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.
Russian culture Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow while the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics were hosted by Sochi. Soviet Union dominated the sport of gymnastics for many years, with such athletes as Larisa Latynina, who, until 2012, held a record of most Olympic medals won per person and most gold Olympic medals won by a woman. Today, Russia is leading in rhythmic gymnastics with such stars as Alina Kabaeva, Irina Tschaschina and Yevgeniya Kanayeva. Russian synchronized swimming is the best in the world, with almost all gold medals having been swept by Russians at Olympics and World