will be one of Russia’s main hopes at the home Olympics.

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© RIA Novosti . Ilya Pitalev

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Yevgeny Ustyugov who won Olympic gold in the mass start at the 2010 Winter Games is the main star of the men’s biathlon team.

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© AFP Vancouver

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Russia’s leading bobsledders Alexander Zubkov and Alexei Voyevoda have reunited into a single team. Alexander and Alexei won silver at the Torino 2006 Games and bronze at Vancouver 2010, and have a chance to add another medal at the home Olympics.

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© RIA Novosti . Vitaly Belousov

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Anna Sidorova is the principal star and skipper of Russia’s national women’s curling team.

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© RIA Novosti . Ekaterina Tchesnokova

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Ivan Skobrev, world and European champion, and silver and bronze medal winner at the 2010 Winter Olympics, is the leader of the Russian Olympic speed skating team.

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© RIA Novosti . Ilya Pitalev

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Nikita Kryukov, another representative of the Russian national skiing team, is a mega star of Russian and world sports.

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© RIA Novosti . Vitaly Belousov

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The “flying skier” Dmitry Vasilyev is an athlete better known in Europe than in Russia.

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© RIA Novosti . Vasily Ponomarev

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Skeleton racer Alexander Tretyakov has already got an Olympic medal, winning a bronz at the Games in Vancouver.

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© RIA Novosti . Mikhail Mokrushin

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The Sochi Olympics will be the seventh Games of Albert Demchenko’s career. Demchenko took up luging during the time of the Soviet Union. He first competed at the Olympics in 1992 as part of the CIS national team. He has competed in every Games since then without fail.

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© RIA Novosti . Ramil Sitdikov

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Two-time world champion Yekaterina Tudegesheva will represent Russia in the parallel slalom at the 2014 Olympic Games.

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© RIA Novosti . Vladimir Baranov

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Yevgeny Plushenko will represent Russia in the men’s singles figure skating at the Olympic Games in Sochi.

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© RIA Novosti . Vladimir Pesnya

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Doubles figure skaters Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov are favorites to win every competition they take part in.

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© RIA Novosti . Vladimir Pesnia

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Short track speed skater Viktor Ahn has more titles than any other athlete in the Russian national Olympic team. He is a three-time Olympic champion and bronze winner at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Kudenko

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It is no secret that most Russian fans consider the ice hockey tournament the main event of the Olympic Games. Photo: Russian national ice hockey team left winger Ilya Kovalchuk.

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© RIA Novosti . Gregory Sokolov

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Pavel Datsyuk will captain the Russian hockey team at the Sochi Games.

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© RIA Novosti . Gregory Sokolov

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Yevgeny Malkin, another star forward of the Russian national team, has won world championship gold, silver and two bronze medals throughout his career.