Sweden at the 2014 Winter Olympics participated in five Olympic tournaments. 55 athletes were Olympic debutants. Sweden won 15 medals in total, making the Sochi games Sweden's most successful Winter Games ever in terms of medals. However, the number of gold medals (2) was lower than in the two previous Winter Games. On 8 February, the first competition day, cross-country skier Charlotte Kalla won the first Swedish medal at the Games. She won the silver medal in the women's 15 km skiathlon event, finishing behind Norway's Marit Bjørgen. Snowboarder Sven Thorgren finished in fourth place in the men's slopestyle, just 1.25 points behind the bronze medalist.
Sochi was cited as one of the main incentives. Sochi is also the home for the football team FC Zhemchuzhina which plays in the Russian First Division and for the ice hockey team HC Sochi which plays in the Kontinental Hockey League. The nearby ski resort of Roza Khutor at Krasnaya Polyana was the location of the alpine and Nordic events for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In June 2006, the International Olympic Committee announced that Sochi had been selected as a finalist city to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics. On July 4, 2007, Sochi was announced