IOC Chief hails successful Sochi Games

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R), Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (L) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach of Germany speak before the closing ceremony for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb 23, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

SOCHI - The International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach hailed a successful Sochi Olympic Winter Games, saying in a press conference that the response from participants "are overwhelmingly positive".

"I spent four nights in Olympic villages, I have to tell you that I did not hear a single complaint from athletes," he said.

The IOC chief said a series of record numbers also manifested the success of the games including the record number of 2876 athletes from 88 NOCs, record number of 2631 doping tests and record number of 88000 hours of television coverage through more than 300 channels.

After 17-day competitions, Russia now leads the medal table with 12 golds, 11 silvers and 9 bronzes. Bach said the success of the host is almost the 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 5 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."

However, he gave no comment on the latest one that Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr was kicked out of the Games after testing positive for the blood booster EPO. "It is in process. I can not confirm or deny the Austrian case."