Russian players win gold over Germany

Sing anthem in contravention of sanctions

The Olympic anthem was merely background noise, the doping scandal the farthest thing from their minds.

As the white flag with the five Olympic rings rose toward the rafters Sunday following the gold medal game in men’s hockey, the champion Russians in their nondescript red-and-white uniforms joined their fans cloaked in red, white and blue and belted out the State Anthem of the Russian Federation, drowning out the recorded song that was required as part of International Olympic Committee sanctions.

This Olympic title meant so much more to the Russians, no matter that the tournament was missing NHL players and the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” were all here only after months of scandal.

Joyous players tossed coach Oleg Znarok in the air at centre ice as fans let out the same “ROSS-IYA” chants that filled the arena in Sochi four years ago, where home ice meant nothing as the Russians lost in the quarter-finals. There was no such disappointment this time as the Russians triumphed in the tournament they were favoured to win, capturing gold with a 4-3 overtime victory over Germany after Kirill Kaprizov’s power-play goal capped a classic final and gave the nation a jubilant moment following weeks of disappointment.

“We understood the whole thing from the start so we were calm about it,” Znarok said. “Russia is in our hearts.”

The win came only a few hours after the IOC decided against allowing the Russians to march under their flag in the closing ceremony Sunday night after a curler and a bobsledder had positive drug tests during the games.

It didn’t seem to matter to the Russian players that they couldn’t wear the Russian Coat of Arms on their chests or that they won their first hockey gold medal since 1992 under the same circumstances as 26 years ago: playing under a neutral flag with the NHL opting to stay home after participating in the past five Olympics.