The gold-medal tally of three was the worst ever result for Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union, whilst the total of 14 medals was the country's second lowest score since the 2002 Winter Games.

[2] According to Dr Maxim Titorenko, a Russian psychoanalyst and anthropologist,"the reasons for failures were to a large extent psychological.

By receiving advance rewards [from the government] for something they were expected to do in future, the sportsmen lost all psychological incentive for further achievements.”[2] The comparatively poor result generated a "chorus of criticism" in Russia, and President Dmitry Medvedev demanded the resignation of Russian Olympic officials and ordered an audit.

[4] It was later learned that Russia's performance at the Olympics followed widespread misspending by sports officials and a dysfunctional bureaucracy, according to government auditors.

[10] Defencemen Sergei Zubov, Oleg Tverdovsky and Vitali Proshkin, forwards Alexei Kovalev, Alexander Frolov, Nikolai Kulemin and Alexei Tereschenko, and goaltenders Vasiliy Koshechkin and Alexander Eremenko were selected as reserves in case of injury during the tournament.