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SOCHI SCENE: Putin for Plushenko

By Washington Examiner
Published February 9, 2014 6:41pm ET
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SOCHI SCENE: Putin for Plushenko
Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre back, poses for a photograph with the Russian team after they placed first in the team figure skating competition at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip ) | David J. Phillip

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Of all of the events that Russian President Vladimir Putin could have attended, he chose the one that brought Russia its first gold medal.

The new team event at the Sochi Games had been largely perceived as Evgeni Plushenko’s best chance to win Olympic gold. It attracted a crowd of Russian Olympic champions and Putin, who wore red fleece bearing the logos of two Russian companies and a French sunglasses brand.

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Also spotted at the stands at the Iceberg arena were players of the Russian ice hockey team, Olympic champion gymnast Alina Kabayeva and two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.

“I was sitting next to Alina, our hands were wet,” Isinbayeva said in a live broadcast on Rossiya 1 television. “We were so nervous.”

— By Nataliya Vasilyeva — Twitter http://twitter.com/NatVasilyevaAP

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Associated Press reporters will be filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu

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