Deputy PM chosen to lead Russia recovery
Vancouver flop prompts change
Russia yesterday chose a deputy prime minister with limited background in sport as its Olympics Committee chief, tasking him with spearheading a Russian recovery after its flop in the Vancouver Games.
Alexander Zhukov, a deputy prime minister in the government of Vladimir Putin, was elected at a meeting of the committee in Moscow, Russian news agencies said. He was the sole candidate standing in the election.
He replaces Leonid Tyagachev, who resigned in March after the Russian team's failure to match its past successes at the Vancouver Winter Olympics led to criticism of Russia's top sports officials from Putin and the Kremlin.
Russia won only three gold medals at the games, an extremely modest haul from a nation that has become used to dominating entire disciplines such as figure skating, cross-country skiing and biathlon.
The team's lowly 11th place in the Games' medal table raised worries at the highest level in the country about its performance when Russia hosts the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
Zhukov has worked as deputy prime minister since 2004 and his main experience of sport appears to be chess. He won the title "master of sport" for his abilities as a chess player and served a stint as head of the Russian chess federation.
Zhukov's appointment appears to indicate the Russian leadership wants a big-hitting politician to reverse its sporting fortunes rather than a less influential figure with more hands-on experience.