OK, so I admit I was totally wrong when I assumed that Evgeni Plushenko would quad-twirl his way to a gold medal in men’s figure skating over his U.S. competitor Evan Lysacek, but then again, I know next to nothing about this odd sport.  But I was quite taken aback to watch the Russian hockey team receive a 7-3 thrashing at the hands of the Canadians, and the dominant Alexander Ovechkin, one of my favorite players, was silenced by the stout defense.

What is going on here?  The United States is currently leading with 32 medals (8 gold, 12 silver, 12 bronze), followed by Germany and Norway.  Russia is standing in fifth place with 13 medals, and could get bumped out by Austria.  Some are feeling pretty bitter about the performance of their athletes at this year’s games, hoping for a strong showing as a preview to the next round at Sochi, while some lawmakers are even calling for “heads to roll.” 

Perhaps all the hype, pressure, and high expectations of Russian performance at the games was a bit suffocating, with all the athletes fearing retribution more than craving the prestige of victory.