Sochi, Feb 23 (IANS): The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach Sunday hailed a successful Sochi Olympic Winter Games, saying in a press conference that the response from participants was “overwhelmingly positive”.
The IOC chief said a series of record numbers also manifested the success of the games including the record number of 2,876 athletes from 88 NOCs, record number of 2,631 doping tests and record number of 88,000 hours of television coverage through more than 300 channels, reports Xinhua.
“I spent four nights in the Olympic village, I have to tell you that I did not hear a single complaint from athletes,” he said.
After the 17-day competition, Russia now lead the medals table with 12 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze.
Bach said the success of the host is an important part of the success of the games.
“I appreciate the host team that they have left some medals to visiting teams. They did not take them all,” Bach said.
“We can only congratulate the Russian team.”
Referring to the five positive doping cases, Bach said: “The number of cases is not important, what is important is that we see the system works… and shows the IOC is serious with zero tolerance.”
