Russia to fight for spot in top three of medals standings at 2016 Olympics

MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. The Russian Olympic team will be trying to finish the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in the top three, however, there is no definite medals plan for the team, Alexander Zhukov, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said on Thursday. "We are not drafting any concrete plans for the medals, but we are definitely hoping for the successful performance," Zhukov said. "In any case all conditions for it [the successful performance] have been created." "All world championships, which are held on the eve of the Olympics and can offer a more or less unbiased picture, show that our athletes are well prepared as of today," the ROC president said. "I believe Russia will have a strong team in Rio de Janeiro, which will be able to compete for the spot in the top three of the medals standings." At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, the Russian national team finished in the fourth place with 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals. The 2016 Summer Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro are scheduled for August 5-21. Russian sports fans are anticipating successful performance of national athletes next year in Brazil particularly after the team’s outstanding performance last year at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. In February and March of 2014, the Russian resort city of Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which, according to international sports officials, athletes and visitors, were organized at the highest level possible and provided up-to-date infrastructure at all levels. The Russian Olympic team made a considerable leap in its performance at the Games in Sochi comparing to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada’s Vancouver, where it finished with its worst ever medal tally in Winter Games, clinching three golds and ranking in 11th place in the overall medals standings. Last year, however, with only two days before the closing of the Sochi Olympics on February 23, the Russian team jumped in the first place of overall medals rankings and cemented the result on the last day of the Games by clinching two more gold, one silver and one bronze medals. The team finished the Games with the overall result of 33 won medals (13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals) surpassing its previous Winter Olympics record of 11 gold medals, set at the 1994 Winter Games in Norway’s Lillehammer. The 2014 Sochi Games were also the first Winter Olympics since 1952 when the Games’ hosting country won the highest overall number of awards as well as the biggest number of gold medals. The Russian Paralympic team also finished the 2014 Games in Sochi in the first place of the medals standings, packing a total of 80 medals (30 gold, 28 silver and 22 bronze). Read more