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Russian Deputy PM Zhukov Elected Olympic Committee Head

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Russian Deputy PM Zhukov Elected Olympic Committee Head


20.05.2010

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov was elected on Thursday head of the Russian Olympic Committee, and former committee head Leonid Tyagachyov was elected committee honorary president, RIA Novosti reports.

Tyagachyov resigned in early March from the post following Russia's poor performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

A total of 204 out of 220 participants in Thursday's meeting of the Olympic Committee voted to elect Zhukov committee chairman. He was the only candidate for the position, despite Tyagachyov's suggestion that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would be a good candidate to replace him.

Zhukov's candidacy was put up by the All-Russian Summer Olympic Sports Association and the Russian Ski Federation and supported by other sports organizations in the country.

Russia finished the Vancouver Games with its worst Winter Olympic medal tally in history, winning just three golds, five silvers and seven bronzes to finish 11th in the overall table.

Much hope had been pinned on Russia's superstar-packed ice hockey team, but it was knocked out of the tournament at the quarterfinal stage by eventual winners Canada.

Decades of Russian dominance in figure skating came to a dramatic end as Russian athletes failed to grab any gold medals for the first time since 1964.

Following the games, Medvedev urged senior sports officials responsible for Russia's "dismal" showing at the Olympics to "make a courageous decision" and leave their posts.

Tyagachyov followed the president's advice and turned in his resignation two days after Medvedev's statement.

Tyagachyov's candidacy for the position of the committee honorary president was supported by 179 committee members. Twenty-four members voted against and 5 abstained from voting.

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